8 ms·

Corporate governance is authoritarian. Period.

by aj7 6y ago

Frost1x 6y ago
And its growing ever more unavoidable in daily life for anyone trying to live. Pretty much everyone is becoming subject to these authoritarian regimes (corporate structures) as they invade and carve away at our democracy through financial influence, regulatory capture, etc.
- Avicebron 6y ago
  This should be actively fought every step of the way. We don't have to allow any corporation to do anything, they belong to the people who believe and give them power. Everything can be taken away, and everything can be burned.
- mc32 6y ago
  HOAs too. As if municipal codes and such aren’t enough for people.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    I've heard HOAs called "4th level of government" (fed / state / local / HOA)
    - Apocryphon 6y ago
      The real Fourth Estate!
- seph-reed 6y ago
  I've been playing with the idea of equity cash lately. Something where the more money you've spent at a place, the more say you have in how it is run. Not really sure of what way that could be done, but the premise feels right so far.
  - dwiel 6y ago
    Is there a way a startup could set up this business model, or would it necessarily require all the tax and legal implications of a publicly traded company?
    - jamiepenney 6y ago
      This is how cooperative supermarkets work - they're consumer co-ops.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - firethief 6y ago
    Like REI?
  - gremlinsinc 6y ago
    See this post.. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414911 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414911 haha literally like tangentially above yours...
- WalterBright 6y ago
  The more powerful the government is, the more it can be corrupted.
  - freeone3000 6y ago
    But that's an extra hoop. Without joining together in governance, what stops corporations from exercising their power on individuals directly?
  - Apocryphon 6y ago
    And what keeps corporations from becoming governments unto themselves?
    - Frondo 6y ago
      The libertarian argument generally goes that competition will keep them all in check, but history has shown again and again how it doesn't work in the general case. If you want to see what small government/strong corporate control is like, look back a century in American history. Corporations controlled much more of American life than they do even now, and the 20th century regulatory state is all very much a direct response to all that. Lot less time to go surfing back then, too.
      - gremlinsinc 6y ago
        There's a way down the middle. Unions. Say a group of people unionized and formed a collective coop org. Workers would get paid fairly who were employed by the co-op and would be members of the union. The union would create it's own credit union and financial instruments and be a mesh of a CU and old style savings/loan. The CU/Bank aspect would also invest in real estate (section 8 housing mostly and other but try to keep rents down wherever it has rentals and keep rent competition in check). $$ brought in would be pooled, and as we grew to a certain size we'd launch our own health insurance company. All $$ from investments/real estate/etc would go towards the health care, premiums would basically be collective medical costs - income from investments / members of union, and members could choose to pay more for members w/ more financial burden. Eventually we could start other businesses and encourage our union to ONLY use those businesses that we own as a co-op. ISPs, Amazon-clone, Google alternative, etc... Eventually we gain $$ and power to start building or buying hospitals of our own. We also invest in our own generics drug company and maybe even a research company to design new drugs. Everything we do we deliver at cost or close medical wise. When we have surplus at the end of the year members vote whether we should diversify it into more investments, pay out dividends to all union members, or apply it to the medical fund, etc.... Eventually we could expand beyond our co-op and offer to be the 'benefit plan' for states' medicaid/medicare, as well as employer plans. The goal being have better quality and lower costs for employers, states, and members. Eventually we get state $$ on top of union dues to cover the $$ needed for our m4a plan. If we're constantly in the green, we could start looking at a UBI plan. The concept is a marriage of capitalism, unions, socialism, libertarianism. It's based on the concept of dual power. Eventually you get enough power that you weaken the healthcare lobbies (by taking their business) so that the $$ and political will to thwart you isn't there because they can no longer enrich politicians because they're cash on hand keeps dwindling, eventually we'd have more $ to lobby with than they would.

Corporate governance is authoritarian. Period.

by aj7 6y ago

Corporate governance is authoritarian. Period.

And its growing ever more unavoidable in daily life for anyone trying to live. Pretty much everyone is becoming subject to these authoritarian regimes (corporate structures) as they invade and carve away at our democracy through financial influence, regulatory capture, etc.

Avicebron 6y ago
This should be actively fought every step of the way. We don't have to allow any corporation to do anything, they belong to the people who believe and give them power. Everything can be taken away, and everything can be burned.
mc32 6y ago
HOAs too. As if municipal codes and such aren’t enough for people.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  I've heard HOAs called "4th level of government" (fed / state / local / HOA)
  - Apocryphon 6y ago
    The real Fourth Estate!
seph-reed 6y ago
I've been playing with the idea of equity cash lately. Something where the more money you've spent at a place, the more say you have in how it is run. Not really sure of what way that could be done, but the premise feels right so far.
- dwiel 6y ago
  Is there a way a startup could set up this business model, or would it necessarily require all the tax and legal implications of a publicly traded company?
  - jamiepenney 6y ago
    This is how cooperative supermarkets work - they're consumer co-ops.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- firethief 6y ago
  Like REI?
- gremlinsinc 6y ago
  See this post.. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414911 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414911 haha literally like tangentially above yours...
WalterBright 6y ago
The more powerful the government is, the more it can be corrupted.
- freeone3000 6y ago
  But that's an extra hoop. Without joining together in governance, what stops corporations from exercising their power on individuals directly?
- Apocryphon 6y ago
  And what keeps corporations from becoming governments unto themselves?
  - Frondo 6y ago
    The libertarian argument generally goes that competition will keep them all in check, but history has shown again and again how it doesn't work in the general case. If you want to see what small government/strong corporate control is like, look back a century in American history. Corporations controlled much more of American life than they do even now, and the 20th century regulatory state is all very much a direct response to all that. Lot less time to go surfing back then, too.
    - gremlinsinc 6y ago
      There's a way down the middle. Unions. Say a group of people unionized and formed a collective coop org. Workers would get paid fairly who were employed by the co-op and would be members of the union. The union would create it's own credit union and financial instruments and be a mesh of a CU and old style savings/loan. The CU/Bank aspect would also invest in real estate (section 8 housing mostly and other but try to keep rents down wherever it has rentals and keep rent competition in check). $$ brought in would be pooled, and as we grew to a certain size we'd launch our own health insurance company. All $$ from investments/real estate/etc would go towards the health care, premiums would basically be collective medical costs - income from investments / members of union, and members could choose to pay more for members w/ more financial burden. Eventually we could start other businesses and encourage our union to ONLY use those businesses that we own as a co-op. ISPs, Amazon-clone, Google alternative, etc... Eventually we gain $$ and power to start building or buying hospitals of our own. We also invest in our own generics drug company and maybe even a research company to design new drugs. Everything we do we deliver at cost or close medical wise. When we have surplus at the end of the year members vote whether we should diversify it into more investments, pay out dividends to all union members, or apply it to the medical fund, etc.... Eventually we could expand beyond our co-op and offer to be the 'benefit plan' for states' medicaid/medicare, as well as employer plans. The goal being have better quality and lower costs for employers, states, and members. Eventually we get state $$ on top of union dues to cover the $$ needed for our m4a plan. If we're constantly in the green, we could start looking at a UBI plan. The concept is a marriage of capitalism, unions, socialism, libertarianism. It's based on the concept of dual power. Eventually you get enough power that you weaken the healthcare lobbies (by taking their business) so that the $$ and political will to thwart you isn't there because they can no longer enrich politicians because they're cash on hand keeps dwindling, eventually we'd have more $ to lobby with than they would.