Where's Representative Joe Barton.........

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by Boreas

The corporate death penalty would be nice.

John

Interestingly enough John, there is a corporate "death penalty" under the laws of Delaware (where so many corporations are incorporated) a corporation may be established forever or for a set period, i.e.,a "death penalty". Since under our federal laws one cannot set a time limit for a person (they call that murder) I should think that would indicate that corporations are not persons.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Interestingly enough John, there is a corporate "death penalty" under the laws of Delaware (where so many corporations are incorporated) a corporation may be established forever or for a set period, i.e.,a "death penalty". Since under our federal laws one cannot set a time limit for a person (they call that murder) I should think that would indicate that corporations are not persons.

I don't know whether it was only in the Articles of Confederation or it was under (not "in") the Constitution at one time but I believe all corporations were limited in their life span for a set period of time (I think 40 years). At the end of the specified time the corporate charter expired an had to be renewed.

Not a bad idea, IMO. I'd like to see something like that on the books now. In addition, I'd like to see a law under which a corporation's charter could be revoked for gross misconduct or criminality.

John

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by Boreas

I don't know whether it was only in the Articles of Confederation or it was under (not "in") the Constitution at one time but I believe all corporations were limited in their life span for a set period of time (I think 40 years). At the end of the specified time the corporate charter expired an had to be renewed.

Not a bad idea, IMO. I'd like to see something like that on the books now. In addition, I'd like to see a law under which a corporation's charter could be revoked for gross misconduct or criminality.

John

I know both Madison and Jefferson were very leary of corporate power and there was an 11th amendment proposed to restrain such power but unfortunately it did not pass.

[wgrr]

Originally Posted by Boreas

The corporate death penalty would be nice.

John

That was actually done in this country in the past. It can be done today. The accounting firm of Author Anderson was the closest thing to a corporate death penalty we have seen in many years. Remember Enron.

The Founding Fathers hated corporations. They fought a war with two of them for the freedom of this country. The British army was just a corporate tool to tamp down those uppity colonist. It is all about the money. Always has been.

Kind of amazing the tea baggers have no clue what the Boston Tea Party was all about. The tea baggers I meet have no idea that colonist were protesting a tax cut. When I tell them this they just sputter and call me stupid.

[Oerets]

Tip of the iceberg, this fine looks big but in the reality will not hurt the bottom line of the company at all.. You think they are alone in these practices? Any company that gives bonuses for sales these types of practices happen. The company turns a blind eye knowing they can just deny it later blaming the guy at the bottom. Who would of been fired for being 100% legit.

I say government secures all of the assets and hefty fines and jail time( real big boy jail) would go a long way at cleaning up the company. Money and power is the only thing the people at the top understand. Take that away and you will get their attention!




Barney

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by wgrr

That was actually done in this country in the past. It can be done today. The accounting firm of Author Anderson was the closest thing to a corporate death penalty we have seen in many years. Remember Enron.

The Founding Fathers hated corporations. They fought a war with two of them for the freedom of this country. The British army was just a corporate tool to tamp down those uppity colonist. It is all about the money. Always has been.

Kind of amazing the tea baggers have no clue what the Boston Tea Party was all about. The tea baggers I meet have no idea that colonist were protesting a tax cut. When I tell them this they just sputter and call me stupid.

Actually, it's a little more complicated than that. The British East India Company was struggling financially, largely because both Britons and Americans were consuming smuggled Dutch tea which wasn't subject to duty.

In an effort to help the Company, Parliament passed an act which lowered the tax on tea consumed in Britain and completely refunded that assessed on tea exported to America. Obviously, this cost the Crown considerable cash so they attempted to recoup some of it by levying a tax on tea in the Colonies to be paid by the colonists.

I doubt very much that the colonists cared one way or the other about the East India Company's tax break but they certainly resented getting stuck with the bill themselves.

With regard to fighting a war with a company instead of the Crown, that's a bit of a stretch. The Revolution was a war of independence from the Crown, not simply a protest against the power and influence of the Company.

If you want an example of an actual war against the British East India Company, you need look no further than the Indian Mutiny in 1857. At that time in India the military force was indeed a private army in the pay of the Company. There was no British Army presence on the sub-continent at all.

The Mutiny took place among the Indian regulars in the Company's army ("Sepoys"), who comprised about 80% of the force. The causes were many and stretched far back in time.

The final straw occurred when the army introduced a new type of paper wrapped cartridge that needed to be torn open with the teeth to release the powder. For waterproofing the paper was greased with tallow (from beef) or lard (from pigs). The Sepoys, being either Hindu or Muslim, refused to use these unclean cartridges. When the Company insisted they mutinied.

All hell broke loose and the British came within a whisker of losing India. Pretty interesting stuff.

John

John