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Were it up to me I'd personalize all liability, including legal. No more corporate fines. Fines levied against corporations should come directly from the person

Were it up to me I'd personalize all liability, including legal. No more corporate fines. Fines levied against corporations should come directly from the personal fortunes of shareholders and legal malfeasance should always result in prison time for the decision makers, even if it's as little as a single week in jail.

londons_explore 6y ago
Would anyone dare touch a stock market if they were personally responsible for liabilities of companies they invest in? Particularly in the case of stock indexes - where a single company with a $xxT poorly written contract could wipe out the entire index and everyone who held it.
- Causality1 6y ago
  Proportionality. If you own one tenth of one percent of the stock you should have one tenth of one percent of the liability. No liability equals no responsibility equals no integrity. Being an amoral company should be just as likely to end in disaster as being an amoral person.
- lstodd 6y ago
  Why not? Insurance companies will skim some profit off, is all
  - londons_explore 6y ago
    Imagine some middle manager in some S&P 500 company approves a contract that says: "Company A agrees to purchase for $1000 each product offered by company B which meet the specifications provided". And Company B finds that the spec says "A quartz crystal between 1um and 1mm in diameter". So company B goes and finds a beach, full of sand, calculates there are 1 billion grains of sand in each cubic meter of the beach, and the beach is 50m long, 50m deep, and 50m wide. Total amount is 50 * 50 * 50 * 1 billion * $1000 = $125 quadrillion. Far more than all the money in the world. That bankrupts the company, but since there is no liability limit, it bankrupts every other investor. Even if you have 0.0001% of the company, you're still bankrupt. If you have insurance, the insurance company is bankrupt, and you're still on the hook for whatever remains, which bankrupts you too.
    - Causality1 6y ago
      What in the world are you on about? I said shareholders should have to personally pay the fines when companies commit crimes. Edit: ah, I should've been more specific about that. Still, I didn't say anything about the liability being unlimited.
      - londons_explore 6y ago
        > "Were it up to me I'd personalize all liability" Contractual liability is a thing...

londons_explore 6y ago

Would anyone dare touch a stock market if they were personally responsible for liabilities of companies they invest in? Particularly in the case of stock indexes - where a single company with a $xxT poorly written contract could wipe out the entire index and everyone who held it.

Causality1 6y ago
Proportionality. If you own one tenth of one percent of the stock you should have one tenth of one percent of the liability. No liability equals no responsibility equals no integrity. Being an amoral company should be just as likely to end in disaster as being an amoral person.
lstodd 6y ago
Why not? Insurance companies will skim some profit off, is all
- londons_explore 6y ago
  Imagine some middle manager in some S&P 500 company approves a contract that says: "Company A agrees to purchase for $1000 each product offered by company B which meet the specifications provided". And Company B finds that the spec says "A quartz crystal between 1um and 1mm in diameter". So company B goes and finds a beach, full of sand, calculates there are 1 billion grains of sand in each cubic meter of the beach, and the beach is 50m long, 50m deep, and 50m wide. Total amount is 50 * 50 * 50 * 1 billion * $1000 = $125 quadrillion. Far more than all the money in the world. That bankrupts the company, but since there is no liability limit, it bankrupts every other investor. Even if you have 0.0001% of the company, you're still bankrupt. If you have insurance, the insurance company is bankrupt, and you're still on the hook for whatever remains, which bankrupts you too.
  - Causality1 6y ago
    What in the world are you on about? I said shareholders should have to personally pay the fines when companies commit crimes. Edit: ah, I should've been more specific about that. Still, I didn't say anything about the liability being unlimited.
    - londons_explore 6y ago
      > "Were it up to me I'd personalize all liability" Contractual liability is a thing...