Actual Owners

Though it went public a decade ago, this article makes it seem like Goldman executives still act like it's a partnership — designed to protect the interests of the company's leaders rather than those of the shareholders who are, you know, the actual owners of the corporation. 

In some ways one can see the current banking crisis as an expression of an alarming gap between the narrow, short term interest of banker-employees and the broader, longer term interests of shareholder-owners. Theoretically, the bankers work for the shareholders, but when push comes to shove, the bankers take care of themselves and each other at the shareholder's expense.