You know, all of technology is one giant constantly accelerating system.
well, if the kid was working in M&A he was working FOR the innovator trying to get his acquisition done.
truth is, if there wasnt as much hustle in IB, deals would fall apart. lots of deals need momentum to close.
That's why many of the wealthiest people you meet around the world got wealthy by working directly in property or finance.
Would you care to describe the mechanism by which middlemen get less of the economy without a public market? Because that is not the experience of assets without public markets. (And, indeed, this is why investment banks make most of their money away from "the stock market.")
To use an example which many HNers are intimately familiar with, if you happen to have $100,000 to invest towards your retirement and decide to park it in an index fund, you will pay approximately $150~$500 a year for the privilege. If you were to invest it via a venture capitalist (who specialize in making markets between people who have money and people who have companies in the absence of public markets which can connect them), it would cost you $2,000 a year and 20% of your investment gains... in the unlikely event that your VC of choice had positive returns. Also, you wouldn't be allowed to invest in the first place, because the VC model does not include talking to poor people like yourself.
We used to have pensions in this country before the 401k loophole was exploited. 401k was never intended to be a middle class retirement vehicle. Instead of just pocketing the matched 401k funds, it is required to go to wall street where they take a percentage. Built in customers, even though 75% of managed funds perform worse than index funds. It's a joke.