Restructuring Incentives in Finance

During the latest economic downturn, there has been a lot of discussion about what drives businesses to do what they do, even when it has disastrous effects on the economy on the whole, and how employees are best incentivized to maximize their (and their company's) potential.  A common complaint is that the stock market in general has a negative effect on the economy due to, among other things, its:

• Stringent and constantly changing reporting requirements that potentially leans too far to the side of "increased transparency"
• Heavy dependency on analyst forecasting for present valuation that drives management to limit their long-term growth potential in exchange for meeting sometimes arbitrary short-term financial goals

Well, our 43rd President, Al Gore, just had a reasonable opinion piece run (WSJ: Toward Sustainable Capitalism) that takes a high-level stab at the situation and may be of interest to lay people.  Also reminds me how interesting what I do is and what a difference it makes when the only expectations (generally) that must be met are those of the contributors.