[Superman]

Most all graduate business degree programs use "The Harvard Model" of case analyses, and I attended one of them. Cases are written specifically to showcase a certain set of business behaviors. Many stories are impressive, others are not. Corporations are indeed good at what they do, for the most part. And that's a big part of my point. Corporations have a single goal. To maximize the selling price of a share of common stock, basically.

It is a brute fact that CEO's are expected, in fact are required by law, to avoid decisions which might reduce profits, and to pursue business transactions that will increase profits. So, when a CEO is confronted with a choice between doing the right thing -versus- doing the profitable thing (imagine the frequency with which CEO's face this exact choice), the CEO is required by both the stockholders and the law.....to do the most profitable thing, whether or not it is moral or ethical. The only limitation in this regard is if the immoral or unethical action is also illegal.

So yeah, I went to school and I have admired companies. I myself am a very competitive person. I respect and admire all that. I enjoy watching companies and understanding how they work. Do I hate them? Certainly not. Some of you guys have no idea how supportive I am about most aspects of our so-called "free" market capitalism. But while I do not hate them, I also am not naive about what their nature is and what their agenda is and what their constraints are (or are not). So, if it pleases you to dismiss my remarks as a corporation-hater, well that's fine (even though it's not true).

Some of you are indeed a bit naive, I would say.

(I'm not talking to you, Ron. In case you wondered. Will there be a Big
Ride this summer?)