arbilab , somewhere along the line the rules changed
Can't say exactly when but they did change nonetheless.
After all, why build a better mousetrap when you can do a leveraged buyout of the mousetrap company, sell off the bits and pieces and come out smelling like a rose?
So long as the basic business model includes some dribble about maximizing shareholder value (remember the CEO is a shareholder too), we certainly have not seen the last of things like this.
On a side note, anyone following the fast food workers protest and strikes? I find it interesting that some argue these are jobs for teenagers, or transition jobs or whatnot and thus should pay next to nothing. What these apologists for wall street seem to forget is thanks to the hollowing out of our industrial base, the outsourcing of tech and backoffice jobs, for a great many this IS the job to pay the bills. No longer is it something for sue and Tommy to do before they head off to college, for the 40 something displaced worker, that is all he has left.