@nova It’s complicated and honestly I’m conflicted. They separate accountability from the people who are doing the acting, often leaving the public sector to clean up the mess while pocketing the profits for themselves. At the same time….we also live in the world we live in, and they’re a fact of life in this world. To the extent that you’d need one to legitimize a charity, for example, you don’t have other options and you put the charity at a financial disadvantage by not using it.
@nova A corporation is a morally neutral for-profit business organization. By definition it is not inherently bad or good. It allows for shared ownership of a business organization while limiting some level of personal liability for the collective actions of an organization.
I believe that corps are provided too much limitation of liability, and increased profitability is prioritized over the good of anything. But this is an issue of law, and not really a function of being a corporation.
@nova As a unit they are motivated by profit and growth, which has been shown time and time again to lead to anti-consumer and anti-citizen decisions. They are only held back by individuals at the core, who think they are doing the right thing working through a profit motivated medium.
@nova They're fine in theory. Congress grants protection from personal liability, in return they presumably create something of value for society.
But we've forgotten this.
We've forgotten that the people are the source of the Congress' and therefore corporations power.
You see it when someone is complaining about something in particular being suboptimal, and someone replies, "Well, you know. It makes more money." And everyone glumly agrees.
@nova 1. Amoral by nature (as opposed to immoral, though individuals in charge often are).
2. Too easy to anthropomorphize. Like countries, we too carelessly think of them as having minds and emotions (“FooCorp wants…,” “FooCorp hates…”) when they are (1) emergent systems, not living beings, and (2) composed of many distinct individuals.
3. When trying to understand them, start with Hanlon’s razor.
@nova in theory, we need something like them to build big & ambitious things. In practice, in this colonial-capitalist system, they grow uncontrolled, and cause adverse effects on the systems they exist inside
@nova my spicy take is that the LLC was a tremendous legal innovation. It is hard to see how big things can be built at scale in the private sector without it.
We went astray by making “maximize shareholder value” an operational requirement of any corporation, and by taking the “corporate personhood” doctrine literally. Corporations are a means to prosperity - we must be empowered to change their rules if they cease working for the benefit of the people.
@nova there's nothing wrong with corporations as a concept, there is a massive problem with how certain laws and societal norms are structured that shapes their incentives.
@nova Corporations as they exist today are the enemy of free markets (and humans). Limited liability should not be given away for free. Corporations operating under time-limited revocable charters, barred from political participation in their own right, might be OK, but we've come a long (bad) way from that.
@nova corporations come in various flavors and sizes
large public corporations: pretend to operate "for the benefit of shareholders" but really operate "for the benefit of the senior executives" - rarely (like never) operate for the benefit of the public
small private corporations: more of a mixed bag; executives are more accountable to owners, but again rarely consider public benefit in decisions
@nova Well, I have a corporation (Ionosphere LLC) because, well, I'm required to for some of the contracts I support(ed). It's also a good idea, from a legal standpoint, to keep my business interests separate from my personal life ("Oops, sorry NASA, I spilled a cup of coffee on the Mars Rover. What do you mean my wife and kids are now homeless?" Instead, Ionosphere and its insurers pay out the damages).
So, on that front, they serve a purpose. Are they ripe for abuse? Yes. Very yes.
@nova corporations are far too focused on profit maximization because of the inherent interests of investors, private equity, and many c level executives. This leads to bad situations for workers, consumers, and really society as a whole. Worker owned cooperatives are a much better model that centers the workers and makes profit maximization less appealing compared to sustainability of the business and maintaining jobs.
@nova I spent the morning in a 4 hour long meeting where Product Managers are trying to adopt Jira Align to help them better organize work that “needs to be done”. The work that “needs to be done” though is more poorly defined than the process of organizing the work. I’m tired of large corporations and the bureaucracy contained within.
@nova Prefer co-ops, generally speaking. Corporations are supposed to show a profit, per court rulings (as I understand them), and I generally prefer organizations (and people) have goals aside from making money.
@nova our capitalist system often rewards corporations that disregard ethical standards and punishes those that try to do better. I don't think corporations are evil by necessity, but since evil corporations often drive less evil competitors out of the market, it's very hard to find decent corporations.
I think Mozilla is a good example. Because the Mozilla corp is owned by a non-profit, they didn't have to sell their soul so far, but they are under huge pressure due to Chrome's competition.
@nova This made me think of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is a very weird bird in the landscape of corporations since it's board is appointed by presidents, and it's a nonprofit.
Though I believe that trouble brews whenever you get enough ambitious people together, ideally I'd probably be co-op kinda guy if I could get away with it. Like many, I'm stuck in the system of the day, and occasionally have to hold my nose.
@nova corporations are just groups of people acting as one…and getting tons of special treatment that individuals do not get. i find the most compelling group organization model to be cooperatives.
@nova one of the few things #MurrayRothbard got right is that “there are no such things as ends of or actions by 'groups,' 'collectives,' or 'States,' which do not take place as actions by various specific individuals.” Corporations simply shield individuals from accountability.
@nova I think Ron Coase provided the best understanding of the utility provided by firms. Are you drawing a distinction between the corporation as a specific form of firm and other forms?