Unlike the 1980s, when the economy's leading figures often seemed to be people like Michael Milken and Boone Pickens, who were speculators in that classic populist sense of the word, the people who get the most attention and respect today are almost all businessmen who spend their time making things, not playing with other people's  Bill Gates, Michael Dell, or whoever.
The kind of businesspeople who get attention has changed since the 80s.
mnli hypothesis: The kind of businesspeople who get attention has changed since the 80s. premise: Unlike the 1980s, when the economy's leading figures often seemed to be people like Michael Milken and Boone Pickens, who were speculators in that classic populist sense of the word, the people who get the most attention and respect today are almost all businessmen who spend their time making things, not playing with other people's  Bill Gates, Michael Dell, or whoever.