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Should we normalize ephemeral businesses?

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Re: Should we normalize ephemeral businesses?

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you countered with a list of companies in the 1830s that lasted only 3 months, that would be great.

You can definitely find diaries from the Gold Rushes of the 1800's where the author will write something to the effect of "me and twelve other men formed a company last night", matter-of-factly. This is among reports of various threats to life and limb that were normal to that time and place. The companies usually failed within a few weeks because of infighting.

[citation needed]

Re: Should we normalize ephemeral businesses?

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have $3M in the bank then you are already a millionaire and the choice as framed above doesn't make sense anymore. It's not a 70% chance of being a millionaire—it's a 100% chance of being one already with a 70% chance of making another million which, as you say, looks a lot different to somebody who already has $3M than to somebody who has < $1M.

I think that's whst he's saying. You're saying what he's saying. There is no disagreement.

No, I don't think we are in full agreement. In the part of my comment after "as you say", I did call out that her reasoning re: the marginal utility of $1M for someone who has $3M vs. ~$0 is (imo) correct, so we do have that common ground, but you ought to read the part of my comment before "as you say" and compare it to the context of the comments above it.

You might accuse me of splitting hairs, but I think it's an important distinction in the context of vkou's comment and parents.

Re: Should we normalize ephemeral businesses?

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A business is group of people building things together. Disagree. A business is an operation meant to make money for investors. Things that call themselves businesses and don't do that over a period of X are failing, as businesses, for the duration X. A business is an organization, and organizations don't have to be businesses, even if they share some of the same attributes such as concern for expenses, desire to g…

> A business is an operation meant to make money for investors. please stop repeating Friedmannite vacuities as if they are laws of nature. What exactly is a business is defined by contractual arrangements that have nothing inevitable about them. Nothing. Money did not exist before it was invented. Its a social construct and actually idiotically simple. "Investors" did not exist before the invention of the corporatio…

To clarify, I think groups of people building something together is valid and doesn't have to be in the context of a business as per my previous post, and maybe should be done more often.

Your first post sort of conflated "business" and "family" and no ... that's a bad thing. Businesses shouldn't get to call themselves family. I don't want the place I have to go to get money to live (which I wouldn't need to do if I was rich) to impose any emotional/moral obligation like a family. If a job starts treating me badly it's great to able to get another job without dealing with the ethical "is it right to abandon your family" type questions.

> Money did not exist before it was invented.

Inventions are children of necessity.

Money (of some kind) can only not exist if a static group of people are in a perfectly static environment where all their economic needs are met.

When the environment is only a little dynamic, historically enforcement of a "static environment" has been attempted with rigid social rules and hierarchies, but things like the plague, droughts, floods, and natural disasters don't listen to them.

When environments are dynamic and experience changes--drastic or gradual--different skills and tools will be needed to adapt. Markets will pop up. A human-independent store of value among peers in a large enough group of people will always be necessary.

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