this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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It’s a corporation. Of course it’s evil.
Technically, not all corporations are evil.
For example, I'm a solo-entrepreneur and I own my own company/corporation and I'm the only one in it. I don't think I'm evil. (For now??)
But I get what you mean. I'm assuming evil comes with size, power and influence
i think the line generally comes specifically at "publicly traded company" that's when everything other than "line go up" is thrown out. publicly traded companies are inherently bad for everyone but those who invest in them.
Privately held are bad too
privately held can be bad, but they aren't inherently so. it's possible for a decent person/idealogue to have a decent product that people want to buy at a fair price. they're just very easily beat out by bigger brands most of the time because they aren't ruthless like the big ones.
Nailed it.
There's a legal obligation to extract the most value for your shareholders. This doesn't apply in sole proprietorships or partnerships with a more centralized ownership, where there's the realistic potential to have a conversation with one of the others (or internally) and say things like "let's do y, because doing x would be fucked, even if it made me more money."
In a publicly traded company, you can literally be sued by your shareholders for not putting profits first. This puts a background pressure that slants the odds in favor of enshitification. And whole industries are based on utilizing slightly uneven odds, so that has a real impact.
As you said - without being publicly traded, people can still be evil, but they aren't nearly as likely.
You do have privately held companies that are owned/run by people who aren't complete shitbags until the ownership changes & it all go's to hell.
As am I. Also solo. I’ve talked to a ton of small business owners, and the difference between small business owners and corporations is you have to be willing to fuck people over to become more than “the little guy”. So, I think people like us are in the “not evil” category because our goals aren’t just to simply “make money line go up.” However, because of that, we will forever be “the little guy”
Yeah, exactly. I think it depends on your goals and aspiration.
The more a company/corporation grows, the more likely it is to become souless and evil.
For now, I'm a "little guy" and I love the freedom that comes with it. The moment you bring employees and people, then you have to start managing and stuff.
We'll see what the future holds.
Precisely. Best of luck to you my friend on your journey. Mine has been a wild ride and I’m not even a year into it.
Then you’d be a small business or company, but not necessarily a corporation, correct?
My understanding is that corporations are larger and generally public owned, and thereby focused solely on “line go up”
A corporation is simply a legal entity that anybody can register. You could have one tomorrow morning if you wished.
I do own a corporation, even if I'm alone. It's just that I own all the shares and equity privately. I'm also a business owner because I run a business with that corporation. But a business owner can also run a business without a corporation if he chooses to.
Now, you can do a lot of things with a corporation depending on your goals and aspirations. It has different rules, laws and purposes than a normal employee or a self-employed individual.
Examples: hire people, tax benefits, grow larger, own assets, sue and be sued, raise capital, loan/borrow money, go public, etc.
A corporation is what you make of it.
Guess I misunderstood the terms, then. I also thought corporations were taxed higher, is that not the case?
I wouldn't say higher but it is definitely different.
You might need to pay more tax because of double taxation. You are your own entity and the corporation is also an entity. This means that the corporation has to pay taxes on profits and you also have to pay taxes personally on the salary/dividend that you recieve.
But there are also other tricks to reduce or optimize taxes like tax reduction on business expenses.
When you're a business owner, you can usually optimize to pay the least amount of taxes possible with the help of an accountant. Things that you have less control when you're an employee.
When you hear large corporations and rich people not paying much taxes (if not at all), some are just being smart with their business and accountants.