Marc Andreessen compares California to Rome circa 250 A.D. ‘The roads are becoming unsafe and nobody is quite sure why’
Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said he decided to “double down on California” and stay in the state, even as he likened it to “living in the ruins of a once great civilization.”
In a 34-tweet thread on Tuesday Andreessen, who co-founded the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said that he and his family considered leaving after a “surreal 2020.” They bought real estate in Nevada and almost bought in Manhattan, he said. But they ultimately decided to stay, and now “rationalize” the decision by comparing it to living it in Rome before the fall.
“Like Rome in maybe 250 A.D., we live amidst an enormous flowering of culture and creativity, but the roads are becoming unsafe and nobody is quite sure why,” he wrote.
Andreessen has been critical about the Silicon Valley area and its governance in the past, calling out San Francisco’s allergy to constructing new housing in his 2020 essay, “It’s Time to Build.” Even as the region’s economy has surged, Andreessen and other tech industry leaders have lamented the social problems persisting in the Bay Area, including a housing affordability crisis.
