They are also insulated from a) the impact of their decisions, and b) actively refuse to hear anything that goes against the narrative that their riches could have possibly come from unethical behavior.

I went from high prestige academic position to a high level at Big Tech where I was regularly interacting at the Director level and holy shit the step down in intelligence was jarring. Literally went from having coworkers with Turing awards to trying to convince incredibly wealthy, and incredibly stupid, people to not break the law on an industrial scale.

And likewise the degree to which these people think of their wealth is evidence is their moral judgment, intelligence, and work ethic is so out of whack with reality I was just floored. We’re talking some real fucking idiots pulling $1-2M year.