At 5:15 am -0400 on 7/17/97, Peter D. Junger wrote:
Corporations are just parts of the government that got away. I have never understood why some, though far from all, libertarians bother to distinguish them from the other organs of the state.
There is considerable logic to this, viz: 1. Corporations would not exist without government charter. Consequently they have to do what governments want them to do. Being incorporated in a number of jurisdictions helps with this, of course. 2. There are partnership options which get the same level of limited liability, we talked about them here two or three years ago... 3. If governments dissapeared tomorrow (heh...), then business would still happen, and large businesses would still exist given the economics of scale inherent in our still-moderately industrial society. Geodesic internet commerce will probably involve 'swarms' of small business entities operating in cash-settled auction markets for goods and services, and so the need for the integrative function corporations provide for resources and information will eventually dissolve... Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/