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Capitalism is not just people trading with each other. We invented lots of legal fictions to get where we are today, and they're pretty effective. For instance,
by natrius 10y ago
Capitalism is not just people trading with each other. We invented lots of legal fictions to get where we are today, and they're pretty effective. For instance, if you contribute your capital to a corporation, you'll be rewarded with an agreed upon portion of the corporations dividends. It looks like the company is rewarding you, but it's really society. We create and enforce rules like these—private property, limited liability, etc.—because they make us more prosperous. But they're artificial. They're not laws of nature. They can have flaws.
- arethuza 10y ago"limited liability" I think people forget how big a deal this is - people who don't have it (e.g. old fashioned "joint and several liability" partnerships) can be in for a whole world of misery. I remember hearing a BBC Radio 4 program a few years back on a financial disaster where a bank was both mutual and didn't have limited liability and collapsed, that was a disaster for anyone who had deposits at the bank (no matter how small).