Very unethical and irresponsible behavior has been around a long time. Internet Bubble v1.0 had a world of crap going on, with much bigger dollar-numbers for the investments.
I was born in 1983, so I missed the first Bubble, but I believe you. I worked for someone (also a total sleaze) who had a late-1990s startup and once spent close to $2 million (out of about $15m on hand) on a launch party. Over 10% of working capital on a party before a product existed. So I'm well-acquainted with the fact that there was at least some sleaze in the first bubble.
I guess I'm crestfallen because I thought, at least over the past decade, that most of the sleaze would be in finance. I'm finding that not to be so.
I don't care about being a billionaire "master of the universe" as long as I don't have to be within 500 meters of the type of slime that does care about that shit. I just want to fucking work, to solve hard problems, to add value to the world, and to make enough money to have a good life. If I get rich, great. If I solve important problems and don't get rich, fine. That was the appeal of "tech" over finance, but now I see that the same sleaze has crept into our world too, and I want it out.
Both in this article and the "ethical crisis" link therein (http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/an-ethical-cr...) makes me think you are young and new to the game.
Very unethical and irresponsible behavior has been around a long time. Internet Bubble v1.0 had a world of crap going on, with much bigger dollar-numbers for the investments.