We've read a lot over the last few years about how increasingly fierce competion is driving business toward increased efficiencies. Talk about your sugar-coatings...swallow that one and your blood sugar will spike dangerously.

Pushing the envelope is only the first step. As pressures increase, the rules are bent, and then as quietly as possible, they're broken. Cost-benefit analysis takes into account possible fines should legal transgressions come to the light of day. Business is about balancing risk and reward, and sometimes breaking the law becomes just another form of risk. Hell, we've even seen corporations openly flaunt the law and accept the monetary punishment because it's cheaper than playing by the rules, even if the rules are there to save lives.

The primary interest of business is not the well-being of the public, it's in making a small group of rich people even richer. The suits are not on our side.