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> Maybe companies / corporations with enough power to actually challenge the governments of the world isn't such a bad thing after all. Or, perhaps it would be
by maaku 12y ago
> Maybe companies / corporations with enough power to actually challenge the governments of the world isn't such a bad thing after all. Or, perhaps it would be better to say "maybe corporations with enough power to challenge the governments of the world" is, at least, not a universally bad thing.
Please review the history of the various "East India" companies. I think you will find it an enlightening read.
- mindcrime 12y ago> Please review the history of the various "East India" companies. I think you will find it an enlightening read. I have, actually. What's interesting to me is that it really points out the inherent paradox, in that corporations (as we know them today anyway) actually owe their existence to the State. With the East India Company it was a Royal Charter. Note that I'm just playing "Devil's Advocate" here to some extent. I'm not necessarily a fan of super-huge corporations with Nation-State level power. In fact, I'm not necessarily a fan of any entity having "Nation-State level power", including Nation-States! :-)
- maaku 12y agoWow that was so missing the point. I was kinda more hinting towards how the East India Company financed wars of conquest, meddled in local politics, and then neglected their responsibilities to the population and let them starve (e.g. Bengal famine of 1770).
- mindcrime 12y agoFrom my point-of-view, that stuff just kinda goes without saying, when talking about the East India Company. So yeah, we all know that big companies / corporations sometimes do Bad Things. But in the context of a discussion about whether or not a corporation should have Nation-State level power, the interesting point in noting that the East India Company (of at least one iteration) was created by Royal Charter and had (essentially) it's own army, etc., is exactly that paradox of how intertwined corporations and States can be. Again, I'm not arguing for corporations like that. I'm just interested in the discussion vis-a-vis how power can/should/might be organized and controlled.
- known 12y agoFasting/roaming half-naked in streets are cheap tools/tricks used by Bania Gandhi to humiliate (not defeat) British regime during India's struggle for Independence.