Aren't too many 'Mericans (and others) with practical business experience outside corporate training: The "is,is" of capital structure and strategy. Ha.

Too true, sadly.  It seems as though ET is a refuge for Capitalism's discontents.  Those who enter the field with degrees in business, especially MBAs, often have large college loans to pay off and need the kinds of salaries that are mostly confined to large corporations in order to pay off their loans.  I would imagine it is a lot easier to survive in that world if one is a true believer.  If you have doubts, best keep them to yourself.

I for one greatly appreciate your contributions, even though I struggle to understand your posts.  I suspect that much of what you convey requires the context from which you abstract to be fully comprehendable.  I lack the direct experience required.  

The rap on me has always been that if you ask me what time it is I will tell you how the watch works prior to telling you the time.  This is because part of my education is technical.  I don't expect non-technical people to understand much of what I want to convey.  I try to resolve this by providing deft, (to me!) sketches of background information as a preface.  If one wants to learn something complex, intricate and technical, one should not expect it to be easy.  Best if one is not too concerned about appearing ignorant or foolish when asking questions as well.  My philosophy is that we are all fools.  Part of the human condition.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."