There isn’t any doubt that America has some of the finest young minds in the world if not the very best of the very best, along with having higher educational institutions that represent the most prestigious in the world. All of this is for the good, but it starts to go bad, when the finest minds amongst us, either gravitate on their own to an overriding desire to simply make money, or are redirected to do so, by enticements so large and lucrative that it serves to corrupt their decision making, and therefore these young brilliant minds buy into it.
The crux of the problem of the best and brightest desiring to work with private equity, hedge funds, and things of that ilk, is that these very institutions aren’t actually benefiting society, at all, despite whatever protestations that they may make, but rather they are experts at exploiting inefficiencies, and taking advantage of those that are not on the same sophisticated wavelength that they are. In this world, so much that goes on with private equity has a lot more to do, with manipulating the game to benefit a very select few, at the clear expense of the many, which is not good for the health of that society.
What this nation does not need more of, is more billionaires, with more concentration of capital and money in the hands of a very small elite of people and institutions, that because of that money can game the system even more to favor their interests at the expense of this democracy and the people. To believe, somehow, that what we were born to do, or that our highest purpose, is to make money hand over fist, is a very sick philosophy. Rather, this nation should make it a point, to see that money made without extracting a corresponding benefit to society, should be taxed at a very high level, because those that are all about the money, should pay for the privileges that permit them to make that money.
Indeed, it is a sad state of affairs, when those who seem to get an inordinate amount of good press, aren’t our greatest scientists, teachers, scholars, and the like, but are people who when we take a look under the hood, just want to make oodles and oodles of money, and do so, with the employment of very few people, while utilizing a lot of powerful and sophisticated software. That is why, this government needs to reenergize itself, to do its best to see that more of its best and brightest develop their skills for things that have a good purpose for society, as compared to simply making money, through angles and manipulations done at a very high level.
Indeed, when we hear sayings such as "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country" -- this seems out of place in today’s society, and apparently has been superseded by the belief that making as much money as you can, as long as you can, for the good of one’s own person, is a good thing. In other words, to believe somehow that great nations are created by great selfishness is belied by the very fact that great nations are actually created by great sacrifices and by great visions enabled on behalf of the people by the leadership of the best and brightest of that nation.