If going public with dividend-paying stock is what it takes to discourage the predatory stockholders, I have nothing against it.

You are sort-of confirming my suspicion that, once again, what one gleans from the press (even the business press) about what business management is like is not sensible.

I did not find you patronizing, nor did I intend the comment about brainwashing to refer to your position. It refers to the opinions of those in a position to influence the public discourse.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman