Yes, the end is near. All because of CEOs.

I don't care how socialist any private business chooses to be. I'm not forced to participate in it. Only when government gets involved am I forced to participate in their socialist schemes.

I am the President and CEO of a Corporation. Customers don't provide the jobs I provide a product they want and my Company is the delivery system. I depend on my managers to insure excellent customer service and satisfaction with the product. Any other way is doomed to failure.

"...and as in any bureaucracy they are a hindrance to progress."

Wrong, the modern corporation is the most efficent model of business management in history. It's top down approach and ability to be split off into smaller segments makes it capable of producing massive capital with little waste. They are not bureaucracies because unlike bureaucracies if they are not efficent, they will stop surviving and disappear unlike a government enterprise which can can be propped up to infinity.

"Last time ANYBODY checked, it is the CUSTOMERS who provide the jobs.  Without customers to buy the product or service, there ain't squat."

Wrong, before Ford came along there were no jobs in the auto industry because it didn't exist, those jobs came about because of Ford's innovations. Customers did not revolutonize the assembly line process, start the five dollar an hour wage, or even invent the auto. The services and products come first, the customers afterwards. Without the CEO's, there ain't squat.  Customers patronize a place or buy a product because they either enjoy it or find it useful, creating that enjoyment and usefullness that brings in the customers is the job and main duty of the manager or CEO.

"In any company, large or small, there are 3 main groups:  The providers of capital (usually shareholders), the workers, and the customer."

Customers are not part of a company, they interact with it and can influence it, but they don't make the decisions or make the product. There are no more a part of an company than I am of the White House staff. A good idea or a profitable product comes first, customers only approve it and ensure an incentive to continue its approach. As with any enterprise, a leader is needed to manage things. Without him or her you have "providers of capitol" with no means to produce more capitol and workers with no idea of what they should do and no one with any authority to direct their activities into an overall effort.  In essence, just a bunch of people standing in a field who no particular place to go and no idea what to really do. It's like trying to build a skycraper without an architect.

"Management likes to say they represent the shareholder, but that is a lie."

Not necessarily, some will just follow whatever the shareholders  want. And others don't, which can be a good thing. If a shareholder only wants a mindless boob who goes along blindly with with whatever demand shareholders want no matter how stupid and makes no decisions himself is a narrow-minded idiot. I want a CEO who will be bold and buck mindless crowds, not a glorified yes-man.

"Like the mafia running protection rackets, management has inserted themselves into the process at the intersection between capital and labor, and between labor and the customer and they demand a cut from everybody."

Huh? Management (a leader) is a necessary part of any enterprise, they are part of the team. You can't sail a ship without a captain, otherwise you just have anarchy and everyone trying to run things on their own. And CEOs are hired by shareholders, they don't "insert" themselves into anything. They demand a cut, because like a general they are main person responsible for whether anything actually works or not and are what generates the profit and capitial for the company. Would Disney be where it is today without Walt or Eisner? Ford without Henry Ford? Or GE without Edision? Chrysler wihtout Lee Iaocco? Apple without Jobs or Microsoft without Gates?  

"With precious little to show for their input."

I guess growing multinational companies, innovation and huge profits don't count for much to you.

"Anybody who decries socialism should certainly decry the current business model as practiced by most American companies.  It is antiquated and doomed to failure."

What are you smoking? Socialism is when a government runs and controls everything, it has zilch to do with how private enterprises are run and are structured. Those occur by freedom of choice and by volunteering to participate in the enterprise. Stockholders and laborers certaintly don't whine about how CEO's "insert" themselves when those CEOs and their decisions, leadership, vision and skill in putting everything together generates billions for them.   

Next you'll be telling me colleges are facist because professors can and do control their students when they are in their class.