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Corporations are not human & do not have human motives/incentives.
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Very interesting and illustrates a gaping hole in what happens when you attempt to stifle a free market.
Corporatism != Capitalism. It’s a common theme amongst the left that they are equal. Unfortunately for many on the right, defining corporatism marks you as some sort of hippie scum.
Corporations should not be given the benefits they are now for just the reasons mentioned in your linked article. It is natural for them to do exactly what they do. But when I started my own company, incorporation was a no brainer as it protected me against someone wanting to sue me for everything I was worth should I somehow mess up their wedding photos (it happens, trust me).
Part of the problem is our overly litigious society, part of it is the failure to teach an ethos of hard work to our children and instead are teaching them that they are owed stuff, and part of it involves our politicians who are bought and paid for.
I wouldn’t say we can’t vote ourselves out of it. The last election has shown that like the Ents of Lord of the Rings, Americans may be slow to anger, but once they are, look out.
It’s a tough topic, because corporations aren’t people, they are legal golems, designed to protect people and make more efficient use of resources. In that light, I have no problem restricting the rights of these legal constructs.
Where I see a problem is when we have media corporations who are happy to influence political actions using the power of the press they own. It’s unfair to the other corporations. If the NYT can publish opinion pieces, or sell ad space to favored politicians/movements, other corporations should be able to have similar influence.
Still, it is a good idea to always remember that a corporation is not a human, and the collective will of a corporation is just as dangerous as the collective will of government.
Corporations ARE people.
The are built out of people, have legal personhood as people, and have rational motives that are easily understood.
How can the sum whole of people be alien? The math does not add up.
The author at Popehat understands that corporations act like people, if conditions are not favorable to their survival THEY WILL MOVE. This happens in every type of observable animal behavior. Animals that do not move to more favorable conditions as opportunities arise end up extinct.
The “collective will” of the corporation is no more or less dangerous than the “collective will” of a government, church group, or student association.
IF we remove protections on corporations in our legal system, where will they go? What will they do? What are the second and third order ramifications?
Maybe if politicians had thought about second and third order effects before giving the US the highest corporate tax rate in the world and setting up free trade agreements we would have lower corporate taxes and “fair trade” agreements.
But hey, I’m only thinking logically here.
edit, Charles Straus’s article was published at antipope.com not popehat.
Mea Culpa…
Wow. Five days and over 400 comments! I haven’t even read them all, let alone digest them. . .
Interestingly enough, the Southern Pacific case that originally established Corporations as people does nothing of the sort, it’s only a headnote that declares corporations to be persons with all the rights of persons. Lazy research and citing took it from there.
I don’t particularly think it is the mere existence of Corporations and limited liability that does this, but more the concept of fractional ownership which dilutes and disperses responsibility. Robb Allen doesn’t need to worry about his soul, but if he were to “take his corporation public” and sell his controlling ownership to others to the point that only the managers were in charge, then the golem has escaped.