31.   Ralph Nader argued that regulation tended to reinforce the status quo, rewarding companies that were already connected.

32.   Satisfied customers reward companies with, among other things, their repeat business, which has a huge effect on cumulative profits.

33.   Some journalists say the stock market appears to reward newspaper companies that press for quarterly profit improvement at all costs rather than those companies that press for journalistic quality.

34.   That is raising questions about the value of taxpayer-financed wage rebates, which increasingly reward companies for creating jobs they would have created anyway.

35.   The credit rewards companies that increase their budgets for research and development of new products, like faster microprocessing chips.

36.   The law rewards companies that reach agreements with their employees on reorganization by giving the companies small subsidies for a few years for the jobs they create.

37.   The six-year-old bull market has consistently rewarded companies that act to cut costs.

38.   The thinking is that some consumers will reward a company deemed socially responsible by purchasing its products.

39.   To be sure, investors are just as likely to penalize companies with bad earnings as they are to reward companies with big profits.

40.   Thriving companies are rewarded with higher stock prices when they announce layoffs, while idled workers often are forced to take new jobs that pay substantially less.