Stranglers – “No More Heroes”

Its funny, but as I was hoping, we are now in a crescendo of billionaires (and wannabe billionaires) scratching each others eyes out for attention.

Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Kanye West and soon – others – will burn all of their bridges in a strange grudge match that looks like self immolation. Even if they survive they are all becoming downright embarrassing. I was actually believing Musk was a genius. I feel like a big dummy now for that. His total lack of understanding his Twitter staff is legendary. He should have been more like the final scene in Rod Serlings “Patterns”. Keep the best and brightest and double their pay as you lay off anyone you don’t really need. (I did a three month contract at Twitter and they had tons of dead wood there). I could have done a much better job than Musk and I’m no genius. That place was truly bizarre.

Are these guys (special mention goes to Elizabeth Holmes for being the pretty person they don’t put it jail and a protege of Liona “only the little people pay taxes” Helmsley). On a side note – why is it that only a woman is going to jail?

Scrooge is alive! Many Scrooges in fact.

For whatever crazy reason, we humanoids seem to need a hero. When I woke up, I remembered the fantastic Stranglers song “No More Heroes” which is more pertinent today than ever.

Another side note – I was Oracle’s 127th employee and had to interview with Larry Ellison. No matter what people think of him – he’s kept a fairly low profile. He certainly is much smarter than these attention hungry goons. And Larry Ellison is the first CEO I worked for who pushed the “work hardcore” schtick that Musk is trying. When I worked at Oracle it was a vipers den of competition. I lasted 3 years and had to leave. My career was launched and it served me very well. After Oracle bought PeopleSoft I did a short 3 month contract there. They were still doing the competitive thing but the people were political, incompetent and that venture failed miserably. This same thing will happen to Musk. These billionaires just don’t understand humans or human nature. After an initial surge, these guys run their companies down.

Are we witnessing a weird sort of “27 Club”, but instead of a real suicide or accidental overdose, we are witnessing a slow roasted career suicide in hell? An overdose of narcissistic attention getting and fear mongering?

In an odd but very comforting way, none of this is new. Dicken’s wrote this plot a long time ago. Its a theme at least as old as the Industrial Revolution in the U.K. This is why when social mediates decry “The sky is falling!” I realize this is a centuries old theme.

Time will tell. One thing for sure – “If something seems too good to be true it probably is”.