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This is the only thing that will work. Limited (liability) corporations are a moral disaster, with no democratic or moral accountability. Beyond a certain siz

This is the only thing that will work. Limited (liability) corporations are a moral disaster, with no democratic or moral accountability. Beyond a certain size they can start to pull the strings of democracy in very unhealthy and distorting ways - including "sponsorship" of lawmakers, policy lobbying, and campaigns of outright disinformation at all levels of media. If I shoot someone in the face I will go to prison and may well face the death penalty. If a corporation causes mass misery - death, disability, decades of lost life, economic decay, the corruption and subversion of democracy - it will very likely get off with no sanctions at all. If there are fines, they'll be token. Only the most egregious cases get more severe fines - uncomfortable, but not usually life-changing. Criminal charges are only likely if there's fraud that directly affects shareholders. It's almost as if the lives of ordinary people are complete disposable. Aside from prison and fines, there should be a corporate death penalty. If corporations are people, they should be held accountable in the same ways people are.

nradov 3y ago
Limited liability corporations have been an enormous success and have tremendously improved our standards of living. Limits on liability allow me to safely invest in companies that build innovative products and create jobs while capping the potential downside. Sure, there are occasional situations where injured parties can't be made whole but that is an acceptable trade off for the benefits to society as a whole.
- FpUser 3y ago
  >"but that is an acceptable trade off " Says who? The shareholders?
- crote 3y ago
  Have they, though? Large LLCs seem to be responsible for a significant amount of worker exploitation, deliberate poisoning of consumers, and environmental pollution in general. From an economic perspective they are of course successful, because they provide great shareholder value. It's a classic "privatize the profits, socialize the losses" scenario: once you get caught doing something really bad, you just go bankrupt and let the government pay for the fallout! There is literally no reason not to - at worst your shares lose their value and you've been able to extract a healthy amount of dividend from the company. Historically many companies have been able to provide great innovations under private ownership, and I see no reason to believe that the concept of an LLC is in any way a prerequisite for improving our standards of living. They have only been around for a relatively short amount of time (especially the kind where nobody is responsible) and we've been doing quite well before that. So tell me, what is this magical benefit for society we can only achieve via LLCs which outweighs all the damage they are doing? How did Big Tobacco improve our standards of living in such a way that they should be absolved of all responsibility for knowingly poisoning their customers?
- brtkdotse 3y ago
  > occasional situations where injured parties can't be made whole but that is an acceptable trade off for the benefits to society as a whole https://amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change https://amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10...
- __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
  > have tremendously improved our standards of living Maybe in the short term, but they're shaping up to be a bit of a problem in the long run. The humans of this planet don't want to destroy it in exchange for a quick buck, but it's looking like they're not in charge anymore. If we don't find new ways to leash our monsters they're going to continue killing us.

nradov 3y ago

Limited liability corporations have been an enormous success and have tremendously improved our standards of living. Limits on liability allow me to safely invest in companies that build innovative products and create jobs while capping the potential downside. Sure, there are occasional situations where injured parties can't be made whole but that is an acceptable trade off for the benefits to society as a whole.

FpUser 3y ago
>"but that is an acceptable trade off " Says who? The shareholders?
crote 3y ago
Have they, though? Large LLCs seem to be responsible for a significant amount of worker exploitation, deliberate poisoning of consumers, and environmental pollution in general. From an economic perspective they are of course successful, because they provide great shareholder value. It's a classic "privatize the profits, socialize the losses" scenario: once you get caught doing something really bad, you just go bankrupt and let the government pay for the fallout! There is literally no reason not to - at worst your shares lose their value and you've been able to extract a healthy amount of dividend from the company. Historically many companies have been able to provide great innovations under private ownership, and I see no reason to believe that the concept of an LLC is in any way a prerequisite for improving our standards of living. They have only been around for a relatively short amount of time (especially the kind where nobody is responsible) and we've been doing quite well before that. So tell me, what is this magical benefit for society we can only achieve via LLCs which outweighs all the damage they are doing? How did Big Tobacco improve our standards of living in such a way that they should be absolved of all responsibility for knowingly poisoning their customers?
brtkdotse 3y ago
> occasional situations where injured parties can't be made whole but that is an acceptable trade off for the benefits to society as a whole https://amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change https://amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10...
__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
> have tremendously improved our standards of living Maybe in the short term, but they're shaping up to be a bit of a problem in the long run. The humans of this planet don't want to destroy it in exchange for a quick buck, but it's looking like they're not in charge anymore. If we don't find new ways to leash our monsters they're going to continue killing us.