Did the arrival of government help the situation, or enhance business's power? It takes a government to bestow land grants, patents, banking monopolies, import restrictions, etc.
Juan, you've overlooked what I call "the most dangerous derivative": the power that corporations derive from the State, including many features of the corporate form itself (e.g., fictitious personhood). Remove the State, the privileges it bestows, and all its barriers to entry, and business has one method of dealing with people: persuasion in a competitive environment. Goodbye company towns.
KFritz, glib but absurd. We put forth our case with theory, history, and logic. Refute it if you can, but your remark is a groundless cheap shot.
Did the arrival of government help the situation, or enhance business's power? It takes a government to bestow land grants, patents, banking monopolies, import restrictions, etc.
Juan, look at Gabriel Kolko's The Triumph of Conservatism. Kolko is as far from a laissez fairist as one can get.
Juan, you've overlooked what I call "the most dangerous derivative": the power that corporations derive from the State, including many features of the corporate form itself (e.g., fictitious personhood). Remove the State, the privileges it bestows, and all its barriers to entry, and business has one method of dealing with people: persuasion in a competitive environment. Goodbye company towns.