I read somewhere that the MBA, when it was originally debuted at Harvard in the 20's, was originally intended for the people who were going to be the CEO's of like the top 10 or 20 companies in the US: i.e., a genuinely tiny elite.

But like all degree programs, the MBA has suffered from educational inflation and has thus lost its original intended purpose. The idea that every mid-level manager needs an MBA is silly and wasteful.

See also MFA in Creative Writing... :-/