How Silicon Valley became the thing it most despised

Yep, it’s now the new Wall Street

Many thought the 2008 financial crisis was a game changer in the way this world functioned. We had learnt the hard way how the excesses of capitalism had run havoc and never would we let it happen again. The technologists would be our saviours.

These were smart, young kids with all the passion and idealism that comes with youth. They were building platforms where our voices would be heard, where anyone with a brilliant idea could be famous. On the internet all of us were truly equal.

Or were we?

Ten years have passed and so has the baton. At the end of 2017, the top four firms by market capitalisation were all technology related: Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Facebook was sixth on the list. These firms and their products have enriched our lives in many ways but as the darker side of their success is revealed, one has to wonder more and more whether their towers are erected on the same hollow foundations as those greedy behemoths on Wall Street. Dig deeper and the muck oozes out. The similarities simply cannot be denied.

Doing deals with the Devil

At the height of its terrible madness, Wall Street was in bed with some of the worst regimes on this…