Re: Valued At $$$$$
It's not just that, though I'm sure there's plenty of incentive to manipulate prices higher. The bigger problem is that the world's central banks have been not only handing out free money but cramming it down everyone's throats for 20+ years now. That money has to go somewhere, and most of it has gone into speculation. That's because investment takes decades to pay off in the form of steady profits while speculation can make you rich(er) in a week. If it doesn't work out, just default and move on, but it pretty much always works out because the free money keeps gushing so prices and multiples keep going higher. It's called the allocative effect and it's the result of one of the worst errors in human history.
So on the one hand, the people who paid $120b to own Snowflake were setting fire to their money. On the other, most of that money was never tied to any kind of value creation to begin with. The losers are the suckers who gave up something of value to get money, like their irreplaceable time or valuable natural resources, then spent it on worthless or overpriced assets. The winners? Rich people with access to the free money spigots. What a wonderful world the central bankers have created for us!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
