It would seem that I struck a very touchy nerve — like where a piece of frigid ice stabs into the exposed root of a split molar.

I'm referring to my implication last week that Bain & Company's ESOP had some very poorly reported transactions made between itself and the Bain 401(k) a decade ago.

I was variously accused, publicly and privately, of promoting a particular agenda or of cynically trying to drum up views on my blog. This is of course an open forum where I and our readers are free to espouse whatever views we wish; if I wanted to, I could spend an entire blog advocating that we abolish stop signs, define an ERISA fiduciary as anyone who sneezes on a 5500, or that all ponies should be sent to the moon.

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