1/ The impetus to maximize shareholder value in the short term is the source of the absolutely worst moral rot in business today.
Those investors who demand that businesses be run that way are a social cancer, ruining everything they get their hands on.
Business itself is becoming the product, but unlike traditional consumers, shareholders don't want a reliable product at reasonable price they can return to and depend on. Shareholders want a magical, "buy one, get n+1 free," deal with a constantly incrementing n.
