&gt; <i>I see. And when those leeches lend capital for a new startup effort that otherwise wouldn&#x27;t happen... allowing a business to form, a product to develop, an industry to blossom, on an accelerated timescale, what then? Would you still brand this role a parasite?</i><p>How is that qualitatively different from a medieval lord who chooses to permit peasants to work his fields for their survival, in exchange for growing wealthy off the fruits of their labor?<p>The rich graciously permitting the rest of us to share a small portion of their wealth, so that we can work to make them more wealth while incidentally keeping a bit for ourselves, is the basis for much of our society; but that doesn&#x27;t mean there&#x27;s no other way to do it, nor does it make them inherently virtuous.<p>(I&#x27;m not saying they&#x27;re inherently monstrous, either. Many capitalists may be well-meaning and try to use their money for good, and that is laudable. But don&#x27;t pretend that the mere fact of having and investing money makes one a hero.)<p>&gt; <i>I realize that this sort of anticapitalist nonsense is currently fashionable in university</i><p>It&#x27;s been fashionable in every place and time where abusive capitalists have existed.<p>&gt; <i>but the irony of it being spouted on ycombinator (which might have something to do with investors, after all) is really quite amusing.</i><p>The header up there at the top of the page says &quot;Hacker News&quot;. It&#x27;s fashionable right now to imagine that every hacker yearns for a West Coast startup and loads of venture capital, but it&#x27;s not actually true.