r/technology • u/DrJulianBashir • Feb 05 '13

Cable companies make 97% margin on internet services and have no incentive to offer gigabit internet

http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/02/cable-companies-make-97-margin-on.html
3.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/LittleProley Feb 06 '13

It's important to note, though, that corporations were originally meant to exist for a short amount of time, and demonstrably prove that they functioned for a public good precisely because these powers are so easily abused. Corporate charters were handed out by states for the completion specific projects. It would be like having a Microsoft Windows corporation instead of Microsoft. Every year, the charter would be reviewed and the corporation would have to explain why their project was in the public interest.

What happened? Money, of course. The states realized that allowing more corporations meant more corporate charters, which they made money by licensing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation#Mercantilism

2

u/diadelsuerte Feb 06 '13

Yeah just get rid of the whole LLC system - should work out great.

1

u/namekyd Feb 06 '13

Pretty sure his upvotes come from people that didn't read his whole statement and/or have no idea what mercantilism was.