> The populist notion that corporations are just evil things out to do stupid things really clouds rational thought. :(

That's not the populist notion on corporations at all. The populist notion is that corporations' incentive structure, set by their board/leadership, causes them to act at the expense of rank and file workers and consumers.

That's very different than "evil" or "stupid".

It is still misguided. The idea of capitalism works because everyone is acting in their self-interests all the while everyone benefits from each other's work. The first thought that should come to mind where you see a corporation that's successful is that many people choose to do business with it and therefore it is generating them plenty of value.

Corporations are not an emergent property of the universe.

They are models, specifically sanctioned by law, that are organized around particular sets of interests.

Just because there are subsets of people whose self-interest is aligned with particular corporations' doesn't mean that those interests are aligned with the self interest of everyone, or even a majority of people.

And this isn't to say that there isn't an important role for corporations to play in the world, but to suggest that their form and function is the result of everyone acting in their self interest is oversimplifying things dramatically.

Man solves all problems by pretending there simply are none

Yes, in reality, corporations are evil things trying their best to be smart!