Submitted by nacorom t3_z8ef1p in technology
ptd163 t1_iybobyh wrote
Reply to comment by mugen__870 in US judge orders Amazon to ‘cease and desist’ anti-union retaliation by nacorom
>Oh you made $500 billion last year? Your fine will be 20% of that. That’ll put a halt on those record profits real quick.
Everyone keeps missing the point. Fines should not just be a percentage of revenue. Corporations just build in extra margin and revenue to account for the fine like they do now. What needs to happen is ALL illegal revenue is immediately forfeited. This solves them building in extra margin and revenue. It doesn't matter what they've made if they have to forfeit it.
After that the actual fine, which has NO LIMIT, is imposed ON TOP OF the already forfeited revenue as a punitive measure to discourage further violations. Only then will corporations take fine seriously.
ArcturusTheRed t1_iybxwh9 wrote
I think this sounds great in theory, but tricky in execution. How do you calculate the amount of illegal revenue gained by union busting, or anti-trust activity? I imagine you could get 100 experts to try and figure it out and they’d each have a different number.
Moon_Atomizer t1_iyciiib wrote
Just calculate it the same way companies calculate damages for downloading music. If downloading an album is a $2 million fine for us poors then imagine how much more money actually ruining people's lives should be worth
FrankInHisTank t1_iycrs4y wrote
Oh people’s lives don’t matter. Only shareholder dividends.
tomtom5858 t1_iye15td wrote
Yeah, but if they're suddenly losing those dividends to fines, they'll get unhappy in a real hurry.
wasdninja t1_iycjmot wrote
Lots of things are tricky but that doesn't stop us from giving it a good try anyway. As long as the punishments aren't too low its way better than the pathetic shit in place right now.
Gurgiwurgi t1_iyd7vm1 wrote
You don't. You say, "you broke the law from x to y dates. We're seizing your gross revenue from that period."
themedleb t1_iyddu0j wrote
Why not take the average of that those numbers.
ArcticSphinx t1_iydksnb wrote
I was thinking a government (or third-party) audit at the company's expense. Ideally, it would also open up opportunities to catch any tax/reporting irregularities that the IRS might be interested in.
Fit-Satisfaction7831 t1_iyc8nrq wrote
Just start incarcerating the executives that make or approve the decisions. Nice and simple.
Stabbyhands t1_iyc9l5m wrote
That turns into a line of quickly replaced executives who are basically paid to “make” decisions and then go to jail.
onetwentyeight t1_iycd9xr wrote
They'd never survive doing time
ZeroExist t1_iycjkq5 wrote
That’s why they are there it’s a step by step plan, get caught, use the cheap fall guy, advertise the suffering, play the victim, executives kept safe, keep profits that’s the whole scheme nowadays
mdneilson t1_iybyon5 wrote
grampsgarcia t1_iydelu8 wrote
This is really a solution we don't use but would definitely work. Executives going to prison for their companies breaking laws; they are in charge so they do the time.
ShadowSpawn666 t1_iyemu8x wrote
It would make sense, after all, corporations are people as well. I guess that only matters when they want to buy politicians, not when they are committing crimes.
grampsgarcia t1_iyfdohb wrote
Right?
SpecificAstronaut69 t1_iycqrf8 wrote
Man, wish I were a corp.
"For stealing ptd's car, Specific is ordered to pay $500."
"Er, do I get my car back?"
"Hah, no. It's Specific's car now."
ramilehti t1_iybu0as wrote
I agree. The initial fine should be percentage based. A low percentage for the first infraction. And then grow exponentially for each subsequent infraction. Without limit.
tomtom5858 t1_iye11m5 wrote
Based on revenue is fine. That's the measure of how much money they make overall, before any expenses (rather than profit, which they can easily game). If they're losing tens of billions to fines, shareholders will quickly look for someone that doesn't incur those fines.
Riop420 t1_iycte9i wrote
Corporations are what make the economy. This won't happen.
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