clsteve opened this issue on Nov 15, 2007 · 354 posts
ockham posted Thu, 15 November 2007 at 3:57 PM
Conniekat, there's nothing wrong with showing a profit. What is wrong,
or distorted anyway, is when a company operates purely to run up the
share price. That's the diff btn proprietors and shareholders, at least
in modern times. It wasn't always so distinct ... before 1980 or so,
shareholders were more inclined to keep a stock and receive dividends,
which put the focus on the profit generated by actually producing
things.
When the employees, managers, and customers all share an emotional
attachment to the product ... cars, insurance or software ... the system
works to the benefit of all. When the original car guys or software nerds
sell out to the pure bean-counters, the system may generate more wild
swings in share prices, which then benefits the day-traders. But it's no longer
as much good for the employees, managers and customers.