4 ms·

Amazon, the corporation, should only have 1 incentive - to maximize shareholder value.

ionised 8y ago
I mean, that's not a legal requirement and in the past companies were expected to maintain some kind of social conscience. Not sure when that changed.
- Maybestring 8y ago
  https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/f... Friedman argued it was good for corporations to be greedy, and corporate America liked that idea.
  - ionised 8y ago
    The more I learn about Friedman and Hayek the more I hate them and the politicians that still cling to their hack theories in the face of overwhelming evidence that they don't work for anyone but the amassers of capital. Their views on people as individual self-interested rational actors are so narrow and simplistic.
- bluedevil2k 8y ago
  I think in the past companies were far less concerned with social conscience than they are today. The entire reason for the EPA is because too many companies were dumping toxic chemicals into the water supply (1). (1) http://time.com/4696104/environmental-protection-agency-1970-history/ http://time.com/4696104/environmental-protection-agency-1970...
notahacker 8y ago
This is good for people who are Amazon shareholders and sometimes good for people who are Amazon customers. There are many people in Seattle who stand to benefit more from having better roads, schools or provision for homeless people. Some of them, shockingly, are not Amazon shareholders or even Amazon customers. Why would they trust Jeff Bezos to help more than even an unusually inept public official with their problems, when providing such services to the people of Seattle without charge is manifestly not in the financial interests of the average Amazon shareholder?
unethical_ban 8y ago
Corporations are part of the communities from which they hire. They have ethical, if not legal, obligations to their workers and their communities. Also, do you think it's interesting how everyone who disagrees with you is downvoted into low-contrast?

I mean, that's not a legal requirement and in the past companies were expected to maintain some kind of social conscience. Not sure when that changed.

Maybestring 8y ago
https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/f... Friedman argued it was good for corporations to be greedy, and corporate America liked that idea.
- ionised 8y ago
  The more I learn about Friedman and Hayek the more I hate them and the politicians that still cling to their hack theories in the face of overwhelming evidence that they don't work for anyone but the amassers of capital. Their views on people as individual self-interested rational actors are so narrow and simplistic.
bluedevil2k 8y ago
I think in the past companies were far less concerned with social conscience than they are today. The entire reason for the EPA is because too many companies were dumping toxic chemicals into the water supply (1). (1) http://time.com/4696104/environmental-protection-agency-1970-history/ http://time.com/4696104/environmental-protection-agency-1970...

notahacker 8y ago

This is good for people who are Amazon shareholders and sometimes good for people who are Amazon customers. There are many people in Seattle who stand to benefit more from having better roads, schools or provision for homeless people. Some of them, shockingly, are not Amazon shareholders or even Amazon customers. Why would they trust Jeff Bezos to help more than even an unusually inept public official with their problems, when providing such services to the people of Seattle without charge is manifestly not in the financial interests of the average Amazon shareholder?

unethical_ban 8y ago

Corporations are part of the communities from which they hire. They have ethical, if not legal, obligations to their workers and their communities. Also, do you think it's interesting how everyone who disagrees with you is downvoted into low-contrast?