Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) Says Tech CEOs Should Try Sleeping in a Homeless Shelter

[Newsjock]

Source: Gawker

Silicon Valley has some of the country's more dizzying gaps in income inequality. Wealthy enclaves are built besides some of the Valley's poorest neighborhoods, leaving family services underfunded and municipalities writing laws that punish the poor. Now their own congresswoman is calling out tech CEOs for not doing enough to help:

"The biggest problem in this country isn't Ebola or ISIS — it's Income inequality," says U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, whose Congressional district includes East Palo Alto, San Mateo and Redwood City. "It affects everything." With so much revenue generated within San Mateo County — home to Facebook, NetSuite, GoPro and others — it is "not good enough for companies to give a few dollars," Speier says. "They need to give more."

Rep. Speier made the comments when talking to USA Today about those left behind in the Bay Area's tech boom.

"We need to get CEOs to do two things: live on food stamps for a day, or spend a night in a homeless shelter," says Speier, who has done both. "It is a very humbling experience."

Read more: http://valleywag.gawker.com/congresswoman-says-tech-ceos-should-try-sleeping-in-a-h-1654257579