The Super Connector Who Built Sam Bankman-Fried’s Celebrity World

nytimes.com

3 points·SirLJ··4 comments

Imagine thinking you are good at capitalism while guys like this are out here making $700M for doing a few phone calls. I feel like I've been lied to. Is this what we are supposed to be doing? Which phone numbers can I call to make $700M if I think I might be good at doing phone calls and doing capitalism?

"good at capitalism"? What are you trying to say?

Are you conflating "good at capitalism" with "good at running a business"?

Not trying to endorse or defend capitalism, but this article depicts a good example of cronyism, which is not inherent to capitalism.

I'd also add that the premium for these types of services are higher when a system is more bureaucratic and complex for businesses.

Mr Bankman-Fried bought Mr Kives' services in huge part to add a veneer of legitimacy to his business, also helping him to make the right connections with influential people in the government. That includes donations to political parties. People like Mr Kives' are very aware that you can certainly buy goodwill from regulators and politicians this way.

so everyone should learn how to do cronyism instead of learning to code or other job is what i'm taking away from it

Certainly in North America it is very hard to develop your company into a big business without engaging in some cronyism. Obviously this is true. You could argue this has always been true across history though.

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