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everyone keeps writing about how "we live in the age of corporates", and how "the state has no power today". and then US corporations, arguably the largest and

by kmlx 7y ago

everyone keeps writing about how "we live in the age of corporates", and how "the state has no power today". and then US corporations, arguably the largest and most powerful of all of them out there, simply bend over to the any whims of the US gov like they're literally grass under a boot. also, same gov: "we do free trade, but only with our nsa infected stuff"

NicoJuicy 7y ago
Free trade is not a right, it's a reward for following global rules based on centuries of civilizations. As all things, there could be improvements. Oversimplification ignores edge-cases.
jarfil 7y ago
When corporations control the government, it's just some corporations forcing the hand of some other corporations. In this case, corporations who compete with Huawei forcing the hand of corporations who benefit from doing business with Huawei.
iamnothere 7y ago
Corporates (when united) and the government are roughly in parity regarding "soft" power. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other does. The government does a lot of sabre-rattling towards corporates who step out of line, but they often can't do much more. There is a real risk of dynamiting the economy if they start being too harsh, and the problem right now is that everyone is a bad actor in one way or another, so you can't just start aggressive enforcement across the board. When it comes to individual corporates or smaller groups of them, it can be productive to think of the government as its own collection of organizations with their own relative power levels, budgets, connections, etc. The DoD is the largest organization in the world, so it's got a lot of weight; when it steps in, people listen and obey. Dept of State is pretty big as well, especially considering its connections to other powerful entities. By contrast, smaller organizations like the EPA tend to get ignored, and the worst they can usually do the big guys is a slap on the wrist.
ASalazarMX 7y ago
Corporations can bribe governments or even infiltrate institutions, but in the end, governments have the monopoly on law and the violence to uphold it.

by kmlx 7y ago

NicoJuicy 7y ago

Free trade is not a right, it's a reward for following global rules based on centuries of civilizations. As all things, there could be improvements. Oversimplification ignores edge-cases.

jarfil 7y ago

When corporations control the government, it's just some corporations forcing the hand of some other corporations. In this case, corporations who compete with Huawei forcing the hand of corporations who benefit from doing business with Huawei.

iamnothere 7y ago

Corporates (when united) and the government are roughly in parity regarding "soft" power. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other does. The government does a lot of sabre-rattling towards corporates who step out of line, but they often can't do much more. There is a real risk of dynamiting the economy if they start being too harsh, and the problem right now is that everyone is a bad actor in one way or another, so you can't just start aggressive enforcement across the board. When it comes to individual corporates or smaller groups of them, it can be productive to think of the government as its own collection of organizations with their own relative power levels, budgets, connections, etc. The DoD is the largest organization in the world, so it's got a lot of weight; when it steps in, people listen and obey. Dept of State is pretty big as well, especially considering its connections to other powerful entities. By contrast, smaller organizations like the EPA tend to get ignored, and the worst they can usually do the big guys is a slap on the wrist.

ASalazarMX 7y ago

Corporations can bribe governments or even infiltrate institutions, but in the end, governments have the monopoly on law and the violence to uphold it.