Abolish Corporate Personhood

[Kyle]

I've long been a believer that corporate personhood- the idea that the law recognizes corporations in a similar way that it does people- should be abolished. And look- as a lawyer, one of my loss-leaders in my business is I help people form LLCs. Why would I recommend that? Because it shields them from liability. It allows people to run their business as they please and not put their own assets at risk. And the truth of corporate entities is that often, when you sue them and recover a judgment, you'll come to realize that there's not many assets in the company for you to seize to satisfy that judgment. Corporate personhood lets people take unacceptable risks that they would not take if they actually had skin in the game. More nefariously, it has allowed people to set up elaborate "ladders" and networks of corporations to shield what assets people don't want in their own name. I recently saw a person who had a professional business where they were the only employee, had no less than five LLCs set up to shield from liability and then took the extra step of having no assets in their own name, but rather held in a "Trust for the Benefit" of them.

I'm not saying we can't have some form of legal mechanism that allows people to pool money for large business purposes. But the corporate form has run amuck. Enough of this.

[Mike]

Agreed. The basic concept that corporations can own things and can be sued and can enter contracts and all sorts of stuff is very convenient to our modern economy. But they are extensions of people and not persons unto themselves. Yes, corporations and similar entities should have some protections and abilities available to them, but only as extensions of the protections and rights afforded to the people that own them. They deserve the protection offered to any other property. The idea that a corporation has free speech rights is bullshit.

But then I think capitalism is the root of all evil, so getting rid of corporate personhood is an easy sell for me.

[Kyle]

In the Technofeudalism book I read, he had an interesting idea for "democratizing" corporations. Companies can exist in corporate form, but the ownership is divided amongst the employees. Each employee gets 1 share only and that share cannot be sold, leased or otherwise transferred. Decisions are made via vote by employees.

At first I thought, "Fine and dandy, but there's no way that could work." But then I thought about it. I mean, they could vote for the people that make certain day to day decisions. They can vote to fire those same people if they don't like the job their doing. They can vote to reserve certain large decisions to be made only by a company-wide vote.

So I guess while I originally thought it was unworkable because it was such a novel concept, I can actually envision a structure that might be feasible.

[Mike]

And that's just it... I'm very much about remaking current power structures, but often I'm not creative enough to imagine what that would look like or all the logistics of it. But then I hear smarter people and realize that they CAN figure some of this out. There are great possibilities I've never even dreamed of.

For example, I follow an urban planner who talks about how poorly designed America's neighborhoods and roadways are. They are designed and zoned--the suburbs especially--to encourage isolation, discourage pedestrianism and community, and necessitate a car, a cost, and a significant time investment for even the most basic of activities outside the home. The solutions he demonstrates (and shows places where they have been implemented and work) are absolutely astounding. Revolutionized my outlook. But nothing that I could have envisioned on my own. Similarly, I follow a an American Communist who has implemented a communist style business. I think it's something of an art collective/design firm where all employees (including herself) have an equal vote and equal compensation. Everyone has great benefits and unlimited paid leave for any reason, and all sorts of other things that I couldn't even imagine how such a thing might work. But she lays it all out, and it does work. It's inspiring.

Just because I don't know how to design or implement something doesn't mean it's not a worthy goal to pursue... someone knows. For me it's now looking at how we get from here to there.