Comment by scotty79
8 months ago
Another major accountability sink is employment. Employee is shielded from financial responsibility for the damage he incurs while working. While he may be punished for disobeying orders or acting criminally, he's not financially responsible for the fallout (especially if he was only doing the things he was ordered to do and/or reasonable things). Doing a job is inherently risky behavior. If you are doing it in a context of financial amplifier (a company) in a regulated society that can quickly hunt you down and destroy your life if you misstep then in the absence of accountability sink protections barely anyone would be brave enough to get employed. That's also why LLC exist. To enable risk taking by promising to not hunt you to the bottom if you fail.
I would say that corporate personhood is a better example. It seems very natural to us, but I'm not sure if it's an idea other intelligent species would also independently arrive at.
I don't see it natural at all. I think it's quite insane concept. A corporation is obviously not a person and even if you pretend it to be a person why only good things come from it for a corporation? Why isn't it sentenced to death and executed when it kills 11 people?
Why corporations are allowed to own other corporations? Isn't it a slavery?
I think GP's example is better, definitely more familiar. That's the fundamental difference between employment and running your own business: you're trading away both the downsides and upsides of business risk, in exchange for a stable, predictable salary.
>If you are doing it in a context of financial amplifier (a company) in a regulated society that can quickly hunt you down and destroy your life if you misstep
Sir, it's the year 2025 of our Lord. Nobody is out there to destroy your life most of the time.
The fact that they don't doesn't mean they can't or they wouldn't. Just reading news from USA from last 3 months should make it obviously clear.