Finance as culture
Metadata
Highlights
- We’ve always had lottery culture, in which people trade assets hoping to make money without understanding or conviction of their fundamental value. In the summer of 1929, for example, Joe Kennedy’s shoe shine boy gave him stock tips, signaling the market peak.
- Speculation now dominates culture.
- In the tech context, it’s becoming more common to see founders selling shares before the company reaches escape velocity, and employees rotating between hot companies before they have a chance to own projects end-to-end. Too much capital makes it more compelling to chase easy financial gains than build new tunnels.