Your view is much too simple for a market economy. That's not said to be disrespectful. Look at it like this: common sense would dictate something Wall Street is unwilling to listen to. The CEO's don't have a God complex per se, it's Wall Street's reaction what would put the company out of business. next to M.D.s, brokers at big brokerage house can be extremely arrogant. In the event of a demise by any Fortune XX CEO, the stock would take a huge hit, that's just how Wall Street works. It leaves too much encertainity within the company, and especially in this economy, stock would get sold. The hit may or may not rebound right away, but with these companies in so much trouble as it is, a rebound would be unlikely. The stock prices of the big the auto makes is so low right now, how much of a hit do you think they could take before they zeroed out? Once a stock gets below a certain price, the major stock exchanges would DELIST that stock, and that would be it. Company forced in to Chapter 7/11, and nobody is going to buy a car from a company in a position to not have to honor a warranty or worse, buy a car from a company that may or may not be around longer than said warranty. Wall Street is more about stats and less about common sense.
You are correct. 100% of them do. Wall Street knows that, and they'll still bury the stock in the event something like this happens. It's not my doing, but let's be realistic, it's not something sharholders view as a positive, and like it or not, the initial reaction will be Sell, Sell, Sell.
