Systemic Self Loathing & The Cause Is Old Money

Hey Jesscitizens of the world

Believe it or not, but I regularly speak to people to get an idea of their world view and how they feel about the world. I read a lot of online sentiment through social media and blog posts, and I have to say there is a distinct feeling of hopelessness, grief and self-loathing.

I know this because I feel it too at times, and it looks like I am not the only one. People are miserable; you can see this by the opioid addiction, the fact that we have to aggressively police substance abuse, the increase in crime, the distrust of the system, and so much more.

While we can debate about the reasons why that is and how each one fits into the narrative individually I'd like to focus on one issue that is at the root of all these problems and makes it worse, and that is our current monetary system.

There was a time

When a person could start a business, sell their skills into the market as the company made a profit, the person could choose to pocket it and invest it in other means such other businesses, real estate, precious metals and more. Alternatively, they could reinvest the money into the business to scale it and grow organically, employing local staff and providing value based on the demand they could reach.

This was the dream we were sold, that if you got an education and worked hard, you could reach any hight, by the sweat of your own brow. That may be true in a sense, but it has become less true over time, and the ceiling has been pushed down on us over time.

Image source: - freespeech.org

But what about Insert anecdotal evidence

I always hear this one, oh but what about this guy or that woman, they started with nothing, and now they're stinking rich. These narratives are the ones used to masquerade and obfuscate the obvious and having researched many of the entrepreneurial journeys I have to say it's not all as simple as working hard. I don't discredit that these people worked really hard, but there are a few things that are missing from the story.

Of all the big companies and epic stories of success today how many do NOT involve

Old money/Daddy's money/Inheritance
Angel investors/Seed funding/Venture Capital
Leveraging business loans or collateral you already had such as your home to acquire money
Being part-owned by a large company
Political connections or government contracts
Connections to powerful people able to select you from another with bias (IE Hollwyood, you might not be the best actor but because you know who to blow you're in)

How many stories are based ONLY on being bootstrapped with your own cash and skill and building a company with only what you've earned? I can tell you not many. These aren't the stories you will hear because they are not glamourous and they're not making the big numbers you think mean success.

There is so much central power in the business world that small businesses are shit out of luck and every small business is a hail mary even if they get all their factors right, running on your own income isn't where investors are piling their free money/low-interest money. They want to scale so they can ship out and sell-off at the next exit round. It's not about making productive business its about making money as quickly and effectively as possible for the individual.

It's a legal form of gambling in a sense and crypto is no different. How many people got rich of altcoins because they had venture money to pre-mine and then sold their tokens on the open market? Apart from Bitcoin, I don't think any alt can say it's self-funded.

While I like the space and what it can bring I am not fooled by simple rhetoric, this isn't the wealth distribution we need to change the world, in its current state, it's only bringing wealth to those with ties to old money using it to make new money. It's not new money-making new money.

Upward selection not upward mobility

There is a distinct ceiling that the noble entrepreneur living within his or her means can't breakthrough. The only way to compete is to accept the outside injection of capital and while this is seen as the norm these days its anything but, it condones the obliterating of small business, and if you cannot see it, I don't know how else to explain it to you.

When funds are allocated to a business without it earning it, it now has the ability to compete with others without having earned that market share. Trust me, it doesn't take a smart person to learn how to outspend their competition, and we applaud this as if these people are supreme geniuses. In sport, we see it, and we hate it, we say no they bought the trophy, but in business, we don't see how companies have been buying success they don't deserve. They are afraid to compete because they know their product is below par and all the need to do is outspend and outlast the competition with fake/free/low-interest money, and they'll win.

This doesn't mean the best business or product survives, it does a disservice to the customer and the economy, but we applaud these businesses and feed this self-fulfilling prophecy.

Upward mobility for anyone who doesn't have access to

Old money/Daddy's money/Inheritance
Angel investors/Seed funding/Venture Capital
Leveraging business loans or collateral you already had such as your home to acquire money
Being part-owned by a large company
Political connections or government contracts
Connections to powerful people able to select you from another with bias (IE Hollwyood, you might not be the best actor but because you know who to blow you're in)

Will be a hail mary! It's not impossible, but it's hard, it's not glamorous, but its what needs to happen and should be happening if we want to build a sustainable economy. Do I ever see it happening? No, while there is still the ability to fake money and centralise power, this will never change. If you think consumers want instant gratification, why would you think entrepreneurs wouldn't want the same?

If you don't believe me regarding upward mobility, let's take a look at downward mobility, how often are people failing spectacularly at business but remain rich and can repeat the feat again and again/ Do some research! How picks up the bill when companies go bust? Not the owners and founders that's for damn sure. Its the pension funds holding the bag or the banks which effectively is your money in any case.

Accepting outside money maintains the status quo

So let's say you're a budding startup founder, you create a business and it gets investment, it scales and you get rich. Your investors with "old money" get a piece of your success, and they keep doing this with every good idea. They grab a piece of it, so they're supremacy is never truly disrupted. It keeps filtering money back to the same people.

These investors are only hand picking you as their vessel for that purpose, if you said no, they'd fund your competitor instead, this is not about you being special, just a way for them to recycle money and grab a piece of a new revenue stream.

This recycling of money pulls money out of the productive economy and back into the coffers of those who already have it, and so the trickle-up of wealth remains, obliterating the poor and middle class in the process.

This is the story you won't hear

This is what it's like behind all the press releases and stock prices and all the other bullshit. This is why budding entrepreneurs feel like they are failures because they are playing in a rigged game. Their talents and skill can only get them so far and money allocation has created a divide virtually impossible to cross. This drives self-loathing on a systematic level where you feel like how will I ever work hard enough to reach the status of your so-called idol feeding you bullshit like work hard and work smart but doesn't tell you they had several advantages behind the scenes.

The idea of the self-made business person is dying a slow death.

Have your say

What do you good people of steem think? Do you think upward mobility exists? Do you think the rich can still fail at a venture and risk becoming poor?

So have at it my Jessies! If you don't have something to comment, comment "I am a Jessie."