Hulver's site || corporations' power?

corporations' power?

Privatise everything they're great	2 votes - 40 %
Slightyly too much power	3 votes - 60 %
About right	0 votes - 0 %
A little bit too weak	0 votes - 0 %
We're basically in a communist system	0 votes - 0 %
Other	0 votes - 0 %

5 Total Votes

The Corporation | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

WIPO: fucking marvellous by Rogerborg (4.00 / 3) #1 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 05:46:31 AM EST

As long as you own one.

-
Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.

Book by DullTrev (4.00 / 1) #2 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 05:53:27 AM EST

I'm reading that at the moment. The only problem I've found with it so far (I'm not finished it) is that he's given his one idea (Corporations must act only to increase their profits) then just given lots of fairly obvious examples. But hey, it's still quite a good book.

--
DFJ?

Also by jump the ladder (2.00 / 0) #3 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 06:03:02 AM EST

In parts a bit similar to Naomi Klein's No Logo where he investigates the Walmart third world sweatshops. Better on the history and philosophy behind the rise of the corporation.

[ Parent ]

: history by martingale (2.00 / 0) #4 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 06:28:57 AM EST

It'd be interesting to compare corps with old style guilds.
--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$
[ Parent ]
: Have you read Company Man by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #12 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 10:35:19 AM EST

by Anthony Sampson? Very interesting documentation of the rise of corporations.

[ Parent ]

Saw the film. Haven't read the book. by Evil Cloaked User (4.00 / 1) #5 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 06:29:11 AM EST

I presume the book didn't have photos? That was quite a scary moustache to see on a big screen.

--
Still, I think most of the problem is just a mental hurdle to overcome, - Cloaked User

You Yerpians just don't get it by MillMan (4.00 / 1) #6 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:26:08 AM EST

us Americans aren't free unless we have the freedom to sell ourselves into corporate servitude. Luckily the rest of the world is slowly catching up to this concept.

he's not trolling - That's just the truth.

Hmm by jump the ladder (4.00 / 1) #8 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:36:53 AM EST

I'll think you'll find Britain isn't much different, a very thin veneer of social democracy and nobile obligesse seperates us from USia

[ Parent ]

: yeah by MillMan (4.00 / 2) #9 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:44:54 AM EST

I have put that together through my readings. IIRC England is the only wealthy country that comes close to the levels of poverty and other social problems that the US has. I think of continental Europe and Scandanavia differently, even though I usually lump everyone together.
I might check this book out, actually.
he's not trolling - That's just the truth.
[ Parent ]

Corporate responsibility by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 2) #7 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 07:31:55 AM EST

One of my friends is the corporate responsibilty officer for a largeish financial instituion. She's well aware that it's more about the appearance of responsibilty than the fact. Her company is getting better apparently and now only employs child soldiers in Kenya and India, while its slave trading operations have become somewhat of an embarrassment since a couple of the journalists who were on the take to keep quiet have died under mysterious circumstances.

Saw the documentary by LoppEar (4.00 / 2) #10 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 08:16:23 AM EST

And recommend it. Left me thinking:

Suppose that corporations are not inherently evil, and the people working in them actually do not intend to do evil things.
Suppose the harm caused by corps is an emergent property of their singular responsibility: improving shareholder value.
Recognize that laws and charters allow corporations to exist, that we created these things, and we can change them - current corporate realities may not be an unavoidable outcome of 'believing' in free markets and capitalism.

Can we rewrite the rules of corporate responsibility so that it is based on MORE than shareholder value? (I have no idea what I even mean by this.)

As suggested in the movie (probably the book too), should we actively consider revoking the charters of businesses that disregard social needs and laws as purely monetary/business decisions? (It's the death penalty for corps!)

Can we use the idea of corps as people to guide fixes to psycopathy? Is my desire for castration, death, or punitive damages hypocritical? What form would corporate rehabilitation take, to make them better contributing members of society?

(My previous diary about the documentary.)

Hyprocrisy may not be a key issue by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #11 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 10:33:24 AM EST

because these are artificially constructed persons. We have options (like rewriting the charter, which I would suggest is analogous to rewriting the motivational chemistry of a person's brain) that we do not have with real people. Further, given that we create these monstrosities we have a responsibility to deal with them. If I built a giant robot doing as much damage to the environment of Alaska as Giant UKian oil company (for example) you'd damn well expect the US Army to take it out, by whatever means necessary...

[ Parent ]

corporations, or companies by garlic (2.00 / 0) #13 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 02:48:27 PM EST

Is this corporation specific, or company specific? There are plenty of other ways to setup a company. Do these other company methods lead to the same amount of bad crap?

[ Parent ]

: corporation mostly short for large company by LoppEar (2.00 / 0) #14 Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 04:02:51 PM EST

Although the issues that arise from having a singular responsibility to shareholder value are primarily corporation-specific.
And indeed, the movie and book are exclusively about corporations - off the top of my head, I can't think another legal form of company that combines the protection from personal liability, or the 'personhood' issue. Both of which are good reasons to incorporate, and both of which also cause broader problems in my view. But not easy to just 'fix' them.

[ Parent ]

The Corporation | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


Make a new account
Username:
Password: