Corporations are NOT persons.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dan Lynch <dan () lynch com>
Date: March 22, 2009 12:04:33 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, <karl () cavebear com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:     Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses -- am I  
the only one concerned?

Hear hear!  Corporations are NOT persons.  How that get encoded in our
brains?  They are vehicles for organizing human activity and SUBJECT  
to our
needs, not on a legal or moral level as a flesh and blood and feeling
person.  Karl is right in calling for a rethink/redo of all this.  Next
step, Karl?


On 3/21/09 6:53 PM, "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net> wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
> Date: March 21, 2009 7:25:22 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, dmcknight15 () comcast net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re:       Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses -- am I
> the only one concerned?
>
> David Farber wrote:
>
> > From: "Mac McKnight" <dmcknight15 () comcast net>
>
> > The key here is proper regulation.  The strict free market advocates
> > of the
> > Bush administration have caused us tremendous pain.  We can’t place
> > such
> > tremendous responsibility for the wealth and well-being of our
> > country in
> > the hands of such organizations with little or no oversight,
> > especially if
> > we view them as "too big to fail."
>
> The "too big to fail" logic has been with us for decades - Lockheed
> being an example of a company that were considered in that category in
> the past.
>
> Might it make sense in our yet-to-be constructed re-regulatory
> structure to have caps on the size of corporate forms?
>
> Some enterprises, such as the manufacture or aircraft or large
> infrastructures (railroads, power) require large enterprises.  But do
> we really need mega-banks and mega-insurance companies?
>
> We have come a long way, and in my mind much too far a way, down the
> road of giving civil rights to corporate forms.  And in the AIG bonus
> situation we are seeing a reflection of a popular resentment against
> the idea that potentially immortal corporations have the same civil
> rights as living, breathing people.
>
> And in the context of governance of the internet these artificial life
> forms, corporations, are beginning to be granted political rights that
> often exceed the rights of people.
>
> It seems that the time is ripe to revisit our legal notions about what
> is a corporate form, what are their rights, and what should be the
> constraints on their activities and powers.  I'm not suggesting a
> return to the corporate charters of the early 19th century, but I am
> suggesting that we are creating institutions that are so large, so
> powerful, so immortal, that they are damaging the ability of our
> governments to promote the general welfare and quality of life of its
> human citizens.
>
> --karl--
>
>
>
>
>
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