I wonder how "Wall Street is not your friend" would play in the NY Times. I mean I get it, greed and flexible morality result in exploitation of the masses, but it is not unique to tech. During the dot.com boom it was pretty clear that there were people here in the Bay Area whose only goal was to sell some investors on an idea, pump it up, take it public on a story, pocket some big profits and then blow town. My frie…
Wall Street does not claim to improve the world. Zuckerberg for example claims that he has some goal of changing the world for the better. Note, I think this is all a little silly when it clearly comes down to rich individuals that define most of the giving. Gates couldn’t have done so much without microsoft.
Wall Street does not claim to improve the world!?!?!?
At a very fundamental level, the whole premise of capital investment is such that it spurs economic growth and stability and thereby establishes a more accessible marketplace in order for consumers to achieve an increased "marginal utility of happiness".
Wall street flies the flag of investment banking and are by virtue implicit actors in "improving the world" through capital investment. I-banking firms are responsible for increasing gains for stakeholders, maintaining competitive pricing for consumers and optimizing performance of output and product. Therefore, the sentiment in question (although not explicitly phrased as "improving the world") does manifest itself in various ways through the marketing messages delivered by WS, and the promise has been fulfilled, more or less.
The end result of an improved world as such is evidenced by you typing on a computer designed in Cupertino, materials thereof industrially sourced from Africa, manufactured in China and delivered to you via Amazon, all of which required the assistance of Wall Street capital...