Comments | fling93: anthropomorphizing corporations

fling93

anthropomorphizing corporations

Nov 03, 2007 13:20

This was a topic I'd been researching on and off (mostly off) for a long, long while (and indeed, I currently have the movie The Corporation rented out, which, although heavily biased to the left, makes some good points). The topic came up on an e-mail list among the SJSU econ folks regarding Google and China, and I sent a very truncated version of ( Read more... )

economics

Comments 4

plymouth November 4 2007, 05:27:03 UTC

Now, one *might* make a case for reforming our laws of corporate governance to make corporations behave more like people.

Actually, I think it's exactly the opposite - there need to STOP being so many laws that treat corporations like people. I think the big problem is exactly that the individuals can pass off responsibility to the entity. If the corporation could function only off of the rights of the individuals that comprised it there would be more accountability.

also, the term "leftist" is considered an insult. it's possible your intent was to insult, but I'm assuming not.

fling93 November 4 2007, 16:46:23 UTC

Actually, that was kind of my underlying point, one that one of the professors on the list soon explicitly made shortly after I sent it.

Sorry, I didn't realize that it was an insult. I'll change it.

plymouth November 4 2007, 17:02:01 UTC

Ok, I just didn't get that from what you wrote. I think that when the law treats corporations like people it's only natural for people to then respond to them as people. It sounded to me like you were saying the people's expectations are the primary problem, not the legal framework. I guess it's just that you were focusing on that side of the problem.

"Leftist" is one of those things that is usually said with a sneer by the likes of James Dobson and Rush Limbaugh. I've never heard of an actual liberal calling themselves a "leftist".

fling93 November 4 2007, 17:45:37 UTC

Yeah, it wasn't the argument I was explicitly making. But I see the realization that corporations don't behave like people to naturally lead to the conclusion that corporations shouldn't be treated like people.

Yeah, I don't watch or listen to the likes of Dobson or Rush.