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Comment by behringer | Hacker News Reader

I say start by getting rid of the corporate veil? Outlaw the institution of the corporation. All company owners are now personally liable for their company's debts. Most societal problems would be fixed. Progress might slow down, but is that a bad thing? We're on a collision course with global warming, so slowing down progress and making people personally liable for the environment might be a good thing.

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Anonymity and limited liability exists in all but simplest organisations in some form. It is crucial to organisation is greater than its constituents. For countries, it is the legality; for for-profit organisations, it is the monetary liability.

Economic progress saves human lives. You're trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

*So far

You run into evolutionary game theory issues. The reason the world is dominated by corporate states today is because the existence of corporations - formal organizations shielded from legal liability, able to take on projects riskier than any individual would - helped them conquer the rest of the world. Native American tribes didn't have corporations. Pre-colonial India didn't have corporations. Imperial China didn't have corporations. In all cases these civilizations were subjugated through direct corporate influence, oftentimes because the corporate veil allowed institutions like the British East India Corporation or the American Railroads to commit crimes (like genocide) that would've been thoroughly illegal if perpetrated from one individual to another within the society.

You'd likely end up with a temporary utopia within the society which gets shattered once another society (which embraces the competition, risk-taking, and technological progress afforded by corporations) decides that your utopia is looking awfully weak and has some nice goodies.

> formal organizations shielded from legal liability

You described governments. Corporations are formal organisations shielded from monetary liability.

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