XPost: alt.folklore.computers
From: commodorejohn@gmail.com

On Mon, 29 Dec 2025 21:59:25 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D’Oliveiro  wrote:

> > Unfortunately, it's a secret society, like the Freemasons. Currently
> > the MBAs run the companies, so they hire people who belong to the
> > same club. It's not about competence.  
> 
> That won’t work, though. Incompetent companies will get out-competed
> by competent ones in the marketplace.

That's certainly how it's supposed to work* - unfortunately, cronyist
grifters with an MBA have gotten very, very practiced at a specific
blend of willful ignorance, denialism, and cultured shunning of the
competent which has enabled their whole class of cretins to *flourish*
in the last thirty years (if not longer.)

* (And sometimes it does; Nik Suresh of https://ludic.mataroa.blog/ 
  started a consultancy with the specific goal of being the ethical,
  competent alternative in his neighborhood, and by his report it's
  going pretty well. But he's taking a bite out of it in his specific
  major metro area, while the problem, unfortunately, is global-scale.)

Essentially, we've allowed the creation of a business culture where the
people at the top are almost totally insulated from the consequences of
their decisions (unless they go overboard into breaking the law in a
major way; and even that rarely counts 'til they stiff the tax-man.)
The C-suite gets to just do whatever as long as they keep the share-
holders happy in the moment (never mind if it screws the whole company
in the long terms) and make important-sounding noises, and when things
fall apart they go on their merry way and leave everyone else to suffer
in the fallout.

You can see this again and again in corporate Big Tech; look at, for
example, Carly Fiorina, who pulled a "turnaround" with Lucent back in
the late '90s - early '00s which was to a significant extent based in
shady financial games and ultimately gutted the company; 130,000 people
lost their jobs as a result, and Fiorina...went on to run the show at
HP and was all geared up to put *them* in the toilet as well before
being forced out, but ultimately got her comeuppance by...um, losing
her bid for the GOP nomination in 2016 and having to fall back on being
incredibly wealthy and getting public-speaking engagements.

The bill always comes due eventually - but a certain class of people
have gotten *real* good at making sure someone else is left holding the
bag when it does.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)