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I think what we need is acknowledgement that any sufficiently large institution is indistinguishable from government, and include only those corporations that m

I think what we need is acknowledgement that any sufficiently large institution is indistinguishable from government, and include only those corporations that meet the criteria of "too big to be private" (related to "too big to fail") in restrictions placed on government.

cmdrfred 10y ago
Who defines sufficiently large? There is probably a ISP that is smaller than the New York Times does this standard not apply to them?
- philipov 10y ago
  I don't think it's possible to create a totally incorruptible system, and who defines sufficiently large is an important problem, but I think it's not a reason to dismiss the idea. Any regulation is plagued by this question and the specter of regulatory capture. Do you think it's possible to counteract the natural decay of free markets without a [del:'central'] regulatory authority? No, that standard would not apply to a small ISP. The premise is institutions that grow strong enough are able to unduly influence and capture the regulators more easily. Corporations need to be kept small enough to regulate effectively. The existence of "too big to fail" private institutions is a threat to democracy. EDIT: National government, itself an institution, also needs to be kept small enough that it can be contained by the regulators on it, so this is clearly not a simple problem. The issue there (in my opinion) is that the check on national government is supposed to be the states, and they are too weak to do that effectively.
- bigbugbag 10y ago
  I volunteer to define sufficiently large, and I say larger than 0 is sufficiently large. Why ? Because a big player can buy or control any smaller player, so if you want protection from the bigger ones, you need either to protect from everyone or change the way corporation work. I'd suggest going back to earlier times when corporations did not have the same rights as humans and were of public interest, or maybe remove the stock exchange, or limit gambling to banks' own money instead of using deposits.
mirimir 10y ago
I wouldn't say "indistinguishable", because governments at least theoretically serve the people's will. US law was initially quite hostile to corporations, which were considered unaccountable. Until the late 1800s, only corporations with public-interest charters were legal.

cmdrfred 10y ago

Who defines sufficiently large? There is probably a ISP that is smaller than the New York Times does this standard not apply to them?

philipov 10y ago
I don't think it's possible to create a totally incorruptible system, and who defines sufficiently large is an important problem, but I think it's not a reason to dismiss the idea. Any regulation is plagued by this question and the specter of regulatory capture. Do you think it's possible to counteract the natural decay of free markets without a [del:'central'] regulatory authority? No, that standard would not apply to a small ISP. The premise is institutions that grow strong enough are able to unduly influence and capture the regulators more easily. Corporations need to be kept small enough to regulate effectively. The existence of "too big to fail" private institutions is a threat to democracy. EDIT: National government, itself an institution, also needs to be kept small enough that it can be contained by the regulators on it, so this is clearly not a simple problem. The issue there (in my opinion) is that the check on national government is supposed to be the states, and they are too weak to do that effectively.
bigbugbag 10y ago
I volunteer to define sufficiently large, and I say larger than 0 is sufficiently large. Why ? Because a big player can buy or control any smaller player, so if you want protection from the bigger ones, you need either to protect from everyone or change the way corporation work. I'd suggest going back to earlier times when corporations did not have the same rights as humans and were of public interest, or maybe remove the stock exchange, or limit gambling to banks' own money instead of using deposits.

mirimir 10y ago

I wouldn't say "indistinguishable", because governments at least theoretically serve the people's will. US law was initially quite hostile to corporations, which were considered unaccountable. Until the late 1800s, only corporations with public-interest charters were legal.