The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations
I just realized this morning that corporations can't exiest in an anarchy, they are whole a fiction of the state. And, since corporations are just a method for thieves and criminals to evade the reprecussions of their crimes, i.e., no personal financial or legal responsibility as there would be in private ownerships or partnerships. Which is great -- if the state withers away, the megacorps goes with it. People will hold the employees of the megacorps personally responsible, as they should be, for the crimes of the group. The new car you bought turns out to be a lemon? Grab a few of the employees and make them cough up the money. Don't like the pollution coming out of that smokestack, start shooting employees until they clean it up. If corporations go away, people would form contractual partnerships to build cars, whatever, and act much more responsible. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com
Re: The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations
On Sunday, March 9, 2003, at 07:14 AM, Harmon Seaver wrote: I just realized this morning that corporations can't exiest in an anarchy, they are whole a fiction of the state. And, since corporations are just a method for thieves and criminals to evade the reprecussions of their crimes, i.e., no personal financial or legal responsibility as there would be in private ownerships or partnerships. Which is great -- if the state withers away, the megacorps goes with it. People will hold the employees of the megacorps personally responsible, as they should be, for the crimes of the group. The new car you bought turns out to be a lemon? Grab a few of the employees and make them cough up the money. Don't like the pollution coming out of that smokestack, start shooting employees until they clean it up. If corporations go away, people would form contractual partnerships to build cars, whatever, and act much more responsible. I'm not very surprised that you're only just now seeing the obvious...you've only been subscribed to the list for, what, several years? This has been covered in our discussions of polycentric law and agoric markets, a la Bruce Benson, David Friedman, and many of us over the years. Just as the technology of printing altered and reduced the power of medieval guilds and the social power structure, so too will cryptologic methods fundamentally alter the nature of corporations and of government interference in economic transactions. Combined with emerging information markets, crypto anarchy will create a liquid market for any and all material which can be put into words and pictures. --Tim May The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. --John Stuart Mill
Re: The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations
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.
Re: The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations
At 09:14 AM 3/9/03 -0600, Harmon Seaver 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. And, since corporations are just a method for thieves and criminals to evade the reprecussions of their crimes, Actually its pretty hard to do things like make a car by yourself. One of the many voluntary groups you might be part of is a car-making association. People will hold the employees of the megacorps personally responsible, as they should be, for the crimes of the group. The new car you bought turns out to be a lemon? Grab a few of the employees and make them cough up the money. Don't like the pollution coming out of that smokestack, start shooting employees until they clean it up. But one of the benefits of joining the Fnord Motor Uncorporation is the excellent FMU private police force. A real benefit in an anarchy. If corporations go away, people would form contractual partnerships to build cars, whatever, and act much more responsible. I suppose if medical malpractice insurance went away (it would have to be by fiat force; insurance providers fill a fundamental niche), there'd be more careful doctors. But also many fewer. The calculus of personal risks vs. benefits. (A strategy also employed by the christian-taliban doctor-snipers.) Unless you explicitly ban (again, using violence) voluntary associations of people, they *will* pool resources to buy stuff they can't individually afford. Like a fab. So corps usually have more assets to lose than its members. And smart corps tie their employees (esp officers) futures to their own. So there is feedback motivating responsible behavior by corps. Certainly removing the State's corporate protections would increase the feedback. But it would probably also stifle productive associations. Why risk my personal wealth because I contributed to an association that sold a car that brought a lawsuit? I wonder if this trade off is stated in the law (cf patents in the constition, which explicitly states the trade off)? But besides this pragmatic, the corp concept seems to let me define (limit) my involvement with an association (with a defined purpose) of others. Thus it seems a refinement of contract law --which I hold to be a fundamental. Although patent and copyright are established for practical reasons, there (to me) is a right to profit from your IP; and similarly, although a corp may be a practical tool, it seems right for people to be able to limit their commitment to an association. There's also something called piercing the corp veil, if folks screw up royally.
Re: The Anarcho/libertarian world and corporations
On Sun, Mar 09, 2003 at 10:31:52PM -0600, Kevin S. Van Horn wrote: 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 term you're looking for is Massachusetts business trust; they look a lot like corporations from a legal tax standpoint. The liability of the trustees to the grantors/beneficiaries can be limited by mutual agreement. -- Greg Broiles [EMAIL PROTECTED]
