Robert -
I don't want to beat this to death, but...

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> From: Robert G Goodby <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] Demand?
> Date: Thursday, June 19, 1997 9:20 AM
>
> On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, DDeBar wrote:
>
> > .
> > snip>
> > >  Corporations are logical consequences..of monoploy capitalism, which
> > > engulfs and devours small enterprise, no matter how strongly those
> > > enterprises products may be demanded.
> >
> > Point of fact - corporations existed as legal entities long before
monoply
> > capitalism did.
> >
> Well, not necessarily. Many early corporations (e.g. British East India
> Company, Hudson Bay Company) exercised monopoly power, well before the
> well-documented rise of monopoloy capital in the 1870's.

True. In fact, I had these two, and  Dutch West Indies, in mind as
eceptions when I posted. However, the earlier thread seemd to suggest that
the corporation as a legal construct was strictly derivative of monopoly
capitalism. This is just not true; corporate forms predate monopoly
capitalism. This does not contradict the relationship that, as this string
has argued correctly, exists between the corporation and monopoly
capitalism; I grant also that the PRESENT corporate form(s) ARE largely
derived from the economic fact of monopoly.

 Also, the fact
> that corporations existed as legal entities isn't really the point--it's
> the nature of those entities. Early in the republic, corporate charters
> were granted by state legislatures in ways that strictly limited
corporate
> activity, requiring that corporations operate in the public interest, and
> setting limits on profits, activities, and even the lifespan of a
> particular corporation. All of this began to change in the 1870's, when a
> series of legislative acts and court cases gave corporations the same
> legal & constitutional rights as persons. It's from this point that most
> of our modern problems stem. (David Korten, "When Corporations Rule the
> World", Kumarian Press, Ch. 4). The question is not one of corporations
> per se, but their ends, and who controls them.

Yep...especially the control part; AND OWNERSHIP is also critical here.

> "Corporations have been enthroned....An era of corruption in high places
> will follow and money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working
> on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few
> hands...and the Republic is destroyed"  -Abraham Lincoln