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Comment by spectramax | Hacker News Reader

Another way to think about this topic is that China's CEO is Xi Jingpin.

There are a few distinctions between calling China a company and calling Apple a nation:

- A nation uphelds the law whereas a company uses proxies (lobbying) to make laws

- A nation has diplomatic rights, a company has to abide by export controls

- A nation has a treasury, has control over interest rates and can prosecute violators, it ensures a level playing field. A company has equity and can fire employees, but has to maximize profits (shareholder interest) and eliminate/beat competition.

- A nation has hard physical military and ability to go to war, a company has office security and HR

- A nation can prosecute criminals, a company can layoff people.

I don't think this analogy provides any interesting insight into Apple besides drawing loose connection between secrecy and censorship.

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Companies make internal rules that employees have to follow or be punished/fired. They have to comply with the laws where laws have to comply with the constitution and basic human rights.

Diplomatic rights only go so far after you declare war. Most companies are in a constant state of economic war with their competitors.

The nations of Europe gave away the control over their currency.

Most nations can hardly win a war, especially a war against one of the superpowers.

A company can also reassign people to the "retirement building".

You could argue that most nations aren't truly nations. Which I would agree to.

> Another way to think about this topic is that China's CEO is Xi Jingpin.

He's more like the chairman. He sets the direction that he wants china to go in, others execute his plan.

> There are a few distinctions between calling China a company and calling Apple a nation:

Nobody is calling china a company and apple a nation. People are talking about money and influence. Apple certainly doesn't have the money and influence of China or the US. But it has more influence than most smaller or even midsized nations.

- A nation has a treasury, has control over interest rates and can prosecute violators,

Banking cartels/central banks like the Fed control interest rates. The treasury mints money and collects taxes.

> - A nation has hard physical military and ability to go to war, a company has office security and HR

So has companies. Companies have even fought wars against each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_Wars

> - A nation can prosecute criminals, a company can layoff people.

Governments prosecute criminals. Companies have been able to try, punish and enslave people.

For another example, the British Raj originated when the British East India Company conquered India. There's nothing historically unusual about a private company operating its own military force.

I think the company-country analogy is stronger than you claim.

> A nation uphelds the law whereas a company uses proxies (lobbying) to make laws

Once companies can influence the government, any special abilities of the government (export controls, legal system, etc.) can, at least to some extent, be harnessed by high-net-worth individuals/companies [1].

[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/c...

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