Monopolies In Tech Are Concentrating Wealth And Creating Inequality
Is there anything we can do?
(Not intended to be investment advice. Opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author’s. I do own shares in some of the companies mentioned in this article.)
In my younger more foolish days, I thought that it was important to give our economy’s superstars everything they needed to succeed. I admired the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley and marveled at how much wealth and market cap they created. Letting our brightest stars shine with no constraints seemed like the best economic policy because the more ideas they came up with and the more companies they built, the more jobs and economic growth would be created.
But as I’ve aged, the admiration I once had for people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel has turned to disgust. The wealth and power they’ve created has been used very selfishly and ruthlessly.
Thiel is a good example of how the successful and wealthy have this perverse tendency to gatekeep — i.e. to kick the ladder down behind them once they’ve successfully climbed up.
Thiel often writes about how he wants to invest in monopolies. This makes sense from an investor’s perspective. Given two stocks, would you rather own the one of the company with competition or…