Re: The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations

[Kevin S. Van Horn]

Major Variola (ret) wrote:

 I just realized this morning that corporations can't exiest in an
   

anarchy,
 

they are whole a fiction of the state.
   

In the sense of a govt-recognized, protected entity, granted.
But not in terms of voluntary associations.
Not all companies are corporations. Corporations are a particular kind 
of company chartered by the state in order to absolve certain people of 
responsibility for their actions. There is a business form, whose name I 
forget but which used to be called a "Massachusetts corporation" when 
Massachusetts didn't allow actual corporations, that achieves many  of 
the legitimate benefits of a corporation through entirely contractual 
means. The basic idea is that the company has trustees who make all the 
operating decisions for the company, and are personally responsible for 
their actions.  Investors have partial ownership, but no control over 
the operation of the company (other than selection of trustees) and 
hence have no liability beyond their investment.  Contracts include 
boiler-plate wordage that states that liability shall be limited to the 
assets of the company (and trustees, perhaps; I'm not sure on this). 
This allows one the advantages of pooling resources without absolving 
decision-makers of responsibility for their actions.