[mhuffman]

>This kind of thinking has infected corporate America, which is optimizing return based measures--typically IRR--rather than profit based measures.

In uni, this difference was explicitly used to differentiate investors and financiers.

Investors are picky where they put their money and want profit.

Financiers want every dollar always working and covet IRR.

... of course, out in the real world it isn't so cut and dry.