Reading through the comments on Cedric's post, I came across this beautiful gem by Hani:

"it's probably no coincedence that many/most agilists (at least,that I know of, they don't tend to be a closeted species) are consultant types; an environment where maintanability is not an issue, and the fact that it takes a long time to get acquainted is a *good* thing."

As a consultant, I can tell you this: if I write unmaintainable code, I don't get invited back next quarter. If I don't contribute right away, I don't get invited back next week. Generalizations like this are just silly. Maybe there are companies that just pay out consulting fees without bothering to examine the results, but if they're out there, could somebody please hook me up? We're looking for a cushy gig.