3 ms·

But neither am I arguing that it is "unambiguously bad", so perhaps we are misunderstanding each other :) What I'm saying is that I find it difficult to praise

But neither am I arguing that it is "unambiguously bad", so perhaps we are misunderstanding each other :) What I'm saying is that I find it difficult to praise a company for its success when that success is at least in part predicated upon costs that they do not bear. In other words "profits for them, costs for us all". All that could be solved, or at least improved, by adequately pricing in those externalities, or even restricting them all together (e.g. for emissions: carbon tax + hard cap). And I don't buy the "they're not in control of whether or not externalities are priced in", they have immense lobbying power to de facto subvert democracy and overpower the will of the people. They can kill or stall legislation that harms their bottom line, and of course they will! It makes them more money so why ever wouldn't they?

bhupy 6y ago
> And I don't buy the "they're not in control of whether or not externalities are priced in", they have immense lobbying power to de facto subvert democracy and overpower the will of the people. They can kill or stall legislation that harms their bottom line, and of course they will! It makes them more money so why ever wouldn't they? What evidence do you have that Amazon, specifically, has done this? And why would Amazon work towards becoming 100% renewable by 2025 (surely at a high cost to them) or investing $2B in climate action (that's roughly how much they'd have to pay in carbon pricing anyway), if they actually wish to lobby against carbon pricing legislation? That is internally inconsistent.