Corporations are people

[–] Siedge [OP] 4 points (+4|-0)

Your argument is that educated consumers are a myth? I feel like that falls apart really quickly. When you argue that people are too stupid to figure things out on their own you will find people don't take to kindly too that.

Also that bottom argument of "The company pays it" is the issue and arguing that it's not a lot of money for a large company.. You are reinforcing everything I am arguing here. You are making my argument look really good. You are saying that small businesses and startups shouldn't exist. Everyone should just get a normal job with that mindset. That's not what a lot of people want to do, innovation happens when you allow as many people as possible into markets, regulations don't hurt big business they hurt small businesses.

[–] E-werd 2 points (+2|-0)

Also that bottom argument of "The company pays it" is the issue and arguing that it's not a lot of money for a large company.

I think the point he's trying to make here is that the license acts as a sort of filter for companies that can afford to do business safely. If you can't afford the license, there's a good chance you might be having to cut corners elsewhere. It's a cost of doing business. Lives are at risk and everyone needs to do their due diligence.

Your argument is that educated consumers are a myth?

Nobody shops at Walmart because they think it's a fine, upstanding company. They shop there because it's cheaper. They generated enough sales that they have the ability to strong-arm suppliers into selling cheaper to them. The suppliers know that Walmart is the biggest player in the game and, if they want to stay afloat, they need to play ball. Meanwhile, other retailers can't beat Walmart's pricing because they don't have the sales volume to get the same discounts as Walmart--and that's exactly why they don't have the sales volume. It's a never-ending cycle that is killing companies like JC Penney, Macy's, Sears/Kmart, Toys 'R Us, and more.

Consumers could have kept up their old shopping habits and killed off Walmart and prevented this monopolistic mess, but we'll always go for the cheapest deal. Whether it's stupidity or a lack of means is questionable, but employees aren't paid much at Walmart and the higher-paying retail jobs are disappearing because of Walmart's dominance so you decide where the root is.

When you argue that people are too stupid to figure things out on their own you will find people don't take to kindly too that.

Public opinion, especially of themselves, is often inconsistent with reality. You can feel how you want about this, but stupid is as stupid does. We're still dumb opportunistic animals at our core.

[–] Siedge [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

With the crane situation, when I used to run a crane, it would have been very very very difficult for me to injure anyone doing what I did. In-fact the only possible person to be injured would have been me. Charging multiple thousands of dollars doesn't prove someone is going to be safe. If the goal was to be safe it wouldn't cost thousands of dollars to take the test. Theres multiple fees, first you have to pay an approval fee (Which is over a thousand dollars on it's own) this fee is to get approved to take the exam. Then you pay for the exam, which costs per each time you take it. Explain why you would need to pay an approval fee if safety is what's being considered here? (Plus crane related fatalities in America is so low as it is, this isn't something that will lower the rate of fatalities in-fact because the license just limits the size of truck you can run, I imagine we will see an increase of fatalities due to people trying to lift bigger things with trucks not rated for those things.

I also don't believe the reason companies like Walmart are able to get so much power is because people are stupid, I attribute most of it to the odd information era we've been in. I don't see Walmart being around too much longer either..

Anyway my point being most the times these regulations are not made by some wonderful guy who wants to see everyone safe. It's by politicians who get paid by large corporations to make sure there's less competition.

[–] ForPhuksSake 1 points (+1|-0)

I don't have a dog in this fight but just some personal experience to offer. I've been on the end where I bought where it was cheapest due to financial constraints, and I've also been where I could afford to go where I wished. When one can afford quality in product and/or service people tend to buy quality because in the long run it actually saves money/time. Those who are unaware of this fact have likely never been fortunate enough to experience this truth. There are times, however especially now, where quality doesn't exist and you have to just accept it and get the best deal you can knowing you'll likely need to replace it again soon. Only those who aren't struggling can even get to the next level of worrying about what a company supports, represents, what their growth may impact, etc. That requires time that most don't have, even the more financially stable, due to poor time management or over burdening their obligations with family, friends, and community. Now we're at the point where there is so much saturation in exaggeration that no one knows what to believe so even when they may hear through word of mouth within their spheres, they're likely to shrug it off because it probably isn't entirely true or as bad/good as it sounds. None of these things mean that people don't care, but that they're just trying to make the best of life right now. And within their own sphere it doesn't appear that they're being the grasshopper instead of the ant because they can't zoom out to see the long term impacts. Our politicians know this, the big company owners know this, and they line one another's pockets with deals that allow them to bring about short term benefits to the plebs while ensuring long term strangulation at the same time. I don't know about the initial person saying people weren't smart enough meaning that people really are dumb so much as unaware. In this case is where we really need a respected group of people without any financial or political ties to offer insights that would give power back to the people. I'm hoping something like this will be coming about, it seems like a natural part of evolution after these last ten years of exponentially frenzied data tennis matches that are too complicated to keep up with for the average Joe/Jane with a life outside of combing multitudes of sites for the truth as best able to decipher. And wow am I all over the place.

Corporations are people

33 comments

/s/Whatever