>Stock just serves as a mechanism to distribute the risk
>associated with said exploitation.
Hey, don't forget the profits. Stocks are certificates of ownership of the capital stock and the profits it produces when humans put it to work (or vice versa, as it sometimes seems).
The use of "risk" really deserves some careful scrutiny. The risks that the shareholders and senior managers of a large public company faces are pretty different from those your average worker faces. Even a failed CEO isn't likely to suffer repetitive strain injury, not to mention death, on the job.
Doug