Twenty years ago, writing about antitrust crimes in the Michigan Law Review, Easterbrook and Fischel, then both professors at the University of Chicago, wrote that managers not only may, but should, violate the rules when it is profitable to do so. And it is clear that they believed that this rule should apply beyond just antitrust.
In a nutshell, this is the Chicago School view of corporate law that has taken hold over the past 20 years.
Via InstaPundit.Com, [1] Rotten to the Core [2]
So, this explains crap like Microsoft and Enron and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) over the past twenty years.
That's the bad news.
The good news?
According to the article, there is a rise of law professors from outside the Chicago School who are questioning this, and saying that corporations should actually follow the law! The horror!
[1] http://www.instapundit.com/