Comment on Tesla withheld data, lied, and misdirected police and plaintiffs to avoid blame in Autopilot crash
BrotherL0v3@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Folks. Publicly traded companies will ALWAYS compare the expected value of breaking the law with compliance.
Say it costs $100 million to follow the law. Breaking it comes with a $300 million fine, but only a 20% chance of getting caught.
They compare a 100% chance of paying $100 million to a 20% chance of paying $300 million.
Average cost of following the law: $100 million
Average cost of breaking it: $60 million
If we’re gonna do capitalism (which I would rather we not, for the record!), we have to make that expected value calculation break in favor of following regulations. If it is cheaper to break the law than to follow it, you’re not just losing money by complying: you’re giving ground to your competition. Fines need to be massive. Infractions need to get caught and punished. Executives need to be held personally accountable. Corporations need to be dissolved. Fines cannot be just the cost of doing business.
Do people need to rewatch Fight Club?
**Narrator: **
A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside.
Now, should we initiate a recall?
Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X.
If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.
I’d raise you in that. Companies are people now. If companies break laws, they should be held accountable personally. Even Club Fed would be misery for 14 years on a murder rap.
I’d argue the entire C-suite should be legally responsible for anything the company does.
The CEO in particular IMO, unless it’s financial (CFO) or tech (CTO, CIO).
However, it’s already the CEO’s job to take the heat in public so the board doesn’t have to.
Instead, hold everyone who holds a stake responsible, down to everyone with a 401k with 3 shares in the company for major violations.
See how quickly the shareholders vote to have better transparency.
While an attractive pitch, remember that what’s going to fuck over the working class is the laws intended to attack the assholes at the top. Which group do you think will have the means to defend themselves in court, has the power to make legislative moves, and would benefit from having another tool to fuck their slaves with?
DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The conditioning of people to think it must be monetary fines is strong I guess. Imo it shouldn’t be a fine for intentionally breaking laws, especially when putting lives in danger. It should be jail time for the executives. Make the calculation disappear altogether.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 7 months ago
A capitalist would say ‘The market will correct this.’
Cort@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Well the market corrected UHC’s ceo
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Do a China and just execute them.
Jarix@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Uhh there’s still death penalty in USA. And if corporations are legally people…
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
If only…
One can dream.
jasoman@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Will happen just not in the way we want it.