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Imagine there is a manufacturing plant and they have a waste stream of highly toxic chemicals. The cheapest solution is to pump it into the ground, and if in a

Imagine there is a manufacturing plant and they have a waste stream of highly toxic chemicals. The cheapest solution is to pump it into the ground, and if in a decade or two later, those chemicals make their way into the water table it is someone else's problem. For now, management has succeeded in producing higher profits. That scenario has happened in hundreds of sites around the US, including in Silicon Valley, and billions have been spent by the government to clean it up (imperfectly). Under your proposal, we the people and the laws would need to anticipate any harm a company might do, otherwise they are off the hook. Sure, there are laws now against semiconductor companies pushing their chemicals into the ground water, but what future chemical might be in use that isn't named in some law currently? A second point is that of regulatory capture. If a company can spend $100M lobbying politicians, courting regulators, spending on PR to sway public opinion to believe false things, and as a result earn $1B in extra profits, that would be AOK under your plan. Every time someone trots out the false claim that it is a CEOs legal responsibility to maximize profits, I have to wonder about their ethical framework, as if maximizing profits is an inherent good.

pessimizer 4y ago
> Every time someone trots out the false claim that it is a CEOs legal responsibility to maximize profits, I have to wonder about their ethical framework, as if maximizing profits is an inherent good. The problem is that you're talking about how good people are, when other people are talking about how well things work, and about figuring out how to make them work better. Your ethical framework seems to be that people should be good and do good things, but with no reference to what things are good and what things aren't other than the intuition and improvisation of good people, and no reference to what we do if they don't do what we think are good things. If you're relying on the CEO to be a good person, you've dismissed governance as a possibility and anointed kings. In general, I don't think that kings work in my best interest, so I prefer regulations.
- tasty_freeze 4y ago
  I'm not saying that we should only rely on CEOs to do the right thing. We absolutely still need regulation, and mechanisms for fighting regulatory capture. But the original claim was that companies have no responsibility towards ethical behavior; I'm saying we need to strengthen the moral responsibility of CEOs, not weaken it. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it's better than "CEOs are right to do whatever they can get away with."

pessimizer 4y ago

> Every time someone trots out the false claim that it is a CEOs legal responsibility to maximize profits, I have to wonder about their ethical framework, as if maximizing profits is an inherent good. The problem is that you're talking about how good people are, when other people are talking about how well things work, and about figuring out how to make them work better. Your ethical framework seems to be that people should be good and do good things, but with no reference to what things are good and what things aren't other than the intuition and improvisation of good people, and no reference to what we do if they don't do what we think are good things. If you're relying on the CEO to be a good person, you've dismissed governance as a possibility and anointed kings. In general, I don't think that kings work in my best interest, so I prefer regulations.

tasty_freeze 4y ago
I'm not saying that we should only rely on CEOs to do the right thing. We absolutely still need regulation, and mechanisms for fighting regulatory capture. But the original claim was that companies have no responsibility towards ethical behavior; I'm saying we need to strengthen the moral responsibility of CEOs, not weaken it. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it's better than "CEOs are right to do whatever they can get away with."