2 ms·

It works whatever way public sentiment wants it to work. Most of us live in a democracy, laws aren’t black and white and can be changed on a whim with little m

It works whatever way public sentiment wants it to work. Most of us live in a democracy, laws aren’t black and white and can be changed on a whim with little more than a single election cycle, or interpreted by courts in any arbitrary fashion. Sure, a large company can push unfair practices to a point, and can throw lawyers at it to a point but I think some large companies fatally underestimate the danger of flouting their position; the US government or a pissed off Judge could shut down Amazon’s entire operation in a day if there was the political will or some scandal came about. So it is absolutely in their self-interest to make sure their practices are “fair”.

rsj_hn 5y ago
Well, we don't live in a democracy, we live in a republic with various roadblocks and safeguards that make it much harder to pass laws than taking public opinion polls. There is the dreaded senate, for example, that can block laws. So as is often the case, the legal system is quite conservative whereas people wildly claim that whatever they don't like at the moment -- whatever seems "unfair" should be illegal, and fortunately there are usually enough roadblocks to prevent that from happening. > the US government or a pissed off Judge could shut down Amazon’s entire operation in a day if there was the political will or some scandal came about. Nope. Even if there are pissed off or crusading judges -- of which there are plenty -- those decisions will get appealed and overturned via the appeals process and it definately will not take one day, these cases can take a decade as they wind their way to the supreme court where they are finally turned into nothingburgers most of the time, to the constant fury of those who insist that their ever-changing moods should be encoded in law, or that a pissed off judge should be able to carve apart a company. There is a reason this has never happened in the history of the U.S. Sometimes monopolies are broken up, but you can usually count on one hand how many times that will happen in your lifetime -- I think ATT was the last time that happened, before most of the people on this site were born. And it hasn't happened since. The judicial system just doesn't have this power and laws are very slow to change, requiring much more than just a shift in public opinion.

rsj_hn 5y ago

Well, we don't live in a democracy, we live in a republic with various roadblocks and safeguards that make it much harder to pass laws than taking public opinion polls. There is the dreaded senate, for example, that can block laws. So as is often the case, the legal system is quite conservative whereas people wildly claim that whatever they don't like at the moment -- whatever seems "unfair" should be illegal, and fortunately there are usually enough roadblocks to prevent that from happening. > the US government or a pissed off Judge could shut down Amazon’s entire operation in a day if there was the political will or some scandal came about. Nope. Even if there are pissed off or crusading judges -- of which there are plenty -- those decisions will get appealed and overturned via the appeals process and it definately will not take one day, these cases can take a decade as they wind their way to the supreme court where they are finally turned into nothingburgers most of the time, to the constant fury of those who insist that their ever-changing moods should be encoded in law, or that a pissed off judge should be able to carve apart a company. There is a reason this has never happened in the history of the U.S. Sometimes monopolies are broken up, but you can usually count on one hand how many times that will happen in your lifetime -- I think ATT was the last time that happened, before most of the people on this site were born. And it hasn't happened since. The judicial system just doesn't have this power and laws are very slow to change, requiring much more than just a shift in public opinion.