5 ms·
> I don't mind the complaint about CMA being undemocratic And anyway, who elected Microsoft?
by doctor_eval 3y ago
> I don't mind the complaint about CMA being undemocratic
And anyway, who elected Microsoft?
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y agoIBM.
- gruez 3y ago>who elected Microsoft? citizen: I want to paint my house blue mayor: I unilaterally forbid you from doing that, on the grounds that blue houses look unsightly citizen: that's undemocratic! mayor: who elected you to decide painting your house blue?
- hgsgm 3y agoLimited Liability Corporations aren't citizens. Satya Natella is welcome to take MS private as a sole proprietorship.
- Matl 3y agoMicrosoft is certainly a legal persona with many of the same rights and tools as a regular citizen would have and oftentimes more, unfortunately.
- judge2020 3y agoCorporations have the same rights as people; otherwise your freedom of speech and other rights could be abridged while you're conducting business as a corporation, which we don't want.
- masfuerte 3y agoYou don't conduct business as a corporation. The corporation conducts business.
- hiatus 3y agoThe corporation conducts business through its agents. What point are you making?
- criddell 3y agoThis isn’t making sense to me. Why does a corporation need freedom of speech? Are you saying that if it were otherwise, I would lose my first amendment rights when I’m on the clock?
- staticman2 3y agoI assure you my rights would be in no way limited by rules preventing what the Microsoft Board of director's do with other people's money.
- snapcaster 3y agoDo you think this is a good analogy? You think we should have the same process for an individual painting their house and a multi-trillion dollar corporation attempting to dominate markets? Do you see any differences in the two situations?
- gruez 3y ago>You think we should have the same process for an individual painting their house and a multi-trillion dollar corporation attempting to dominate markets? I'm not claiming that microsoft should be allowed to do the merger on the basis that individuals can choose to paint their house blue, only pointing out that "microsoft isn't elected either" isn't a valid rebuttal to the objection that unilateral decisions by unelected bureaucrats are undemocratic.
- doctor_eval 3y agoBut Microsoft’s purchase of a competitor and subsequent significant modification of an existing market is also a unilateral decision. The thing is that the CMA is appointed by the government, which is elected. It’s like complaining about a speeding ticket because the cop wasn’t elected.
- izacus 3y agoWhat kind of mental model breakage made you put "a citizen" into a position of an unaccountable megacorporation in your analogy?
- aardvarkr 3y agoUnaccountable mega corporations are part of the commonwealth. Per citizens United they have rights too
- pkilgore 3y agoI can't really tell if this is sarcasm, but whatever rights corporations have in the UK certainly isn't established by a United States Supreme Court decision.
- oh_sigh 3y agoA corporation is just a group of people deciding to do something together according to certain rules. It wouldn't make sense that one person, with a lot of resources could do something within their rights, but a group of people with the same pooled resources couldn't do that thing.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y agoKant would like a word.
- izacus 3y ago
- doctor_eval 3y agoThat’s a super weird analogy. The citizen wanted to do something and was rebutted by the mayor. The mayor was elected. Microsoft is complaining that the mayor, in their example, was not elected.