Romney says "Corporations are people."

www.youtube.com...

If you watch the rest of the video you will notice how Romney cannot handle this crowd and he behave in a condescending way to try to gain control. I think he is way over his head.

Giving corporations the same status as an individual is dangerous. The average joe doesn't have millions of dollars and powerful lobbyists to influence politicians.

reply to post by Socrato


If Corps are people.

Can I ask Coke out to dinner to ask what was up with the whole"new coke" thing?

Can Maytag go to prison for committing a crime?

Can we Elect Burger King for POTUS?

No, because Corps AREN'T People, People work for Corps!!!!

reply to post by Tw0Sides


Hahaha

reply to post by Socrato


Corporations legally are people.

They are legal persons who can borrow, owe debt and sue and be sued in their own name.

Corporations are people.

The law treats a corporation as a legal "person" that has standing to sue and be sued, distinct from its stockholders.

The legal independence of a corporation prevents shareholders from being personally liable for corporate debts.

The legal "person" status of corporations gives the business perpetual life; deaths of officials or stockholders do not alter the corporation's structure.

Cornell University Law School

Romney understands these things because he is a high level businessman.

reply to post by ollncasino


I'm not a machine programmed to view the world as dictated to me by law so in my view corporations are not people. People are individual human beings who have bodies, brains and other organs.

Originally posted by Socrato

I'm not a machine programmed to view the world as dictated to me by law so in my view corporations are not people. People are individual human beings who have bodies, brains and other organs.

Nonetheless, Romney was correct when he stated that corporations are 'people'.

reply to post by ollncasino


So you believe that corporations are people because the government tells you they are? You shouldn't let the state do your thinking for you.

Originally posted by RealSpoke

So you believe that corporations are people because the government tells you they are? You shouldn't let the state do your thinking for you.

It is true that corporations are legal persons.

The concept originally developed when religious institutions wished to hold property and sue in the organization's name rather than in that of its members. Subsequently the concept was applied to institutions such as the East India Trading company (1600) and the Dutch East India Company (1602).

Only in the 19th century was the concept applied to what we now understand as a company - a business organization with its own legal personality in which the owners (the stockholders) own the business but do not make contracts with third parties, hence avoiding liability for company debts beyond the amount they invested buying shares.

The fact that a corporation is a person allows it to make contracts with suppliers, banks and customers, thereby allowing the owners to avoid doing so. Consequently, owners are not subjected to unlimited liability for debt (the company owes debt) and hence the corporate entity as a legal 'person' arguably encourages investment in business.

reply to post by ollncasino

Nonetheless, Romney was correct when he stated that corporations are 'people'.

lol, and war is peace too, right?

Romney supporters go to the greatest lengths to defend him. Even saying things they do not believe themselves.

Romney =doubleplusbad

Originally posted by ollncasino

Nonetheless, Romney was correct when he stated that corporations are 'people'.

Romney also wants roll down windows on planes.

Romney thing the middle class earn 200k to 250k.

I could list about another 50 Romneyism's, but easier to say the Man is out of touch with Reality, His OWN WIFE is worried about his Mental Health.

reply to post by ollncasino


Again, your posts are filled with blind statism. You can go ahead and post legal rhetoric all day long, it doesn't change biological reality.

Originally posted by RealSpoke

Again, your posts are filled with blind statism. You can go ahead and post legal rhetoric all day long, it doesn't change biological reality.

Romney should have anticipated that he was talking to laymen such as yourself and have anticipated that he would be misinterpreted.

I've worked for a lot of corporations. They are always made up of people. What happens to the corp, happens to the people who work there. You screw the corp, the people get screwed. Corporation does well, people do well. I think Romney was perfectly correct and the context and comment support him.

Originally posted by 2XOHsurf
I've worked for a lot of corporations. They are always made up of people.

Thank you for Proving Romney Wrong.
Corps are MADE UP of People.
People WORK for Corps.

Corps are not People.

No, corporations are not people, as they are not living organisms, cannot vote, and cannot be jailed.

Yes, corporations are people as they can enter into contracts, conduct business deals, and be held financially liable for torts.

The difference is the common definition and the legal definition of a 'person'.

I am not a Romney supporter (hate the guy!) but this debate is getting old. Each side is arguing over something totally different: those who "hate corporations" (meaning they hate everything they have access to: cars, computers, television, wide food choices, easy shopping, housing, etc., etc.) appear to want all corporations to disappear... equating to wanting 98% unemployment and a return to Medieval life. Those who are stating that corporations are people are, for the most part, trying to buck a political sound byte that has become part of the culture. And that sound bytes is inaccurate.

People work for corporations, yes. People also own corporations. Every person with a retirement account, an IRA, a 401k, probably owns a part of some corporations. They have, via an investment company that handles their retirement funds, bought stock in corporations (usually through a pool) in hope and expectation that this investment will allow them to live better after retirement. I doubt anyone reading this doesn't at least know someone whose retirement hinges on the stock market. The stock market is nothing more than the trading of corporation ownership.

The corporate structure is the only known way for someone to invest in a company without encountering crazy legal liability. If I could build a flying car, for example, it would do me no good because I can't afford to build a flying car. Someone would need to loan me enough money to build them. Banks don't typically do loans like that, because banks want collateral. People, however, especially wealthy people, do this. But none of them would if investing a million dollars in a company that had 100 such investors made them liable for 100 million dollars or more for something they would have no idea about. Investors generally don't spend all day running the corporation they invested in.

That's why we have corporations. Someone who buys stock in WalMart owns a part of WalMart and profits when WalMart profits, but if WalMart is found guilty in a civil trial and forced to pay a million dollars, no one is going to show up at Granny's doorstep and demand that she owes this money because she bought $500 in stock. They can't; she is an owner of the corporation, but she is not the corporation. Her only liability is the value of the stock and the profits she might lose along with the other investors.

A corporation is a separate legal entity (a separate legal 'person') than those who financed it. It has to be that way, or there will be no more corporations. No more corporations means no more Ipods, no more Chevys, no more Nissans, no more Motorola, no more GE light bulbs, no more electricity, no more gasoline, and no more food unless you raise your own with a shovel and a hoe... which you had made by the local blacksmith.

TheRedneck

He is a Real bully you know, He gets so angry when he isn't surrounded by yes-men.


Here I put your video up for you.


I tell you this. I will believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.

Originally posted by ollncasino

Originally posted by Socrato

I'm not a machine programmed to view the world as dictated to me by law so in my view corporations are not people. People are individual human beings who have bodies, brains and other organs.

Nonetheless, Romney was correct when he stated that corporations are 'people'.

Seeing as how you agree with everything the government tells you let me ask you this.
How do you feel on the subject of abortion?

reply to post by ollncasino

Romney should have anticipated that he was talking to laymen such as yourself and have anticipated that he would be misinterpreted.

lol? I'm pretty sure nearly everyone on ATS understands that corporations are legally people. That has absolutely nothing to do with what I was saying.

Let us look at a small family of husband, wife, and two children... they have a farm.

The family home rests on 12 acres. The farm consists of a neighboring 125 acres made up of fields and pastures. They raise commodity crops such as soybeans, corn, tobbacco, and about 20 head of cattle. They also have a chicken house and a contract with an egg and poultry producer.

The family of farmers decide to incorporate and become a corporation... president is husband, vice pres is wife, eldest son is 19 and is CFO.

The price of feed doubles due to drought. Market prices climb and poultry producer cancels contract. The farm corporation still owes 200,000 on the chicken house and tractors to produce feed. The farm corporation goes under and is bankrupt.

However, since the family farm is incorporated... no debt or leins fall back on the family nor their home... just the farm corporation and the holdings on the 125 acre farm.

Many, many family farms have gone down this path for these very reasons. In fact, many small businesses are actually corporations. They act as legal entities producing contracts, borrowing, conducting business so that the actual owners do not fall prey to business failures... just the business.

It is all legal and a good way to conduct business, especially since half of all business ventures fail.

Too often, when we think of corporations... we see boardrooms with CEOs smoking cigars with pie charts. Not so... I know landscapers, restuarant-diners, antique shop owners, and farmers that are actually corporations.