I agree with the spirit of these but (venture) capitalism generally feels unsuited to tackle the deepest underlying structural issue in the United States and the world: poverty.

Growing up in poverty has strong correlation with traditional measures of success (high school/college graduation) as well as being shown to affect a child's IQ[1], working memory[2], language development[3], etc. At that point, we can increase access to college and healthcare and whatever else, but the damage has been done.

Education can do some good, but if the problems are environmental, if the challenges are that children can no longer go to school because they need to care for siblings/children of their own[4] or work to supplement their family's income or grow up with PTSD from gun violence[5] or end up in jail because they're taking advantage of the limited means available to them, then…I mean I don't know. It feels like capitalist enterprises focused on adults might not be the real solution here.

And please don't take this as criticism of YC. Their Basic Income project is the most forward-thinking approach to solving this exact problem, but precisely because it doesn't try to solve poverty through capitalist means. The risks associated with doing business with people with low income means the interest rates for lending (payday loans) are unconscionably high. Businesses just aren't incentivized to help the poor.

I think it's going to require political action. Not only helping people vote—YC's funded a number of initiatives here—but specifically supporting candidates who will tackle poverty[6], who focus on the root of so much suffering in our country and our world that is not directly solvable by capitalism.

And in fact, Silicon Valley's greatest success stories are directly fueling wealth inequality. Not only destroying jobs but centralizing wealth into a small corner of the world. Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, etc. take wealth from all over the world and centralize it into the Bay Area. When these companies IPO, the vast, vast majority of that wealth created comes back to Silicon Valley.

Capitalism is not the answer to every problem, nor was it meant to be.

Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations about markets, but he also wrote The Theory of Mental Sentiments about reducing suffering. Markets to him were a tool in the pursuit of happiness, and sometimes that tool did not fit.

So I agree with the sentiment here, but believe there is more to be done, perhaps more important or impactful work to be done, beyond the bounds of capitalist enterprises.

[1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3052975/
[2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2662958/
[3]: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~mfarah/Development-povertyassocia...
[4]:

Biggie Smalls:

> Yeah, this album is dedicated
> To all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothin'
> To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of
> Called the police on me when I was just tryin' to make some money to feed my daughter (it's all good)

[5]
Chance the Rapper:

> It just got warm out, this the shit I've been warned 'bout
> I hope that it storm in the mornin', I hope that it's pourin' out
> I hate crowded beaches, I hate the sound of fireworks
> And I ponder what's worse between knowing it's over and dyin' first
>
> 'Cause everybody dies in the summer
> Wanna say your goodbyes, tell them while it's spring
> I heard everybody's dying in the summer
> So pray to God for a little more spring

[6]: For this reason I believe that one of the greatest political tragedies of modern American politics was the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.