Corporationsatrisk

Several recent events convinced me that whomever is running our major corporations are totally clueless in what it takes to perform well in the long term. Some time ago GE sold off its plastics business to an Arab consortium for billions of dollars. I thought it was a good decision: oil is the basis of plastics so the Arabs get to go upstream with their oil and oil money and GE gets to reinvest it in future businesses. What did I find out? Was GE going to spend the money on new products, more R&D, more productive or quality facilities, or acquire a state of the art company? The answer: None of the above. It was going to use the entire multibillion dollar buyout to buy stock and keep its stock price high. It is like a farmer using his seed corn. Absolutely no sense in the long run.
Then just recently I read about Home Depot selling off its wholesale business. I did not know enough about the business to make a decision but it appears it is meant to refocus and concentrate on its core consumer business. The , once again , multibillion dollar sale, I though, would be used to revitalize its stores and personnel. But once again what was its purpose to be: to buy up stock.
Is this what corporate america thinks is the way to conduct business? DOes it mean that no one can find better uses of its money than to buy stock? Does it mean that it is perfectly content with the way business is going? I fear for the future of our country's businesses if they are being run by finance people with no sense of the future past the next quarterly dividend or report to Wall Street.
Wake up guys. The future is not 4Q2007 but 2020. WHere will you be then? At this rate nowhere.