] re Broadband Stymied

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
> Date: March 15, 2010 3:26:00 PM EDT
> To: shap () eros-os org
> Cc: dave () farber net, Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] re  Broadband Stymied
> Reply-To: karl () cavebear com

> On 03/15/2010 12:07 PM, Dave Farber wrote:
>
> > > *From:* "Jonathan S. Shapiro" <shap () eros-os org <mailto:shap () eros-os org 
> > > >>
>
> > > While I appreciate Brett's frustration about grants and sole
> > > proprieterships, the NTIA and USDA rules about sole propriare  
> > > exactly
> > > as they should be...
>
> I disagree with you.  I've run businesses both in corporate and sole  
> proprietor form.  Sometimes the former is better, sometimes the  
> latter.  It's my choice to make.  I should not be punished for my  
> lawful choice.
>
> The larger issue is whether the government's creation of a two-tier  
> caste system in which sole proprietorships are disfavored vis-a-vis  
> corporations is a violation of Equal Protection.
>
> Is government convenience a reason to discriminate against citizens  
> in favor of artificial creations?  And I don't see that the fraud  
> argument cuts for or against individuals or that corporate  
> structures are intrinsically more accountable and transparent than  
> are individuals. Indeed recent events suggest that corporate forms  
> are far more opaque and more difficult to hold accountable than  
> individuals.
>
> Moreover, the benefits that are cited to favor corporations are  
> creations of state law and could be changed at any time by acts of  
> state law.  In other words the articulated Federal interest in  
> discrimination is based on fifty different shifting foundations and  
> can not be depended upon.
>
> All-in-all it strikes me that Brett's complaint has much merit -  
> that individuals by right and by justice must have the ability to  
> compete face-to-face and toe-to-toe with fictitious legal persons  
> (corporations) on a non-discriminatory basis.
>
> If small businesses - often in the form of sole proprietorships -  
> are, as our President says, the foundation of our national economy  
> then why would we adopt policies that so clearly undermine our  
> national economic foundation?
>
>        --karl--



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