[Livemike]

Quote by: Milton Bradley You cannot boycott these guys by going to a local Mom, and Pop refinery, there is no such option left.

Because they found Standard Oil could make the product for 25% less and
consumers didn't want to pay 20% more for the warm and fuzzies that buying
from a big corporations instead of a really big one provides. In any case there
are still several companies to buy from, all of them cheaper than a "mom and pop
refinery" would be.

Quote by: Milton Bradley Probably the single biggest contributor to the problems we suffer today is allowing these corporate giants, annd multinationals to trade on the Stock Exchange. When profit became the single goal, operating a corporation that is actually beneficial to community became a page in the history books.

Actually there are plenty of corporations that are actually beneficial to the community.
They are beneficial because they provide what you want at the price at which you
want it? I mean what else is that but a benefit?

Quote by: Milton Bradley When was the last time citizens dissolved a business that did not meet community standards other than bible thumpers going after pornography outlets? I know I cannot offer a single example.

Companies go broke all the time, that's "citizens dissolv[ing] a buisness that did
not meet community standards" of quality and cost. What other standards does the
"community" have a right to impose? Given that the "community" in this context
effectively means the government it has no rights to dictate who people associate
with in buisness. In any case corporations chartered to do something in the
"community" interest were generally corrupt creations of politicians who wanted
to give special priveleges to some organisation to loot the treasury or other citizens.
It is no bad thing that such justifications have died out, if not down.

Quote by: Milton Bradley I am not suggesting that dissolving the oil companies this late in the game is the answer. Just more, or less pointing out how the option has been lost to posterity, and the concept seems foreign to most people today.

And why the hell should you have the right to disolve a relationship you are not a
party to? Who died and made you king? If they are trading peacable then they
have the right to continue doing that as long as people want to trade with them.
Screw you if you don't like the results, I don't butt into your business and tell you
you make too much money.