Corporate entities should have a forced maximum lifespan

[Hufflepuff]

From evolution it is known that individuals must die so that the species could evolve. This is why we are not immortal. It is important for the older generations to die because otherwise they hold the resources for themselves and it becomes extremely difficult for new generations to become successful.

Same logic should be applied to corporate entities such as Coca Cola and what not. They should forcefully be exterminated after 100 years of existence, all their assets being redistributed between new firms and startups. My corpse will some day rot and turn into soil so that new life can use it for building blocks. Coca Cola, McDonalds, Ford and other big and long lived corporations should be forced to die in a similar manner.

Any takers?

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Give it time. Immortality is coming.

[1714158985]

1714158985

[1714158985]

1714158985

[1714158985]

1714158985

[1714158985]

1714158985

[freedomno1]

Cooperate entities do have a lifespan. Most eventually died off in less than a century, and rarely do any survive more than 3-4 decades.

Yep except for companies like the Hudsons Bay most corporations go bankrupt after a persons lifespan has passed and the founder or his sons have passed away
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

That said a few do stick around forever Kongo Gumi FTW!

The company fell on hard times and went into liquidation in January 2006.[1] Its assets were purchased by Takamatsu Corporation.[2][3] Before its liquidation, it had over 100 employees and annual revenue of ¥7.5 billion ($70 million) in 2005; it still specialized in building Buddhist temples. The last president was Masakazu Kongō, the 50th Kongō to lead the firm. As of December 2006, Kongō Gumi continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Takamatsu.

Started in 578 technically still around but eaten in 2006 ^_^

[Dabs]

Nintendo started in September 23, 1889. They are older than Sony.

They will die when no one buys their product. Otherwise, if there are artificial ways to make entities die, then they will find artificial ways to extend their life. They can simply close one corporation and form another, while retaining the brand.

[Hufflepuff]

Nintendo started in September 23, 1889. They are older than Sony.

They will die when no one buys their product. Otherwise, if there are artificial ways to make entities die, then they will find artificial ways to extend their life. They can simply close one corporation and form another, while retaining the brand.

1889? I didn't know they've been around for that long. It looks like they started out making playing cards, and then moved onto cab services and love hotels before settling on video games. A Nintendo love hotel would be interesting

[freedomno1]

Nintendo started in September 23, 1889. They are older than Sony.

They will die when no one buys their product. Otherwise, if there are artificial ways to make entities die, then they will find artificial ways to extend their life. They can simply close one corporation and form another, while retaining the brand.

1889? I didn't know they've been around for that long. It looks like they started out making playing cards, and then moved onto cab services and love hotels before settling on video games. A Nintendo love hotel would be interesting

I have to admit if Nintendo made love Hotels I might be interested in seeing how they go with it
Can see a place where you can date or walk around with your favorite Nintendo characters
Well I guess that shows how a company needs to be dynamic (Can make a full service suite lol)
Nintendo transit to the love hotel on the way there playing card games then playing video games with your favorite nintendo mascots at the Love Hotel

[gts476]

From evolution it is known that individuals must die so that the species could evolve. This is why we are not immortal. It is important for the older generations to die because otherwise they hold the resources for themselves and it becomes extremely difficult for new generations to become successful.

Same logic should be applied to corporate entities such as Coca Cola and what not. They should forcefully be exterminated after 100 years of existence, all their assets being redistributed between new firms and startups. My corpse will some day rot and turn into soil so that new life can use it for building blocks. Coca Cola, McDonalds, Ford and other big and long lived corporations should be forced to die in a similar manner.

Any takers?

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Stupidest thing I've read in a while, you are an idiot, sort it out.

[genco]

So all the employees lose their jobs? Become homeless in the streets? All that has been built is broken to pieces for the enjoyment of those who had nothing to do with building it?

At first I thought your post was a joke, then I sadly realized that idiot redistributionists like you actually exist.

[counter]

Not possible to make a company give up all they have worked for.  What if the company owner passes the power over to the child or some executive?  Why should they suffer because the company is successful?  This is the exact opposite of a free market and would likely stop innovation in may ways.

[zorke]

Nintendo started in September 23, 1889. They are older than Sony.

They will die when no one buys their product. Otherwise, if there are artificial ways to make entities die, then they will find artificial ways to extend their life. They can simply close one corporation and form another, while retaining the brand.

This makes sense to me. If a company knows that it will be "killed" at a certain time, then what is to prevent it from making shill companies that would assume the assets of the newly killed company? The answer is nothing. The only thing that would result in this is investors being hurt and manipulated

[Hyena]

To the guys calling me an idiot: you have fallen into the trap of seeing just what you want to see.

To others: nice discussion and I thank you for participation. Many interesting thoughts have been generated as a result of my original post and I am now convinced that while the idea suits well for science fiction stories it has no place in the capitalistic world.

I would also like to emphasize that what I brought up is actually already present in a form of CEO mortality. For example, Apple sort of died with Jobs.

[gts476]

To the guys calling me an idiot: you have fallen into the trap of seeing just what you want to see.

To others: nice discussion and I thank you for participation. Many interesting thoughts have been generated as a result of my original post and I am now convinced that while the idea suits well for science fiction stories it has no place in the capitalistic world.

I would also like to emphasize that what I brought up is actually already present in a form of CEO mortality. For example, Apple sort of died with Jobs.

Actually have to point this out?

If a company, which relies on free and voluntary interactions between customers and company, has been around for 100 years it must be because the customers value the company because the company pleases them. Thus you are stating that you should destroy something which is pleasing the community to make way for something that isn't pleasing the community (because new business can not compete without resources it can not get without coercive redistribution)?

This is one of the least thought through argument I have ever seen, not even counting the avocation of the use of force to steal another's property!

[xleft]

To the guys calling me an idiot: you have fallen into the trap of seeing just what you want to see.

To others: nice discussion and I thank you for participation. Many interesting thoughts have been generated as a result of my original post and I am now convinced that while the idea suits well for science fiction stories it has no place in the capitalistic world.

I would also like to emphasize that what I brought up is actually already present in a form of CEO mortality. For example, Apple sort of died with Jobs.

AAPL capitalization when Jobs died (Oct 2011) was ~ $325B. AAPL capitalization today is over $600B. Yep, Apple sort of died. 
 

[Hyena]

Actually have to point this out?

If a company, which relies on free and voluntary interactions between customers and company, has been around for 100 years it must be because the customers value the company because the company pleases them. Thus you are stating that you should destroy something which is pleasing the community to make way for something that isn't pleasing the community (because new business can not compete without resources it can not get without coercive redistribution)?

This is one of the least thought through argument I have ever seen, not even counting the avocation of the use of force to steal another's property!

You clearly have missed the point here. I am not trying to propagate the system that I came up with. I don't even like it myself so why are you trying to debate me and portray me stupid? I am not your opponent, I agree with you but you seem to be so shallow minded that you think people never fantasize. You have to admit that playing the Devil's Advocate can turn out to be very useful sometimes because it makes people think from a new angle --- a more unorthodox angle. This is how innovation is born --- by thinking outside the box, by fantasizing.

[Hyena]

To the guys calling me an idiot: you have fallen into the trap of seeing just what you want to see.

To others: nice discussion and I thank you for participation. Many interesting thoughts have been generated as a result of my original post and I am now convinced that while the idea suits well for science fiction stories it has no place in the capitalistic world.

I would also like to emphasize that what I brought up is actually already present in a form of CEO mortality. For example, Apple sort of died with Jobs.

AAPL capitalization when Jobs died (Oct 2011) was ~ $325B. AAPL capitalization today is over $600B. Yep, Apple sort of died. 
 

Yes, Apple As We Knew It sort of died, happy?

By the way, you will die too. And guess what, even if the bitcoins you hold during the moment of your death double their value YOU STILL DIE. So don't give me the numbers, you are clearly missing the point, whether on purpose or due to stupidity is another question. If you die you are no longer able to stand for your views. Can Jobs do that from his grave? No. If anything, he will just flip his side in his grave if the new company leaders fuck something up.

[zimmah]

McDonalds will be on Pluto by 2045.

maybe it's less bad for aliens to eat.

[jbrnt]

I see corporate entities as an organism, they will all inevitably die if they do not change and evolve, because the enviroment they operate in changes. If the corporate entity survives half a century, it must have evolved several times through several business cycles. So, it is already a different organism, the old entity is in fact dead and consumed by the new entity.

[gts476]

Actually have to point this out?

If a company, which relies on free and voluntary interactions between customers and company, has been around for 100 years it must be because the customers value the company because the company pleases them. Thus you are stating that you should destroy something which is pleasing the community to make way for something that isn't pleasing the community (because new business can not compete without resources it can not get without coercive redistribution)?

This is one of the least thought through argument I have ever seen, not even counting the avocation of the use of force to steal another's property!

You clearly have missed the point here. I am not trying to propagate the system that I came up with. I don't even like it myself so why are you trying to debate me and portray me stupid? I am not your opponent, I agree with you but you seem to be so shallow minded that you think people never fantasize. You have to admit that playing the Devil's Advocate can turn out to be very useful sometimes because it makes people think from a new angle --- a more unorthodox angle. This is how innovation is born --- by thinking outside the box, by fantasizing.

Perhaps you should of written in the title that this is in fact the masturbatory fantasy

[Hyena]

Perhaps you should of written in the title that this is in fact the masturbatory fantasy

So you took the bait, big deal. I won't remember your account name anyway in the future when your credibility as a righteous participant in a discussion might really matter. 

[Mike Christ]

The natural lifespan of a business is in its ability to meet the consumer's desires for as long as those needs exist; Coca-Cola, for example, is still around because people are still buying Coca-Cola products.  Businesses are not like people, they don't die when they get old, they die when they stop being useful.

To forcibly end a business because it has been around for a while just creates a giant vacuum in which people will demand said business be reinstituted so they can continue buying the products they wanted.  There is no law which has ever curbed man's desire; you make anything illegal, man willingly becomes criminal to continue getting the item he desires.

The only thing such an action will accomplish is making a lot of people lose work and costing all related businesses a good deal of money to replace the lost business, e.g. replacing all soda machines in every restaurant and venue in regards to Coca-Cola.

If you have an issue with corporations, why not advocate their special governmental rights be removed?  A corporation, after all, can only exist through politics:

cor·po·ra·tion
n.
1. A body that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members.

char·ter
n.
1. A document issued by a sovereign, legislature, or other authority, creating a public or private corporation, such as a city, college, or bank, and defining its privileges and purposes.

This would certainly even the playing field and, with much fairer competition, other businesses can now compete much harder than before and, if a once corporation cannot compete, it'll die on its own.  This way, we don't have that massive production gap between having a business and not having a business, and there won't be a sudden loss of jobs as per your idea.

[troisky]

I agree, fuck all these monopolies man.