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I think most people see acting entirely and solely in the pursuit of maximizing profits as evil and they use "corporations are evil" as a shorthand for that. T
by multiplegeorges 6y ago
I think most people see acting entirely and solely in the pursuit of maximizing profits as evil and they use "corporations are evil" as a shorthand for that.
That evil behaviour from corporations is largely due to the focus on maximizing shareholder value to the exclusion of all else. That's a fairly recent way of running a business that came about around 1970, primarily from Milton Friedman.
I think most people expect a company to work towards healthy profits, while also taking into account all stakeholders, not just shareholders, their business interacts with.
You're right in the sense that the rules are the way they are, so corporations act within those rules. However, those rules were largely put in place to make it easier to pursue the maximization of profits and were pushed by corporate lobbying.
So, if an entity wants to act in an evil way, but is constrained by rules, then gets those rules changed so it can act evilly with impunity, surely that entity should be seen as evil?
- riantogo 6y agoI think we are both saying the same thing. The problem is creating a weak set of rules (you can pay employees less, you can fire at will, you can circumvent taxes, you can pollute etc.), and then expecting one company to do more when their competitors don't while both are competing in the same race. I think congress has failed the people and hide behind, "look at that evil corp". Heck, Zuckerberg is pleading congress to pass strict privacy laws and Amazon is pushing for higher min wages. The reason is that it will level the field and they don't have alone play by a different set of rules and see users go to competitors.
- adamcstephens 6y agoZuckerberg wants Congress to pass privacy laws only because that may preempt state level laws. If the states do it, there will be a mix of laws, some of which will inevitably hurt Facebook. This is a common tactic and is made easier by the easy money in DC.
- riantogo 6y agoSure. But it is also the right thing to do. Online privacy laws is best at federal level (not state and county levels).
- brigandish 6y agoWhy? I see no inherent reason why this is so.