This guy's case is way overstated and lacking in evidence, dunno if that's from Doctorow himself or just him repeating Varoufakis. Take this absurdity:
> Better still: don't found Uber, invest in Uber options and extract value from the people who invest in Uber. Even better, invest in derivatives of Uber options and extract value from people extracting value from people investing in Uber, who extract value from drivers and riders. Go meta.
People trading options and derivatives on $UBER does not somehow drain Uber shareholders' wealth over the long term. Doctorow makes it sound as if the net proceeds from derivatives trading have grown to dwarf the profits made from businesses themselves, which is far from the case.
A better point may have been made about financialization & the growth of transaction fees (perhaps I-banks making money underwriting Uber's IPO and the like), but the financial sector is still far from replacing the whole real economy with rent-extraction.
> Better still: don't found Uber, invest in Uber options and extract value from the people who invest in Uber. Even better, invest in derivatives of Uber options and extract value from people extracting value from people investing in Uber, who extract value from drivers and riders. Go meta.
People trading options and derivatives on $UBER does not somehow drain Uber shareholders' wealth over the long term. Doctorow makes it sound as if the net proceeds from derivatives trading have grown to dwarf the profits made from businesses themselves, which is far from the case.
A better point may have been made about financialization & the growth of transaction fees (perhaps I-banks making money underwriting Uber's IPO and the like), but the financial sector is still far from replacing the whole real economy with rent-extraction.