Bingo! If I had mod points, I'd mod you up!

I've been practicing environmental law for a long time in the U.S., mostly offering help to manufacturers with land use, impact assessment and pollution control permitting for new projects (from the 1980 Winter Olympics to the new $5.4 BLN GlobalFounderies plant).

20 years ago, my actual clients were plant managers for the new facility - mostly chemists and engineers. They knew their shit and knew that I did too. Working with them was a pleasure...even though the permitting costs could often be expensive when we tried to comply with regulations rather than avoid them, they were happy as long as the results were good -- that we were awarded the permits and that the litigation by the NIMBYs was swatted away successfully.

When things started to get dodgy in 2008, I was working on a huge energy project with hedge funded nincompoops who only knew MBA type stuff. They were puzzled and annoyed at the permitting requirements (hyrdoelectric projects require federal licensing, extensive multi-year studies of impact on fisheries in the project area). The project and developers went "poof" after Lehman Bros collapse and the panic of '08.

Now I'm not working much anymore. There is no work, except for really small stuff (lenders foreclose on bankrupt "jiffy lube" with leaking tanks, HOA puzzled by chemical permitting issues for swimming pool chlorine tanks, etc.).

Anyway, agree with your main point. MBAs only understand finance, stock pumping/dumping and the like. They have no clue about the underlying technical issues.

Did you know that you can "track" most packages on line and get the information you seek without putting a GPS in the package? There are even widgets and apps that do this (Delivery Status by Junecloud.com). The tracking number for UPS is the one near the bar code label that starts with "1Z...". Almost all shipments use the tracking number now.

That may be true for other papers, but no, there's little AP or other wire coverage on the front page of the Times. It's pretty much their own by-lined reporters, which is of course rare for all but the largest daily papers like the NYT.

Also, as far as criticizing the "powers that be" like my parent was talking about, you would tend to find that more in the Opinion pages of a reputable newspaper. Maybe Murdoch type tabloids like The New York Post put their opinions on the front page in the manner in which news reports are slanted, but this criticism cannot be made of traditional broadsheets like the Times.

You also won't find writers like those I mentioned who frequently take an "anti-establishment" position on the pages of the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post, for instance. Compare any of the writers I mentioned to the Post's David Broder or Charles Krauthammer who at best spout middle of the road conventional wisdom from inside the beltway bubble.

The NYT, were it actually concerned with journalism, would themselves be ripping into Wall Street and corporate America. But then again, I suppose they can't, because they seem more concerned with advertising revenue over realistic and quality reporting.

You obviously don't read the Op-Ed page of the Times, specifically writers Paul Krugman, Roger Cohen, Nicholas Kristof, Frank Rich, (even "the earth is flat" guy) Tom Friedman and Maureen Dowd. They do what you are saying they don't on an almost daily basis.

  I've clipped dozens of articles from those writers particularly since the Wall Street meltdown in 2008 that are indeed "ripping into Wall Street and corporate America" and Obama who they largely support.