ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
People are comforted by being able to 'hand off' some of the inconvenient viscitudes of modern life to another set of hands so that they can do things that may be distasteful for the general public. Most people don't know how to invest or want to take the time and effort to do so, so they hand it over to a mutual fund investment company or buy an ETF that will do the same thing for 'em. They don't want to see the wizard behind the curtain, dude. Witness how few people want to know the gritty details about how food is produced for them as an example. They don't want to think about how, they only care about the bottom line mostly. Transparency isn't the same as accountability.ORIGINAL: Mynok
Not worth any hard feelings. [:D]
I've been fortunate to only have to work for private companies. Much prefer that environment. Don't know what I would do if had to do otherwise. I'll deal with that pit if it ever shows up. [:D]
The line of corporations existing to make money for their shareholders might have been true in the past.
Today many a corporation is run by management which only cares in enriching itself. Many modern features of modern corporate life allows management to disregard the interests of their shareholders.
Which brings up another 'evil' of the whole public thing: most shareholders aren't people. They are other corporations, i.e. mutual fund and investment companies. Huge opportunity for a lot of evil and we had a recent perfect storm of it in the financial sector.
In a world run by messed up humanity, anything that reduces accountability is a bad thing and should be avoided.
I'm OK with that duality / hypocracy.
I want the corporations in which I invest to be transparent in their financials, their annual statements, their quarterlys and their other dealings with shareholders. Everything else, including value judgements, is my domain. I don't care if Philip Morris produces and sells cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, so long as they're straightforward that that's exactly what they intend to do. And continue to give me a yummy 6.5% dividend yield return.
If I had a beef with what they do, then I wouldn't buy 'em. I also wouldn't claim the intellectual or moral high ground because I-by default or by design-chose not to do my homework and didn't know that my advisor bought some of 'em for Beta reduction in my portfolio.
For those that decry the curtain between mutual fund / money managers and their money, there's a simple solution: invest in non-public corporations or sit in cash. Anything else requires your acceptance of personal fault by either comission or omission.
And don't even get me started on 'living wage' or 'fair trade', please.
Agreed. 100%. Now it is time to go play trains at my parents house after supper.
