New Efforts Push Investors to Take a Stand

Companies are meant to be small-scale democracies. Chief executives may be perceived as kingly, but boards and shareholders are supposed to be the ultimate rulers.

As government regulation decreased in the 1980s, this system of checks and balances was touted as being a better way to ensure responsible profitability. The conflicts of interest, excessive compensation and Ponzi-like securitization schemes that took root proved that approach to be naive.

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