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Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

theregister.com

71–80 of 259 posts

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#71
post #34
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because the rich use their wealth to buy instruments that sway public opinion at the expense of everyone else?

Except for you. It's just the rest of the public which is dumb, of course.

He is part of the public, he falls to ads just as we do too.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#72
post #65
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fair, by definition, is when the market reaches equilibrium. This is absurd. "The market" is amoral: it's just a collection of human behaviors that are shaped by laws, culture, and customs. All of those can change, the law can change quite easily.

> "The market" is amoral Yeah, exactly. Fairness in the marketplace is purely a math problem, no morality involved.

But fairness without morality is just a nonsense. It’s an equilibrium. fairness requires some moral perspective.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#75
post #19
post #12

[flagged]

So Jeff Bezos creating a company that employs people and grows the economy in a non zero sum way through efficiency gains shouldn’t be rewarded billions for the trouble? Why are people so concerned with the salary of the ultra rich? It doesn’t make your life objectively worse, if anything our lives are substantially better because of it, even if you don’t directly shop at Amazon.

>It doesn’t make your life objectively worse

If my taxes go up to fund plants / warehouses for profitable companies I am objectively worse, am I not?

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusing. The purpose of a company was originally exactly that: to employ people and provide services and value to the community they existed in. I mean, this is still the exact reason politicians cite when providing incentives to companies - bringing jobs to their cities/states. I'm pretty sure I don't like this new definition; it feels like it's based on greed, not value.

That's not historically accurate. Historically, the purpose of a company was to be a vehicle that a passive partner could invest capital into an enterprise providing a return on investment, such that an active partner (who did not) could manage it [1]. I do not see historical support for your claim that the purpose of a company was "to employ people and provide services and value to the community they existed in" eve…

The reason companies are given legal standing and privilege is because they serve a useful social function, in addition to being a legal nicety for investment. If companies don’t serve useful social purposes we can change the law to withdraw those privileges.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#77
post #20

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This is why we need more employee ownership of companies.

committees cannot run conglomerates.

Boards of Directors exist.

I bet a lot of companies already have more non-employee shareholders than they have employees.

It doesn't seem to be a problem.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#78
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this strategy of shaming the corporation who wants a nice big government contract instead of, you know, petitioning your federally elected representatives, actually work?

I just double-checked with my peers and it turns out it's possible to protest two different things at once, and that petitioning at multiple sources of the problem is often more effective at getting things done.

>petitioning at multiple sources of the problem is often more effective at getting things done

Could you provide any sources for this? As it stands, I've seen zero tangible results regarding Amazon's ongoing unchecked growth, the prevailing lack of workplace standards in their warehouses or for delivery drivers, monopolistic practices, or any general "ethical" standing of the company.

Same goes for the US Government. Sure, you can vote for who you want and try to elect change, call your congress reps, and protest at the chambers, but it doesn't matter when they nothing gets done at the top level. Until there is an honest discussion had about immigration reform without a partisan spin put on everything, we won't get anywhere with ICE.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is: Is that the way it has to be? Can't we build a society which is better? Can't we build a society where "sane" employment is a valid and wanted output and not only maximising shareholder value?

Theoretically or in practice? Practically, we haven't yet developed anti-fragile socio-ideological technologies which can out compete shareholder-maximization ideologies(SMIs). Instead SMIs are adept at castrating anti-SMIs and rendering them inert before they can establish a foothold. The world we enter into today is the product of this anti-SMI castration. You can even see echos of the great SMI war play out whenev…

Not in the US, but Germany and Scandinavian countries show this very much is a possibility. Medium sized firms in Germany just don’t behave the same way they do in the US and large enterprises are subject to far more state intervention. And it still works fine.

Re: Amazon investors nuke ethics overhaul and say yes to $212M CEO pay

#80
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Jeff Bezos creating a company that employs people and grows the economy in a non zero sum way through efficiency gains shouldn’t be rewarded billions for the trouble? Why are people so concerned with the salary of the ultra rich? It doesn’t make your life objectively worse, if anything our lives are substantially better because of it, even if you don’t directly shop at Amazon.

The hn bootlickers really come out hard when someone suggests that wealth inequality can't be fixed by unregulated capitalism. Won't someone think of the oligarchs?

The commies are here to give an actual argument, finally. Won't somebody listen to them?
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