It's not wrong to notice how unfair it all is. I've seen several sides of it. But in terms of "what do I do about it," self-flagellation is probably not correct

It's not wrong to notice how unfair it all is. I've seen several sides of it. But in terms of "what do I do about it," self-flagellation is probably not correct. My answer has become: Attempt to set some business idea of your own in motion. That doesn't mean that you are going to be good or motivated at business or have any worthwhile plans, of course. That is the curse of being in that position, and a lot of people do run away from such a responsibility. But it's a concrete way in which you can make things less broken - build people's careers, sell useful products or services, market new ideas, etc. It makes me feel OK with myself. And most crucially, it really doesn't have to be a brave "save the world with VC backing" plan - it can be a totally selfish idea like "a cool gadget for me and my friends", accomplished by employing a handful of contractors for a few months part-time. The saving comes in via the attention to social responsibility you take in implementing it - whom you employ, how you employ them, adapting the product to a marketing strategy, what manufacturing processes you use, etc. All of that creates an atmosphere around the business, and the atmosphere itself changes the way in which the world works. The final product is just one tiny part of it.