3 ms·

In my scenario, the luxury company is smaller than the economy company in terms of gross sales, but bigger in terms of earnings. The economy company is often g

In my scenario, the luxury company is smaller than the economy company in terms of gross sales, but bigger in terms of earnings. The economy company is often going to have a hard time managing a split-up. It presumably benefits from economies of scale at the size that it is, and it is not clear that two companies half its size could get the same deals from suppliers etc. that allow it to make its products relatively cheaply. At the very least, the "two smaller companies" version of it will almost certainly increase administrative overhead. But, more so, it's unclear that the economy company is a bigger problem than the luxury company in this scenario. To the extent that it is lobbying for its interests, the luxury company has more money with which to do this than the economy company. The economy company probably employs more people, and puts more money into the local economy, and it can use those as a bludgeon. That is, in fact, the dynamic that Stallman appears to be envisioning. My point is that this dynamic that he is envisioning is a very narrow view of the entire situation.

fluidcruft 14y ago
The proposal isn't to fix to lobbying--it's to fix the problem of corporations being so large that the public is forced to play helicopter parent and coddle them and these companies subsequently become emboldened to act like reckless entitled brats. The only point the article makes about lobbying is that it interferes with our current mechanism that is supposed to allow regulators to breaking up companies that are too big or that the Administration can just decide not to prosecute any cases. If companies are naturally downsized by market/tax forces then they won't be lobbying to maintain their monolithic state. Rather then the financial engineers in the companies working out perverse ways to keep "profit" low, they instead have to focus on carving themselves into optimally-sized independent units. I'm assuming gross revenue isn't as easily gamed as profit is. In your scenario, "luxury" going into bankruptcy isn't a problem--people can just buy the more common computer.

fluidcruft 14y ago

The proposal isn't to fix to lobbying--it's to fix the problem of corporations being so large that the public is forced to play helicopter parent and coddle them and these companies subsequently become emboldened to act like reckless entitled brats. The only point the article makes about lobbying is that it interferes with our current mechanism that is supposed to allow regulators to breaking up companies that are too big or that the Administration can just decide not to prosecute any cases. If companies are naturally downsized by market/tax forces then they won't be lobbying to maintain their monolithic state. Rather then the financial engineers in the companies working out perverse ways to keep "profit" low, they instead have to focus on carving themselves into optimally-sized independent units. I'm assuming gross revenue isn't as easily gamed as profit is. In your scenario, "luxury" going into bankruptcy isn't a problem--people can just buy the more common computer.