It was useful during a talent crunch for CEOs to signal they are left-leaning. In reality their left-leaning stance was just as performative as any cozying-up to Trump, etc.
There are good leftists who do big tech work (the main detraction of the HN crowd who don’t want to feel guilty over their salaries), it’s just that none of the ones I know are active in cesspools like these. They’re too busy living in a modest home and spending their excesses on people’s rent, bills, necessities, and generally uplifting others since they no longer need anything themselves. My interaction with the HN crowd is that most would balk at the idea of using their funds to support others’ fundamental necessities, and yet that is far more leftist than anything any SV profiteer has previously pushed for.
The fact that articles like the one submitted are increasing should alert you that the working poor do not see overpaid techbros as on their side, no matter how much they claim they are.
As an aside, I had friends who had to declare bankruptcy during DotCom 1.0 because of stock options and the Alternative Minimum Tax. This could have been fixed with legislation but it always seemed like the DC inside-the-beltway crowd saw the whole thing as class treachery and refused to intervene.
What I can’t square is why they (probably correctly) don’t see overpaid techbros as on their side, but they do see their bosses, and others even more alienated from their lives and struggles as in their side.