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by caseydurfee 3119 days ago
Point of clarification: Pai was appointed to the 5 person FCC commission by Obama. He was named chairman by Trump. FWIW, the previous chairman, Tom Wheeler (ostensibly a Democrat), probably would've dismantled net neutrality if Obama hadn't come out strongly in favor of it.

I find it incredibly frustrating that people clearly see the need for referees in sports, but not in business. Nobody's saying that the NFL or the NBA would have better competition if there were no refs.
2 comments
slededit 3119 days ago
There is a referee in business: the court system.

What your proposing is more like a league which will solidify the rules as they currently exist. An example of this is banning innovations like Aluminum bats.

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notgoodenuff88 3118 days ago
The court system isn't suited for this anymore. It was a different time in 1776 when corporations were not allowed to live in perpetuity, amassing as much of the valuable resources as they can, handing it off to ancestors upon the owners death (sounds a bit like monarchism, IMO).

"What your proposing is more like a league which will solidify the rules as they currently exist."

According to Thomas Jefferson, this is exactly what Constitution and laws are for.

Thomas Jefferson:

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

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slededit 3118 days ago
The dutch east india company controlled half the world at one point. Do you really believe today's corporations are more powerful?

Your quote says laws should evolve with the people which lends to neither of our arguments as we're discussing how it should evolve not "if".

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tripzilch 3118 days ago
"The world" during the high days of the VOC was only 8% of the population today so it's kind of difficult to honestly compare, IMHO.

But more importantly, the VOC "perished under corruption" not because it was dragged to court :) It's not really fair to say that "the system" dealt with it when it obviously just succumbed over time under the inevitability of impermanence.

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slededit 3118 days ago
The Dutch east India company had standing armies and war ships. To say that modern companies are more powerfully merely because of population growth is a bit of a stretch.

How they came to an end is irrelevant to whether courts are effective referees unless you believe the only fair thing is to destroy large companies.

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isleyaardvark 3118 days ago
Thomas Jefferson had more direct opinions on corporations, having tried (and failed) to add an 11th amendment limiting their power. For example:

"I hope we shall take warning from the example [of England] and crush in it’s birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and to bid defiance to the laws of their country."

https://books.google.com/books?id=KCFfDQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT110&ots...

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tripzilch 3118 days ago
You must be unfamiliar with laissez-fare soccer. Technically there's still referees, but they're worth triple points.
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