This interview was initially published in December. Palmer was the surprise victor in the American Samoa Democratic primary.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Tech investor Jason Palmer wasn\u2019t planning to launch a bid for the White House until he decided he had no choice.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept waiting for someone with a business background to join the race. When they didn\u2019t, I decided to run based on my strong business background,\u201d said Palmer, a former deputy director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who declared virtually on Zoom \u201cThe American public does not want a race between two octogenarians, but someone with a business background, a problem solver,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n Palmer\u2019s three-pillar campaign platform of conscious capitalism, reinventing the education-workforce system and modernizing government is designed to \u201cbring back the middle class,\u201d he said in a wide-ranging phone interview. Conscious capitalism is a business strategy that seeks to benefit human beings and the environment.<\/p>\n Palmer envisions several cabinet-level changes, including merging the departments of Education and Labor into a Department of Talent and creating a Department of Innovation and Technology that would oversee artificial intelligence, among other technologies. \u201c[Former Google CEO] Eric Schmidt or [Netflix co-founder] Reed Hastings would be perfect to head it,\u201d he mused. (He has not formally approached either one about such a post.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe want the government funding science 10 years ahead of adoption. We don\u2019t want the government to dictate what you can do with AI, but to have liability schemes in place,\u201d Palmer said. Companies would face fines of up to $10 million if AI causes grave harm, he added.<\/p>\n Palmer says he believes in freedom of choice, speech and religion and the right to create and grow companies. To that end, he strongly supports conscious capitalism and stakeholder capitalism. He added that companies with less than $1 million a year in sales should not pay taxes.<\/p>\n Palmer favors reinventing antitrust policy but would stop short of breaking up companies or imposing huge fines. \u201cWe want to invent a much more agile antitrust resolution and not resort to long, costly lawsuits,\u201d he said, alluding to actions by the Justice Department against Alphabet Inc.\u2019s GOOG, Palmer has served as a lead investor and board member at more than a dozen businesses, several of which have been acquired by publicly traded companies such as Pearson \u201cAmericans wanted a businessman in the White House: This is why [Donald] Trump was elected, but it didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n Palmer joins a long list of businesspeople who have vied for the presidency in recent years, including Ross Perot; Mitt Romney, who co-founded Bain Capital; Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP Inc. Because he joined the race late, Palmer is scrambling to get on state ballots. So far, he\u2019s on two \u2014 Nevada and New Hampshire \u2014 and is in talks for four more \u2014 Colorado, Arkansas, Vermont and one other state, which he did not name. His goal is to be on 30 ballots by Jan. 31. Palmer, who is campaigning in New Hampshire, intends to soon hire a field director for the Iowa caucuses next year.<\/p>\n He is cagey about any big-name supporters but said that 90% of his campaign funding comes from donors at small businesses and in the education-technology arena and the conscious capitalism movement, and people in their 30s and 40s. \u201cI am not independently wealthy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Palmer ruled out a running as an independent, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornell West are doing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n ZM,
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\n in November. He is running as a Democrat.<\/p>\n
\n GOOGL,
\n
\n
\n Google and to the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s suit against Amazon.com Inc.
\n AMZN,
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\n PSON,
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\n (Credly) and Instructure Holdings Inc.
\n INST,
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\n (LearnPlatform).<\/p>\n
\n HPQ,
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\n ; Doug Burgum, ex-CEO of Microsoft Corp.\u2019s
\n MSFT,
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\n Great Plains Software; publishing czar Michael Bloomberg; Tom Steyer; Vivek Ramaswamy; Andrew Yang; and Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather\u2019s Pizza.<\/p>\n
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