I strongly disagree. In my opinion, the relationship between VC and rising inequality is indirect at most. The primary factors which contribute to inequality

I strongly disagree. In my opinion, the relationship between VC and rising inequality is indirect at most. The primary factors which contribute to inequality in a given country are related to the number of available jobs, the distribution of wages among various subsets of the working population, the robustness of social safety net programs, and the underlying distribution of political and economic power. Our startup movement, more so than any other segment of the global economy, embodies the idea of the "American Dream" that if you work hard you can be successful and move up the social ladder. It's not perfect, and clearly it's not a pure meritocracy, but to claim that the VC world is "the most important driving force of rising inequality" is very inaccurate in my judgement. It is true that silicon valley style tech companies are more and more becoming an important part of the economy, but the types of startups which are part of the tech startup eco system are creating jobs and are disrupting existing industries as part of a healthy capitalist process. Here are two factors which I consider to have a much more significant influence than VC's on the global trend of rising inequality: 1) It is well understood that middle class families keep on average the majority of their wealth in the form of a house which they own. The housing crisis, which was fueled by wall street excess, wiped out an incredible amount of wealth from poor and middle class families and the bailout and shorting transferred this wealth to the top 0.1% 2) Approximately 3 trillion is collected by the US government every year in taxes, and approximately 1.5 trillion is borrowed by the government, for a total budget of approximately 4.5 trillion. This money is handed out by congress members to powerful banks and corporations from their state as a form of quid pro quo for campaign donations. The budget deficit is then used to justify a never ending cycle of cuts to social safety net programs.