What is a corporation? Occupy Wall street

sun tzu
What is a corporation?
Imagine a scenario where a gambling addict enters a casino, he is told that all of his losses will be paid for by the other people in the casino, and he is entitled to keep all of his winnings. The inevitable result of this is that the gambler will accrue more and more wealth, as everyone else in the casino will trend towards going broke. Sound familiar?

A corporation is a legal fiction, created from the laws of a state. It is a piece of paper that is granted "person hood" designed to have the same rights, privileges and liabilities as people. The function of this legal fiction is to create a new entity considered distinct from its members. In practice this allows people to distance themselves from the consequences of their actions and instead dump responsibility upon the legal fiction known as "the corporation". A corporation is not a human, or a group of humans, it cannot be killed or imprisoned.


What is government?
Similar to how a fish that has lived its entire life surrounded by water may never really understand what water is, as it has never experienced "not water". It can also be hard to understand the fundamental nature of that which has existed throughout most human lives, including our own. 

In a vague sense an understanding of what government is, can be derived from the things that a government does. But how do we distinguish between a mere group of people and a group of people called a government?. Take for example a group that call themselves politicians, they meet up in a central place and make decisions on policies, compared to an identical group of people who also make decisions on policies but happen to call themselves a book club, a charity, or a website moderator.

Why is it that so many people have such a vocal reaction to the policies of politicians, but a much lesser investment in the decisions any none governmental group of people come to? 

The difference is, the book club can not cease your house, rob you of your productive efforts or imprison you for disagreeing with them, at worst they may kick you out of their book club. Leaving you perfectly free to create your own.

Government is the power of controlling a monopoly on the legal use of force within a given geographical area. It is the use of violence.

Notes

Intrinsic motivation and the 16 basic desires theory

trimming this down a bit

• Curiosity, the need to learn
• Order, the need for organized, stable, predictable environments
• Physical activity, the need for exercise
• Power, the need for influence of will
• Saving, the need to collect
• Tranquility, the need to be safe 

Some psychologists believe that a significant portion of human behavior is energized and directed by unconscious motives

unconscious motives should be monitored periodically and adapted to help maintain current goals.
 
A goal should be moderate, not too hard or too easy to complete. An ideal goal should present a situation where the time between the initiation of behavior and the end state is close

The Drive Reduction Theory grows out of the concept that we have certain biological drives, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive increases if it is not satisfied (in this case by eating). Upon satisfying a drive the drive's strength is reduced. The theory is based on diverse ideas from the theories of Freud to the ideas of feedback control systems, such as a thermostat

Bad Science

I never realized the extent of the problem.

Silly Ass umptions

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/05/18/102-things-not-to-do/

Holding a monopoly on basic things people need to survive does not make everyone that disagrees with the monopoly a hypocrite for not choosing to die.

There is no choice when force is involved.

What could be the assumptions of this article that lead to such a conclusion as you should abstain from partaking in any of them because doing so would make you a hypocrite.

#1 These services are voluntarily provided to you
#2 You actually have a choice
#3 Only the government is capable of providing these services through taxation, voluntary alternatives are not possible
#4 The government does not hold a monopoly on these services by making competition illegal

I guess it is possible that none of these assumptions are held by the person that wrote the list but I don't see how there would be any room for hypocrisy here if you rejected all 4 of the assumptions above, because then you are left with the inevitable conclusion that government is force. Again there is no choice when force is involved, other than perhaps, compliance or death.

I find this quote pretty amusing too
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
Perhaps, if your definition of civilization is an organized system of theft and a monopoly on violence.