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I don't want to spend a lot of time working on each point within your post. However I do think you discount the value that finance brings. Access to capital and

I don't want to spend a lot of time working on each point within your post. However I do think you discount the value that finance brings. Access to capital and efficient distribution of capital are tremendously powerful. Describing what finance does as just pushing paper is like describing the startup community as just writing useless code.

dba7dba 12y ago
I agree finance matters. I do. But not to the point where they can and do sweep up a third of Ivy League graduates. Would you honestly say Wall Street is vital enough that they deserve a third of Ivy League graduates?
dba7dba 12y ago
And I want to make it clear I don't consider Facebook/Google/Twitter as vital as GM/Boeing/Tesla/SpaceX. I don't care if Facebook/Google/Twitter don't end up with top brains. But I am concerned GM/Boeing/Tesla/SpaceX are not getting the top brains as much as they should.
- zhemao 12y ago
  Why do you think those particular companies deserve a larger share of good employees. Boeing hasn't been innovative in a while now. They make most of their money off of sales of their older models and defense contracts. GM isn't doing so well these days and has moved most of their manufacturing overseas. Not exactly a win for the American economy. Consumer automobiles isn't exactly a growth industry right now. Tesla and SpaceX are promising, but still small. I don't think they have that much trouble hiring. Due to their reputation and high compensation levels, they can easily compete with Wall Street for the best and brightest engineering minds. So the question remains, why these particular companies? Are you really just talking about old-school heavy industry companies in general? Why not other sectors, like electronics, medicine, and IT?
- aianus 12y ago
  GM, Boeing, Tesla, none of these companies would exist without the financial industry. There would be no such thing as large enterprise because no one person or institution can take on that much risk other than the government and we've seen what happens with centrally planned economies. So, yeah, finance is more vital than any other business.
  - gambogi 12y ago
    This is a pretty broken argument. Those companies also wouldn't exist without the steel industry, or the construction industry, or the electronics industry, etc. etc.

dba7dba 12y ago

I agree finance matters. I do. But not to the point where they can and do sweep up a third of Ivy League graduates. Would you honestly say Wall Street is vital enough that they deserve a third of Ivy League graduates?

dba7dba 12y ago

And I want to make it clear I don't consider Facebook/Google/Twitter as vital as GM/Boeing/Tesla/SpaceX. I don't care if Facebook/Google/Twitter don't end up with top brains. But I am concerned GM/Boeing/Tesla/SpaceX are not getting the top brains as much as they should.

zhemao 12y ago
Why do you think those particular companies deserve a larger share of good employees. Boeing hasn't been innovative in a while now. They make most of their money off of sales of their older models and defense contracts. GM isn't doing so well these days and has moved most of their manufacturing overseas. Not exactly a win for the American economy. Consumer automobiles isn't exactly a growth industry right now. Tesla and SpaceX are promising, but still small. I don't think they have that much trouble hiring. Due to their reputation and high compensation levels, they can easily compete with Wall Street for the best and brightest engineering minds. So the question remains, why these particular companies? Are you really just talking about old-school heavy industry companies in general? Why not other sectors, like electronics, medicine, and IT?
aianus 12y ago
GM, Boeing, Tesla, none of these companies would exist without the financial industry. There would be no such thing as large enterprise because no one person or institution can take on that much risk other than the government and we've seen what happens with centrally planned economies. So, yeah, finance is more vital than any other business.
- gambogi 12y ago
  This is a pretty broken argument. Those companies also wouldn't exist without the steel industry, or the construction industry, or the electronics industry, etc. etc.