How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Governance

Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by AdieuToLogic on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @09:50PM (#41920879)

> Why should we trust government over companies?

Democratic governments have some form of accountability to those elected, if none other than periodic elections. If you are fortunate enough to live in a country which has free and fair elections, then vote.

Companies do not have such constraints and operate strictly in self-interest.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by animal_spirits on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @09:58PM (#41920952)

Does government not act within self interest? The self interest of the company is to provide the information that people want. The self interest of the government is to provide the information that keep the citizens voting for who controls the politicians. And who controls the politicians is a profitable game for big corporations.

I understand companies act within their own self interest. But the problem is when we provide government with enormous power it becomes within the self interest of companies to influence government rather than provide value to society.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @10:11PM (#41921052)

> self interest of the government is to provide the information that keep the citizens voting for who controls the politicians

Now expand your model to one where the government, politicans and citizens aren't monoliths.

> who controls the politicians is a profitable game for big corporations

It's a pertinent game for everyone. That's the point of democracy. It's still a profitable game in a dictatorship. It's just that while democracy gives a peanut-gallery seat to even the most disinterested citizen, autocracies hoard those seats for the deserving.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by animal_spirits on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @10:55PM (#41921309)

How do you end up in a position where governments aren't monoliths? You decentralize the power. Adding more and more state control concentrates power into the monoliths.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @11:17PM (#41921436)

> You decentralize the power. Adding more and more state control concentrates power into the monoliths

“State control” isn’t a monolithic lever. You can have a theoretically powerful but weak state if power is properly shattered. This is the lost art of designing democracies. (Not just throwing elections at every problem.)

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by animal_spirits on Wednesday October 23, 2024 @10:11AM (#41925222)

This is the current situation in the United States. The problem with this is that when you have shattered/distributed state power, they work to achieve opposing objectives. On one hand we have massive subsidies provided to the fossil fuel industry while at the same time spending millions on research in renewable energy. Recently we had huge subsidies to growing tobacco while also funding programs to stop people from smoking. This is ineffective and inefficient use of money. Now, this would happen with private companies as well, but the difference is that private companies have no means to force individuals to pay for their costs the way state government does. The state can threaten you by means of force or jail to pay for both of these conflicting endeavors through taxation. Whereas you only give money to private enterprises voluntarily, where you find value in their goods or services.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by fallingknife on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @10:19PM (#41921106)

They operate under the constraint of my ability to take my business elsewhere. This gives me 1000x more leverage over companies than my vote will ever have over the government. The worst customer service nightmare i have ever been through is nothing compared to the time the IRS incorrectly calculated that I owed them thousands more in taxes. My vote does not constrain them in the least.

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Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov... by refurb on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @10:05PM (#41921004)

Companies do not have such constraints and operate strictly in self-interest.

With companies I have options to not engage at all. I don’t have that option with the government.

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