Kit Merker

This point has been made before, but it is CRAZY that all this Seattle and WA decline is happening at the peak of cloud and AI-tech-booms, which have been a Seattle wheelhouse. We were made for this moment. AND it’s happening during a period when CA became inhospitable to a lot of wealth and company HQ’s. We COULD have attracted so many of Silicon Valley’s companies and investors to grow here (wealth and HQ flight from CA.) Instead it’s Austin, Miami, Nashville as beneficiaries. This is a ball fumble of epic proportions by WA legislators, Governor, and mayors, all for near term greed and an inability to throttle runaway spending and further union/SEIU entrenchment.

"Washington state raising taxes on millionaires, to 9.9%; first state income tax. There's nothing voters can do about it, either. The state supreme court ruling that the new tax cannot be challenged by a voter referendum." ... There IS something voters can do about it. In the coming election an unprecedented 5 of the 9 Supreme Court seats will become vacant. Supreme Court seats are often ignored by most voters, but if voters come out in force and elect new justices committed to upholding the state's constitution, our state can still be saved.

@AOC The idea that all billionaires got their money by exploiting peopl doesn't hold up to any scrutiny. JK Rowling wrote books about cheeky wizards. I invented a better way to make virtual reality headsets and games to play on them. We just made things people wanted.

Literally every AI founder I speak with is talking about getting more into services. It's a fascinating shift from what has historically been taboo in software.

"Crashout" is a funny way to describe pointing out basic math. WA wasn't broke. It had no income tax, like 8 other states that are doing just fine. This isn't joining the crowd, it's walking into a trap with a known outcome. Connecticut said the same things in 1991: "just the rich," "it'll fix everything." Three decades later, the income tax expanded to hit the middle class, spending exploded, pension liabilities went nuclear, and the state that was once a fiscal powerhouse became an outmigration cautionary tale. Same playbook, same empty promises. Call it comical if you want, but at least learn from the states that already ran this experiment.

I'm blaming Katie Wilson for celebrating an exodus that will be catastrophic for the city she was elected to lead. She said 'bye' to citizens leaving. That's not identifying the wrong enemy — that's holding your mayor accountable for cheering on the damage. I have zero political ambitions. I just don't want to see my state shoot itself in its own foot.

I love Washington. It's heartbreaking to watch this unfold. Nine countries repealed their income taxes on capital because capital flight costs more than the tax collects. We're ignoring a century of evidence — and the people who can't leave will pay for it. As a State, we can and should do better.

Spirit Airlines died tonight at the hands of the socialist crusader, Elizabeth Warren She must be so proud to add another casket to her achievements. Tonight at 3am, Spirit turns off the lights. 14,000 jobs gone. 30+ smaller airports lose service. JetBlue offered $3.8 BILLION in cash to buy Spirit in 2022. Shareholders, flight attendants union, literally everyone voted yes. The combined company would have held 9% of the US market against a Big 4 that already owned 80%. For anyone who understands numbers: 9% isn’t a monopoly against 80%. Warren said no. She wrote letters. She pressured Buttigieg. Biden’s DOJ sued. A federal judge killed the deal in January 2024. Her argument: the merger would cost consumers $1 billion a year. Now look at her collateral damage she dusts under the rug. 510 pilots gone in the months after. 1,800 flight attendants furloughed in December. 14,000 jobs in 2023. 7,500 last week. Zero tonight. And that’s just the people in Spirit uniforms. Catering goes. Fuel guys go. Baggage crews, gate agents, airport coffee shops, hotels and rental cars in 70 cities Spirit flew to. Every airline job carries 3 more on its back. 40,000 people out of work because of one woman’s moronic crusade against the market. And the math ain’t mathing. Spirit abandoned 90 routes during the death spiral. Fares on those routes are up 14% on average. Oakland to Newark: $135 to $288. Fort Myers to San Juan: $92 to $219. Kansas City to Newark up 66%. That’s reality. Not some BS number from a “study.” So @SenWarren tell me how this saves the consumer money? Cheap carriers in a market drop fares 21% across the board. Southwest did this in the 90s and saved Americans $68 BILLION over 20 years. Warren killed it. That’s what moronic politicians led by socialism do. Then with her own blind arrogance, she tweeted Spirit’s collapse is “a Biden win for flyers.” A win. 14,000 people are reading termination letters tonight. And she’s taking credit. This is socialism in 2026. A senator who’s never made payroll thinks she knows how to run a market better than the people who own and work in the company. She saved you a billion on imaginary paper. She cost you ten times that in real life. She didn’t protect consumers from anything. 14,000+ will go from working to welfare. She will make sure to blame billionaires, hardworking tax payers, AI, capitalism and whatever monster they will make up tomorrow hiding under your bed. Higher taxes. Fewer jobs. More expensive everything. She called it a win. I hope you enjoy winning.

Congratulations to Washington Gov Bob Ferguson and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on being named as Nashville's Realtors of the Year after successfully getting Starbucks to leave the Evergreen State

Socialists are driven by hate for the rich, not concern for the poor.

you had two of the top three retailers *on the planet*, two of the top three tech companies *on the planet*. you had boeing and sbux. nordstrom and weyerhauser. just absolute legendary bag fumbling.

No one is more Right-wing than a blue-state conservative. Unless you've seen first hand, up close and personal, the damage that the far-Left is capable of causing, it's all theoretical. I spent the first 25 years of my life in Portland, Oregon. I have seen, with my own two eyes, the real world consequences of far-Left political ideology. Neighborhoods - destroyed. Crime rates - skyrocketing. Small businesses - gutted. Homeless population - through the roof. Illegal aliens - everywhere. Housing costs - stratospheric. Public parks and playgrounds - littered with used needles. Sidewalks - covered in graffiti and human feces. Your old friend from highschool - overdosed, dead. Take it as a warning from me -- we can NEVER let these people win.

@PattyMurray $1/gallon is taxes

Seattle is literally breaking records for the price of diesel thanks to Trump's war of choice. This is hitting our supply chains—and you're going to see the difference at the grocery store. I'll keep voting to end this senseless war again and again.

You don’t need 300 ppl to tax only the millionaires in WA

PE roll up of Etsy witchcraft. Bear case primarily karmic retribution.

An exit tax violates the U.S. Constitution and likely state constitutions as well. Major Supreme Court case could easily be filed over this.

“The golden era of Seattle restaurants was 2010-2019, after the tip credit bill passed - it ate up 8% margin and restaurants could no longer survive - now restaurants don’t take risks, and are pretty predictable - no one is getting paid more either and people don’t eat out as much” -Seattle Chef last night

Slow news day

I said pls to Claude today

@BlakeBisset @1BethDutton Yeah hit me up I think you have my number

@KitMerker @1BethDutton Anything week of the 14th? I told Demetrios Brinkmann I'd come by for the agentic summit he's putting on in Seattle that week.

Another one bites the dust. The Columbia Tower Club is closing in Seattle. They have the nicest bathrooms in town.