Comments on: As Long As It’s Legal, Corporations Will Act Selfishly

By: johnbattelle

johnbattelle — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:55:00 +0000

I had no idea Starbucks usage had dropped so quickly. I’m going to guess, however, the same is not true of Google usage!

By: Nick Holmes

Nick Holmes — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:10:00 +0000

I don’t think many of us expect many corporations to have morals; they are there to max the profits. However, their own best interests longer term are served by keeping their customers happy. When those customers discover that these nice efficient corporations are maxing their returns by saying fuck you to the societies in which they operate, then they will vote with their feet. In a few short weeks Starbucks UK sales have dropped substantially and are unlikely to recover any time soon; their voluntarily offering to pay £20 million tax which they don’t legally owe is a sick joke. Amazon generates its profits on UK sales in Luxembourg, Google in Ireland (and thence to Holland and Bermuda as uyou helpfully illustrate): we are being seriously fucked over. Sure we (UK gov) need to fix our tax code, bring Crown-dependent tax havens into line, negotiate tax treaties etc, but meantime we (customers) are entitled to say “don’t be evil”. That’s what we expect.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:31:00 +0000

Warren Buffett

By: johnbattelle

johnbattelle — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Who has done that? Schmidt?

By: ModerationIsBest

ModerationIsBest — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Agree, but….at the very least, the executive leadership of these corporations should not publicly/loudly/with great levels of “enlightenment” scream for higher taxes and then do everything possible to avoid taxes. No different than other “preaching” we see from the various sides in politics / religion / etc.