The boards are “incestuous” as you put it, because the directors are the biggest stockholders, meaning in essence they own the companies in large part.
Investors can choose to get involved in the companies or not. We are not getting a basic course in economic realiy from these headlines.
Not necessarily true. I can remember owning more stock in a company I worked for than several members of the board....combined. BTW, this was a VERY large Fortune 500 company.