A good point, Dave, but let me offer two possibilities for why that doesn't seem to be the case:

1) All that disruption and chaos does seem to have worked out okay, doesn't it? No, the real catastrophe for the business world right now (another thing it's impossible to get the mainstream news to talk about) is the total lack of faith in our economic systems, spreading like wildfire. Think about it, man. Andersen, and now Merrill-friggin'-Lynch?

Dude, we're dealing with paper money, and the paper no longer represents anything real. We all know that. Ever since the paper became materially worthless, it's only been worth the faith that the people have in the system. As that faith evaporates, so too does the system.

The way I see it, destroying the WTC might have been more like a kid who's been winning a game of checkers for a long time, and then suddenly sees himself losing. Given the maturity of the people involved -- they don't really seem to understand that the rest of us human beings are real -- is it so surprising that they would upend the checkerboard rather than admit defeat?

I mean, really look at what these scandals might mean to the world, if the mainstream press (with as vested an interest as anyone else in keeping the fundamental faith in the system alive) were to somehow be inspired to really run with the story? The true meaning of capitalism and economic darwinism might suddenly become very clear, even to those of us that have been reaping its benefits all along.

To put it another way -- sure, Rob might be really into this "survival of the fittest" thing right now, 'cause he's a reasonably bright guy with marketable skills, and he probably imagines himself in the "fittest" 25% or so, the guys that will survive. But what if it turns out that only the top 5% are actually going to be allowed to prosper? Or the top 1%? What if it becomes public knowledge, I mean a real part of the collective consciousness, that less than one-tenth of 1% of the world is gonna live like kings while the rest of us clean their toilets with our lungs?

I'm thinking that darwinism seems a whole lot less appealing, all of a sudden ...

2) It might simply be that you're smarter than Unocal. Also not hard to believe.