The Sole Goal of a Corporation is to Create Profits for its Shareholders . . .

This dangerously obtuse conclusion is blamed on Milton Freidman, blame he only partially deserves. 
Like the court decision that created [but actually didn't] corporate personhood, this conclusion was due to a corrupt third party falsely titling the real content of the court decision.  In Friedman's case, he went on to say ". . .so long as it engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud [italics mine]".  That dramatically changes the tone of the discussion doesn't it?  Friedman wasn't advocating a market free-for-all.  But most corporate leaders guzzled the truncated view, that the sole purpose of a corporation is to create profits for its shareholders.

In the case of corporate personhood, a corrupt court clerk deliberately mis-labeled the 1886 case Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad (the clerk's actual employer!) "to state the sense of the Court regarding the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as it applies to corporations, without the Court having actually made a decision or issued a written opinion on that point.^[5]

Friedman was still wrong, that as long as a corporation hasn't been found in violation of the law it can do whatever it likes to make profits.  Shockingly naïve.  Have all past, present and future ethics been codified into law?  Of course not.  That's why Jack Welch's General Electric had such a spectacular rise and fall:  Short term profiteering that toyed with & blatantly crossed over legal and ethical boundaries.

So that is the pivot point:  Time.  The proponents of deregulation don't tell us over what period of time a corporation should be entitled to maximize profits.  One day?  A month?  One quarter? (the current unbelievably short yardstick)  A year?  Ten years?  Seven generations? (the test Native Americans used to evaluate their plans).  The shorter your time horizon the more corrupt and prone to failure you will be.  For example, if your time horizon were [and you're ignoring Friedman's "deception or fraud" qualifier]:

One Day- Robbing a bank could be very profitable.

One Month- Robbing several banks might work.

One Quarter- You could probably execute a successful pyramid scheme.

One Year- Over this period of time you may actually have to deliver some value in exchange for other people's money.  But a new crypto-currency might work.

And so on.  The point is, I don't think anyone advocating totally unregulated markets has thought it through sufficiently.  Imagine a football game without rules or referees.  Attendance would probably be boosted but players wouldn't last long.  How would you know who won?

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!

#6 on IRS "Dirty Dozen" list: Offers in Compromise

The post is a direct cut & paste from IRS.

Dirty Dozen: IRS urges anyone having trouble paying their taxes to avoid anyone claiming they can settle tax debt for pennies on the dollar, known as OIC mills

WASHINGTON – As the 6th item on the 2022 "Dirty Dozen" scams warning list, the Internal Revenue Service today (6/7/2022) cautioned taxpayers with pending tax bills to contact the IRS directly and not go to unscrupulous tax companies that use local advertising and falsely claiming they can resolve unpaid taxes for pennies on the dollar.

“No one can get a better deal for taxpayers, than they can usually get for themselves by working directly with the IRS to resolve their tax issues,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Taxpayers can check online for their best deal, as well as calling a specialized collection line where they can get fast service by using voice and chat bots or opting to speak with a live phone assistor."

Offer in Compromise (OIC) "mills" make outlandish claims usually in local advertising regarding how they can settle a person’s tax debt for pennies on the dollar. The reality usually is that taxpayers pay the OIC mill a fee to get the same deal they could have gotten on their own by working directly with the IRS.

The IRS has compiled the annual Dirty Dozen list for more than 20 years as a way of alerting taxpayers and the tax professional community about scams and schemes. The list is not a legal document or a literal listing of agency enforcement priorities. It is designed to raise awareness among a variety of audiences that may not always be aware of developments involving tax administration.

OIC mills are a problem all year long but tend to be more visible right after the filing season is over and taxpayers are trying to resolve their tax issues perhaps after receiving a balance due notice in the mail.

For those who feel they need help, there are many reputable tax professionals available, and there are important tools that can help people find the right practitioner for their needs. IRS.gov is a good place to start scoping out what to do.

These "mills" contort the IRS program into something it's not — misleading people with no chance of meeting the requirements while charging excessive fees, often thousands of dollars.

An "offer," or OIC, is an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that resolves the taxpayer's tax debt. The IRS has the authority to settle, or "compromise," federal tax liabilities by accepting less than full payment under certain circumstances. However, some promoters are inappropriately advising indebted taxpayers to file an OIC application with the IRS, even though the promoters know the person won't qualify. This costs honest taxpayers money and time.

Before taxpayers start investing time to do the paperwork necessary to submit an offer, they’ll want to check out the IRS’s Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier Tool to make sure they’re eligible to file one. (Note: even though individuals and businesses can submit an offer, the tool is currently only available to individuals.)

The IRS also created an OIC video playlist that leads taxpayers through a series of steps and forms to help them calculate an appropriate offer based on their assets, income, expenses and future earning potential. Find these helpful, easy to navigate videos at irsvideos.gov/oic.

The IRS reminds taxpayers that under the First Time Penalty Abatement policy, taxpayers can go directly to the IRS for administrative relief from a penalty that would otherwise be added to their tax debt.

OIC mills are one example of unscrupulous tax preparers. Taxpayers should be wary of unscrupulous “ghost” preparers and aggressive promises of manufacturing a bigger refund.

Ghost preparers: Although most tax preparers are ethical and trustworthy, taxpayers should be wary of preparers who won't sign the tax returns they prepare, often referred to as ghost preparers. For e-filed returns, the "ghost" will prepare the return, but refuse to digitally sign as the paid preparer.

By law, anyone who is paid to prepare, or assists in preparing federal tax returns, must have a valid Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). Paid preparers must sign and include their PTIN on the return.

Inflated refunds: Not signing a return is a red flag that the paid preparer may be looking to make a quick profit by promising a big refund or charging fees based on the size of the refund.
Unscrupulous tax return preparers may also:

• Require payment in cash only and will not provide a receipt.
• Invent income to qualify their clients for tax credits.
• Claim fake deductions to boost the size of the refund.
• Direct refunds into their bank account, not the taxpayer's account.

Choose wisely. The Choosing a Tax Professional page on IRS.gov has information about tax preparer credentials and qualifications. The IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications can help identify many preparers by type of credential or qualification.

Taxpayers are legally responsible for what’s on their tax return even if it is prepared by someone else.

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!

If It Upsets Me, It Is Bad

I don't believe that title at all although I admit I used to (and still do, for fleeting moments), that unless a person, place, thing or event made me happy it was "negative".  (By the way, this post is closely related to my November 14, 2021 post about Bullies.)  Constant, uninterrupted "happiness" is highly overrated as is a totally "safe" life. 
"It is not what you get in this life that matters, it's what you become" ~Jim Rohn). 
 Do you really want to become, or remain, a fragile, petulant, powerless victim?

Of course this doesn't mean we give up avoiding potholes in the road and just barrel forward cavalierly.  Nor does it mean we stop trying to protect and seek justice for those people & things we treasure.  It's all of the above.  Too many discussions on the topic of negativity try to muscle it into a false dichotomy, that ______ is either "positive" or "negative".  I rarely find that true or useful.

Virtually all successful cultures agree about and have "trickster" stories and archetypes to represent "unsafe", unsavory, boundary-pushing individuals, mythological creatures and relationships.  It's a way of dealing with the inevitable terrors (and irony) of  being mortal.  There is no eliminating "negative" experiences nor the individuals & situations that cause them.  Suffering and death will always be with us.  So there is great value in learning to deal with them.  Archetypal stories, parables, fables, actual & mythological characters are ubiquitous as a result because they help us adjust our attitudes about adversity.  And, in many cases, the trickster serves to protect us.

Below are several examples:  The Navajo have the Trickster Coyote.  There's Joha, the Jewish trickster/fool archetype.  The Turkish have Nasreddin Hodja (probably based on a real person)

Navajo Trickster Coyote
Coyote is a key figure in Navajo mythology, and of all the figures in Navajo mythology, Coyote (Mąʼii) is the most contradictory. He is a shadowy figure that can be funny or fearsome. Coyote is greedy, vain, foolish, cunning and also occasionally displays a degree of power. "In common with Tricksters generally, he serves to test the bounds of possibilities and order."^{[2]
Once a giant was terrorizing the land, and eating people, especially small children. Coyote convinced the giant that if he allowed Coyote to break his leg and then heal it by spitting on it, he would be able to run as fast as Coyote. However, this was one of Coyote's tricks, and the giant thereafter found it much more difficult to outrun anything, even small children.[5]}

Joha, the Jewish Trickster/fool archetype:  

There's the story about the Russian who asked the Jew why Jews are so smart.
"It’s because we eat herring." 

"Where I could get some herring?
"I happen to have some here,"

"How much would it cost?" 

"Three rubles."
So the Russian eats the herring and after he finishes it, he blurts out, "I could have bought that same herring in the market for two rubles!" 

Then the Jew responds,  “You see, it’s working already.”

Turkish Nasiruddin-wise fool.  (Here are some great stories, one of which is quoted below)

Everyone Is Right
Once when Nasreddin Hodja was serving as qadi, one of his neighbors came to him with a complaint against a fellow neighbor.
The Hodja listened to the charges carefully, then concluded, "Yes, dear neighbor, you are quite right."
Then the other neighbor came to him. The Hodja listened to his defense carefully, then concluded, "Yes, dear neighbor, you are quite right."
The Hodja's wife, having listened in on the entire proceeding, said to him, "Husband, both men cannot be right."
The Hodja answered, "Yes, dear wife, you are quite right." 

Shakespeare's Court Jester in King Lear
"Who Is Not a Fool?" ["Qui non stultus?"]
—Horace (65-8 B.C.), Satires, 2.3.158

"Functioning much as a chorus would in a Greek tragedy, the fool comments on events in the play, the king’s actions and acts as Lear’s conscience. As he is the only character who is able to confront Lear directly without risk of punishment, he is able to moderate the king’s behaviour." 
Shouldn't we all welcome this kind of filter on our actions, as unwelcome as it may seem in the moment?

In sum, these goals below could be considered immature and short-sighted: 

• to never experience adversity
• to be happy all the time
• to live forever
• to never be questioned nor challenged
• to be treated nicely by everyone everywhere all the time
• to have no sense of humor about one's self.  Yes!  This seems to be an all-too-common aspiration.

The role of the trickster archetype is to empower you.  Which is not to say we should tolerate people who truly want to cause harm.

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!