My point is not that business owners are liars OR that politicians are honest; my point is that testimony from business owners is unreliable.

I am not as cynical as you. There are a host of variables a businessperson can reach out to if they want to deflect blame, regulation being one of them. I’ll agree with you to the extent that they’ll blame themselves last. There’s no logical reason why they would blame government first.

Are you seriously arguing that the government should not require transparency from publicly traded firms?

No. I’m arguing that annual filings would be satisfactory.

Short-termism arises primarily from the inevitable conflict between immediate profits and long-term profits.

Exactly. Long term investments are not attractive to make if they cause a quarterly earnings miss.

But we have a big problem with individuals purchasing stocks — they need, at the very least, all the information they can get. It’s a tricky balancing act.

How many individuals read quarterly reports? (Answer: None)

Wall Street professionals read quarterly reports. They also read economic data. So, while agree with you in principle that more is better when it comes to information, a detailed balance sheet and P&L each quarter is not necessary. Perhaps a better balance would be to simply require certain business reporting (as opposed to financial reporting) each quarter. How did your headcount change? How many units did you ship? Etc, etc.

Most of the damage is done by large businesses, so we need to refine our legislation to focus on the primary sources of damage.

That would be an awfully good idea, but would probably require smarter people in government and fewer ideologues.

Hope springs eternal….