Just about sums it up

webmost

A very long article and a very good one.

My question: What else did you expect?

Vulchor

While we all know i am an "Obama Guy", I liked the article and think it was spot on alot of the time. What it shows, and what i have been saying more than anything for years, is that the Democrat vs Rebpublican, Liberal vs Conservative, Religious vs Atheist, ect debate is over. The real debate is funded by big money special interests and is hell bent on keeping money and power centralized and not losing any of it. This article shows that once you get into that elite group, you may still have grand ideas for others----but staying with the "cool kids" becomes quite important.

PAtoNH

good article. "... it doesn’t matter what the needs of the moment are; the personnel in this town will always be the same."

The game is fixed, the political class and the moneyed elite are having a great time of it and we're not invited to the party.

raisindot

Excellent article.

I, too, have been totally disappointed by Obama's failure to hold the bank-robbers accountable. (I was working for one of the biggest banks in the country at the time and can totally attest to the arrogance and chicanry and endless commission-chasing that went on there.) He stocked his administration with ex-Wall Streeters with tremendous conficts of interest. Getting Dodd-Frank through was his signal achievement, but most of its provisions have never been enacted.

Unfortunately, as long as we have this system where both parties are beholden to monied interests, nothing will change.

Getting back to the central argument of the piece, today it's nearly impossibly for a person to advance up the ranks in the corporate world through talent and work alone. Networking and having connections and being able to play corporate politics and ruthlessness are more important skills than being able to get quality work done. The rare CEO who gets the axe after dragging their company into the ditch because of gross incompetency invariable finds another job in weeks because the Old Boy Network protects them.

The only chance a person of true talent has to ascend to the highest level is to start their own business and hope that some VC fund will buy them out or flip an IPO for them.

Amos_Umwhat

raisindot:

Excellent article.

I, too, have been totally disappointed by Obama's failure to hold the bank-robbers accountable. (I was working for one of the biggest banks in the country at the time and can totally attest to the arrogance and chicanry and endless commission-chasing that went on there.) He stocked his administration with ex-Wall Streeters with tremendous conficts of interest. Getting Dodd-Frank through was his signal achievement, but most of its provisions have never been enacted.

Unfortunately, as long as we have this system where both parties are beholden to monied interests, nothing will change.

Getting back to the central argument of the piece, today it's nearly impossibly for a person to advance up the ranks in the corporate world through talent and work alone. Networking and having connections and being able to play corporate politics and ruthlessness are more important skills than being able to get quality work done. The rare CEO who gets the axe after dragging their company into the ditch because of gross incompetency invariable finds another job in weeks because the Old Boy Network protects them.

The only chance a person of true talent has to ascend to the highest level is to start their own business and hope that some VC fund will buy them out or flip an IPO for them.

Yep.

Depressing, isn't it?