And accordingly, I could give orders to their lawyers and their likelihood of doing what I say is about the same as the percentage of the company that I own.

Why do the policyholders pay for so much TV advertising to get new policyholders? Increase in volume lowers overheads and spreads the risk pool, but surely not to the extent of the TV spending.

The principal agent problem:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%E2%80%93agent_prob...

That’s like saying we choose the government. It’s true in theory, but in practice the top management uses the “owners” like Soylent Green.

It's a matter of feedback, really. It doesn't matter if a government is selected by the people if the government can control the people more effectively than the people can control the government.

If the company holds very infrequent general meetings and the owners can't schedule extra ones, then the managers are going to rule, irrespective of who "formally" governs the company.

It's like a people's democratic republic: even if the election is fair, the political bureau sets the rules 99% of the time and the congress of deputies only meets once a year - and soon enough the elections end up no longer being fair.