Re: Bugs in free markets.

From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Mon Sep 04 2000 - 08:08:14 MDT


On Mon, 04 Sep 2000, Technotranscendence wrote:
>
> While I doubt anything said here will convince anyone, much less settle the
> matter, James above comments seem only to matter if the partnership or other
> unincorporated business is run like an ownership. I mean, why should
> corporate investors get off if partners don't? The matter seems to be one
> of managerial responsibility. Corporate investors, in a sense, hire a board
> to manage the corporation, but partners and sole owners generally run it
> themselves.

In both corporations and general partnerships, the active managers of the
business can be held liable. In both cases, investors who don't actively
participate in the business (shareholders and limited partners,
respectively) do not have liability beyond their investment. The only
time shareholders or limited partners can be held accountable is if the
courts find that those individuals were in fact in charge of the
day-to-day operation of the business.

While I know this list goes off on an "evil corporation" tangent
occasionally, I have yet to understand why. Most of the arguments seem to
be based on a lack of knowledge about the legal details of the
various officially recognized business structures. More importantly, most
of the problems that do arise with big corporations have far more to do
with "evil" government than "evil" business anyway.

-James Rogers
 jamesr@best.com



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