Both Adam Smith and David Ricardo, though they differed regarding the “invisible hand” vs. the statist or “visible hand” capitalism, had the benefit of England in mind -- arguing that, working within the framework of production advantage, absolute or comparative, that what would be good for England could be good for its trading partners. But since the '70s the nation-based comparative advantage theory of international trade has been supplanted by the view that the mission of corporate America is to make profits for its shareholders. As presented in a recent WaPo article, the consequences have not been altogether happy: What began in the 1970s and ’80s as a useful corrective to self-satisfied managerial mediocrity has become a corrupting, self-interested dogma peddled by finance professors, money managers and over-compensated corporate executives… and business schools that indoctrinate students with the shareholder-first ideology...(Read Full Article)