CEOs As A Distraction

 The assassination of United Health Care CEO, Brian Thompson, is the subject of interest: how much he got paid, how much evil his company has done, how much money it makes doing this, and the tactics it uses to achieve this wealth.  Thompson and the company are criticized for their denial of care, and they are urged to be more compassionate and charitable. 

But the problem with being compassionate and charitable, from the perspective of a corporation, is that this is illegal.  The argument is that to be compassionate and charitable reduces a corporation's profits, which is against the interests of its share holders.  And since the purpose of a corporation is to make money for its share holders, any actions contrary to this end is against the corporation's definition and is therefore "illegal".  There is a case against a CEO in New York that established this principle.

Thus, the job of a CEO is to make money for the corporation's share holders, and his success supposedly justifies his compensation.  In other words, all of the evil that Thompson oversaw was merely his attempt to satisfy the corporation's share holders.  Killing Brian Thompson will not change the behavior of United Health Care.  Its corporate board will simply choose another CEO who will continue with the corporation's policies to make money.

The real bosses of United Health Care will remain untouched and will collectively continue to perpetrate the greedy practices that resulted in Thompson's assassination.