Why America's manufacturing ability is dysfunctional...?

I skimmed through this article from the New Republic, which argues that most managerial positions in the US are filled with finance grads and not people skilled or knowledgeable in the production side of manufacturing. Because of the tendency to focus on numbers, the business schools have diminished American companies' abilities to compete globally where innovation and creativity reign over mere asset allocation.

I guess you could say, that Wall Street is in the business to make money, and the people who manage the companies that make products know how to make money for Wall Street, but don't have a clue how products are made. This is illustrated by the endless series of quarterly calls, where money managers discuss how their company is reallocating capital to address shortfalls in one sector, or how the bottom line is affected by the cost of borrowing money.

In my opinion, this explains why we got the Pontiac Aztek. No designer worth their reputation would have placed their name on that beast. You just KNOW the managers sat around and said, "Hey, this part is too expensive, replace it with this cheaper substitute."

via BoingBoing