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from the company-towns-and-company-scrip dept.
Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments:
Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments.
Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state's economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.
The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and courts and provide government services.
The measure to further economic development with the "alternative form of local government" has not yet been introduced in the Legislature.
[...] The governor's economic development office did not respond to questions about the zones Wednesday.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 06 2021, @05:51AM (28 children)
Yes, exactly. And - how, exactly, were the various special trading zones in China developed? Or, how about Hudson's Bay company, or the East India company? In each case, privately owned companies or corporations were granted "rights" to conduct business as they saw fit. And, in each case, the natives were horribly exploited by those companies. And, banana republics? American owned companies actually hired and funded armies to overthrow governments, and to impose their will on the little brown men who actually did all the work.
You really don't get much more sovereign than recruiting and equipping armies to enforce your will. Armies, or police forces, or just plain old gangs.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @06:06AM (13 children)
Sure you do, you make the people you're oppressing foot the bill.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 06 2021, @12:42PM (12 children)
I seem to recall you referring to the military and its taxpayer funded status as "necessary evil" at some point...? :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @01:29PM (11 children)
Absosmurfly. It is not, however, necessary to point them inwards.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 06 2021, @06:17PM (10 children)
The 6th shiws that is a lie. Not to mention all the times you assholes wanted tobuse the military to violate thenrights ofnpeaceful protesters.
Is there no low for you? Are you truly psychotic?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @07:51PM (9 children)
Oh what a completely inaccurate strawman you need to keep from feeling like a moron. You want to hear my actual take on it? The US military, including the Guard because they are military not militia, should never be used on US soil or citizens except during a civil war. Period. No exceptions.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 06 2021, @08:42PM (6 children)
What do you think an insurrection is?
Fuck yer stoopid
(Score: 5, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @09:00PM (5 children)
You reckon a hundred or so mostly unarmed idiots fucking around for a few hours are a civil war? You're a shitload more stupid than I am then.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday February 07 2021, @04:23AM (4 children)
They sure as hell reckoned it was going to be. I say take them at their word for it.
How about this: I try my level best to kill you, but fail even to inflict light injuries. That means I get away scot-free because I fucked up, riiiiight? :) Because by your logic that's the exact same thing on a smaller scale.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday February 07 2021, @03:22PM (3 children)
Thus extreme accuracy in the "idiots" assertion.
Second point? If you're utterly incapable of killing me, I'm just going to laugh at you. No amount of butthurt on my part would or should cause assault with a nerf feather duster to be taken seriously as attempted murder.
They're not getting off scot-free though. They have to pay the price for what they did. Actions have consequences, even for the terminally stupid.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday February 08 2021, @01:44AM (2 children)
You contradict yourself with that last line: these *are* the consequences for the "terminally stupid." Attempt a coup, even if you're utterly incompetent, and you will be treated like a terrorist. Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 08 2021, @06:16PM (1 child)
Sigh, engage your brain for a change and pay attention to what is actually said. This is both ultra-mega-clown-shoes when screeched about as a coup attempt and illegal. At the same time.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 09 2021, @01:34AM
And being ultra-mega-clownshoes does not erase mens rea. You really ought to stop gibbering about things you don't even half-understand.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2021, @02:55AM (1 child)
Not even for disaster relief/humanitarian aid?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday February 07 2021, @03:24PM
If they're acting as manual labor and logistics instead of as a military, that's not really relevant.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday February 06 2021, @06:47AM (5 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_East_India_Company [wikipedia.org]
(Now tell me about what the "D.C." in "Washington, D.C." really means...)
And yes, corporate military forces is naturally the next step.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Saturday February 06 2021, @12:27PM (4 children)
Yup, and was done long ago: https://www.britannica.com/event/Homestead-Strike [britannica.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 06 2021, @02:01PM (3 children)
Wish I had thought to use that as an example. It's perfect. The workers revolt against crap conditions, and the company hires an army to put the revolt down brutally. And, it happened right here in the US, in a nice free democratic country.
There is a lot wrong with our police and military forces as things stand. When a company controls the police and military, things go to shit real fast. We should all be abundantly aware that corporate executives put human life into a ledger, assign monetary values to those lives, then spend those lives as they see fit. The pharmaceutical companies are a prime example, and thalidomide stand out among all their examples.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/health/thalidomide-fda-documents.html [nytimes.com]
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 06 2021, @06:11PM
Runaway is exactly right on this. Corporations are nothing more than kingdoms and always have to be reined in. They are not responsive to their workforce ("citizens") anymore than the law requires and only care to make money for shareholders, in many cases not even local to the nation. If you want to maintain "free markets" and "healthy work environment", you need strong oversight and regulations that are enforced. Anything else, you'll end up with a banana republic-like counties.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 06 2021, @11:12PM (1 child)
Well -- leave it to a Demcorat to propose the most literally fascist policy possible, except worse because in the normal fascism, government and corporate interests openly collude but with this plan, the corporation _is_ the government. The level of tone-deafness this proposal requires is astounding.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2021, @03:12PM
This is what you get when you don't have any litmus tests for party membership.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Saturday February 06 2021, @07:49PM (5 children)
But were they worse off due to being company towns?
Yes South Rhodesia was not a paradise for black folks in 1900
However weren't they comparatively better off in Rhodesia in 1900 than, say, Mississippi in 1850?
Isn't the quality of life for both whites AND blacks in Rhodesia in 1900 higher than Baltimore or Flint or Detroit in 2020?
For example, the First Matabele War was pretty much a victorian era "Bloods vs Crips" thing. Arguably the company stopped the violence a hell of a lot sooner with fewer deaths than the modern USA experience of gang violence during the "crack wars" of the 80s. Certainly on a percentage basis, "free" people in the 1980s suffered a lot more than "company town" people in the 1900s there's not even a real question here.
Its kind of like arguing that a monarchy in 2020's would be a bad idea because historically the only medical care we had during certain monarchy eras was leeches, therefore monarchy is a bad idea in 2020 because leeches are a bad idea. But I don't really see any reason to assume that, for example, Thailand having a king, means they can only have leeches for medical care in 2020, because I donno why, wait I do, its because its a faulty argument.
The really interesting propaganda story about company towns is how the residents were generally better off than capitalist or dictatorship towns "of the same era" but the only story we get to hear is how bad the 1800s were and company towns existed in the 1800s therefore they are a bad idea. Well, no, not exactly.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 06 2021, @08:00PM (3 children)
The logic isn't flowing. Life in the 1900s was better than life in the 1500s for most people, therefore, what exactly?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Troll) by VLM on Saturday February 06 2021, @08:18PM (1 child)
Yeah exactly.
It seems exploitation of natives, for example, is completely orthogonal to how leadership is selected for a government. Treatment of natives seems to depend solely on the morals and ethics of the era.
I'll throw out an interesting idea that quality of life depend on how close they align to their leaders. Aren't most people likely to be close to the main employer of their area?
When looking at things like native exploitation the local company is likely to be far closer to the natives than some governor appointed from the other side of the world.
The proper comparison isn't Africa 1850 vs London today, its more fair to compare Cortez 1520 vs Africa 1850. I think the Africans got pretty lenient treatment compared to the ancient Mexicans.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 06 2021, @08:27PM
Human sacrifice makes Europeans shudder. When cannibals and human sacrifice were discovered in any corner of the world, the Euros made short shrift of the natives. The remainder were merely enslaved when possible, and exploited when not possible.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2021, @12:00AM
Of course not, it is coming from VLM and attempting to pass through Runaway! Conservative constipation on both ends.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 08 2021, @02:41AM
khallow is way better at deploying this argument. You don't go full nihilist retard with it.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Saturday February 06 2021, @11:56PM (1 child)
Old song. Tennessee Ernie Ford.
He knew.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EkRYuMqw-B0 [youtube.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday February 10 2021, @10:54PM
A modern English translation would say "Test all things". The meaning of the verb "prove" has changed in the intervening centuries.
-- hendrik