> Any talk otherwise is delusional hanging on to a mythical era of corporate responsibility that has never actually existed. While I think this is correct in t

> Any talk otherwise is delusional hanging on to a mythical era of corporate responsibility that has never actually existed. While I think this is correct in the most general sense -- examples throughout history of the old consolidative robber barons, GE destroying the streetcar for its own benefit, etc -- one thing that has changed in the last 30-40 years is the change in mentality and priorities of the average shareholder and the average corporation. John Kay gives an example in his book, Other People's Money, comparing the change in chemical company ICI's annual shareholder reports: 1987: ICI aims to be the world's leading chemical company servicing customers internationally through the innovative and responsible application of chemistry and related science... Through achievement of our aim, we will enhance the wealth and well-being of our shareholders, our employees, our customers, and the communities which we serve and in which we operate. 1994: Our objective is to maximise value for our shareholders by focusing on businesses where we have market leadership, a technological edge and world competitive cost base. Kay goes on to attribute the change in the rise of financialisation and deregulation in the 80s and 90s, as well as the wide adoption of technically rigorous but conceptually questionable financial economics innovations like the efficient market hypothesis, Harry Markowitz model, Black/Scholes for pricing derivatives, and Ramsey/Savage's subjective utility. He also cites the rise of "I'll be gone, you'll be gone" trading culture on Wall Street, explaining traders are incentivized only to pad their own bonuses with no regard for the bigger financial picture. It may be that there was no mythical corporate responsibility at the top level, but I think it's important to understand that there are underlying structural changes that have spread the poison of financialization to the point where even good actors in corporate America are now incentivized to behave in ways that don't support the public interest. And in my view, the most appalling changed, is the modern inability for muckraking journalists to create public outcry and political will to regulate the worst of the bad actors.