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A comment on Are we living at the 'hinge of history'?. Parent comment

Re:Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? by aeternum on Sunday September 27, 2020 @02:32PM (#24608999)
Don't we have just as much if not more power over corporations? You effectively vote for a corporation each time you do business with it.

We can choose to buy zero emission cars and purchase products exclusively from environmentally friendly corporations. Corporations will either adapt or go bankrupt.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? by dane-pgp on Sunday September 27, 2020 @03:29PM (#24609465)
The difference is, with a decent voting system, it only takes 51% of the population to decide government policy, but with corporations, even 1% of the population can keep harmful corporations from bankruptcy.

Even ignoring the problem of those 1% potentially being the richest 1%, there is the issue that harmful businesses often have lower costs than ethical businesses, and some consumers are too price-sensitive (or don't have time to become informed about every corporation's business practices) to vote "correctly" with their purchasing power.

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Re:Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? by aeternum on Sunday September 27, 2020 @03:48PM (#24609590)
Is it right that the 51% of the population is able to coerce 100% of the population into paying higher prices for the more ethical businesses?

High and mid income earners can and should choose more ethical/environmental businesses as they have the means to do so.

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Re:Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? by undersuit on Sunday September 27, 2020 @06:31PM (#24610710)
>Is it right that the 51% of the population is able to coerce 100% of the population into paying higher prices for the more ethical businesses?

Just from the numbers yes because the other side isnt saying more or even same but less.

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