Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The problem with this logic is that if you dont create such monopoly someone else definitely will.

Companies like Amazon are of national interest and cannot be easily regulated by governments.

My proposal is to have a "social responsibility tax". That does not have to be necessarily be a financial thing.

Companies like amazon should provide adequate housing and other perks where they can utilize economies of scale.



Why does it need a special tax? Just use regular ass taxes, raise them if they're not high enough.

> Companies like amazon should provide adequate housing and other perks where they can utilize economies of scale.

Sorry, but this is ridiculous. Why twist Amazon's arm into providing random social benefits, when you can just, y'know, have the government do it? Because that kind of thing is their job?

Imagine if you were like, "hmm, we don't seem to have enough public parks and libraries...I know! We'll force huge private corporations to provide them! I can't wait to go to Jeff Bezos Park, sponsored by Prime Video!" Would that really be an improvement over the local government doing it?


I am from a former communist country and I have yet to see a competent government that used taxes efficiently and was not like "it's never enough".

The problem is lack of accountability, corruption, nepotism and lack of vision (shortterm thinking).

It's easier for Amazon to find a way how to construct more efficiently housing that's adequate even for lower classes.

The government just need to set a quality standard for that housing.


Yes, if anything needs fixing, it's governments. Because they are the ones who should fix large corporations. Not their employees or their customers.


The nordic countries seem to do well enough. And for social housing, Vienna seems to be a good example.


Unironically, I legitimately expect Amazon would provide better social services than the government. Having dealt with a lifetime of various governmental entities, I struggle to think of a time I was actually satisfied and impressed with how they handled whatever, unlike Amazon, who continuously impresses me and quickly fixes mistakes.


Speed is one of the selling points of dictatorship.

Companies (except worker-owned cooperatives) are hierarchical and completely undemocratic, by design.

They are also focused exclusively on maximizing profit, not providing social services.

Replace democratic institutions with billionaire-owned companies and we just reinvented feudalism.


And when they do it badly, you can vote the CEO out. How democratic.


> if you dont create such monopoly someone else definitely will

Indeed, unless the government stops them.

If you don't murder your neighbors and seize all their assets someone will do that as well, unless the government stops it.

Your point is less salient than it appears at first glance. It's not actually controversial that without government intervention people acting in their own narrow self interest will destroy society.


> It's not actually controversial that without government intervention people acting in their own narrow self interest will destroy functional society.

Are you not being overly pessimistic of human nature? Even in places and times of extreme lawlessness, generally society continues to function without everyone being murdered. Or perhaps you were being hyperbolic?

granted I'd personally rather not be living in such a time or place.


> Even in places and times of extreme lawlessness, generally society continues to function without everyone being murdered.

Typically in a generally lawless environment the prevailing means of social organization is what you call a mafia or warlord state, where small scale tribal sized areas become semi-stable anchored around a strongman type figure who maintains a monopoly on the use of violence.

In those situations survival exists at the discretion of the local warlord, who informally settles disputes and extracts whatever reasources they see fit, distributing the spoils to the militia members that keep them able to maintain their monopoly on violence.

This is easily recognizable as the default state for most of human history, and the state that society returns to when ungoverned. Examples include Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, various narco-states, and so on.

While functional, one very noticeable attribute is that it's not a pleasant way to live for everyone except those who win all the resources. Sound familiar?


I would recommend studying up on some history. The current generally prevailing peace is not the default state of human nature. Indeed the good thing we have going right now is a very notable exception to the normal order of things: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/03/pinker-explai... (and there's no guarantee it will continue indefinitely).


> "Even in places and times of extreme lawlessness, generally society continues to function without everyone being murdered."

Remind me, how many people are declining to wear masks and ignoring stay-at-home directives during this pandemic?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: