When many businesses did not have sufficient reserves to pay the next month’s rent after less than a month of slowdown, and when many more furloughed or laid off thousands of workers for the same reason, it will be tempting to single out examples for shaming. But the finger-pointing will obscure a central question that must be answered if we want our economy to better endure unexpected shocks in the future: Are Americans well served by a corporate governance system that has encouraged all sectors of the economy to run their businesses on fumes?

What we mean by that is simple. Families are encouraged to put aside a reserve to pay their mortgages and bills and to feed themselves in case of an emergency. Why don’t corporations do the same? After a 10-year economic expansion that led to record increases in earnings, plus huge corporate tax relief, American corporations should have had substantial cash reserves to sustain them during a short period without revenue. But many did not, and instead were highly leveraged, lacked adequate reserves and lived paycheck to paycheck, so to speak. What happened to that cash? Much of it was returned to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks.

At the same time, American corporations weakened the traditional gain-sharing between the workforce and stockholders that characterized the post-World War II era. During that period, when corporate profits went up, workers shared equitably in the gains. Not any more.

There are many reasons for this, including diminished legal protection for workers seeking to unionize. But our corporate governance system must accept substantial responsibility for the slant against workers and in favor of stockholders. Powerful institutional investors have arisen to pressure companies to reduce the share of corporate profits that goes into workers’ paychecks and tilt companies toward riskier balance sheets. Making this more piquant is that these institutional investors wield the power that flows from the 401(k) retirement savings of American workers, worker-investors who derive almost all of their wealth and savings from their continued access to a job and fair pay raises.

Recently, the Business Roundtable and leading institutional investors have responded to growing inequality and economic insecurity by calling for greater respect toward all corporate stakeholders, not just stockholders. But what does it say about whether rhetoric is enough that, in the national emergency we are facing, American workers and taxpayers, not institutional investors or top corporate managers, are bearing the brunt of the harm? We are again paying the price for a corporate governance system that lacks focus on financial soundness, sustainable wealth creation and the fair treatment of workers.