[rmrfstar]

> The failure isn't on their end.

So Apple et al. are able to successfully monetize massive public investment in technology, book all their profit in tax havens using outlandish schemes like "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich", and we're supposed to pretend like that's a totally normal thing?

The thing with free-riding is it doesn't work if everyone does it. That's what we're starting to see.

[jonny_eh]

All those loopholes can easily be closed, but they're not.

[rmrfstar]

You're either naive or dishonest. FAAMG actively lobby Congress to create and preserve "loopholes" which are actually intentional features of the tax code rather than unforeseen errors. Apple is also lobbying against a very popular anti-slavery bill. #ESG

[jonny_eh]

Right, that was my point. In the end it's the responsibility of politicians to do their job and close the loopholes. How can we expect corporations to be moral if elected officials won't?

[rmrfstar]

So Apple corruptly bribes Congress to give it legislative benefits, Congress corruptly accepts those bribes, and the blame lies solely with Congress? That's one way of looking at things.

[netizen-9748]

While I agree that companies shouldn't be corrupt, I think the idea is that our system is supposed to be designed to prevent corruption and bribery on the government side and that appears to have failed.

[jonny_eh]

> Congress corruptly accepts those bribes, and the blame lies solely with Congress?

Well, ya. It's their job to not be corrupt.

[dragonwriter]

> How can we expect corporations to be moral if elected officials won't?

How can we expect figureheads elected in elections conducted in an environment of unlimited corporate propaganda to be moral if the actual ruling class of capitalist society, the capitalists acting directly and through their employees—e.g., via corporations—won’t?