IF you want to see a model like that you really should look at the zaibatsu. You had 4 industrial empires that dominated Japanese business, each controlled by a single family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaibatsu
Outside of these there really are very few really large companies that both have been around for over 3 generations that are controlled by essentially one person, which is what SR uses as the default. Look up who the majority shareholders in Exxon, DuPont, General Electric and Boeing are. There is no individual who owns more then 5%. Large blocks are owned by investment companies, but their focus in profit, not control.
Wallmart and Microsoft are the only two major companies I can think of that have a large holding by a family or individuals, and they were both built from nothing within the last 60 years. Ford has only 4% owned by direct holders.
Full Version: Dirty Jobs 2077 - still with Mike Rowe
My 3 nuyen:
'Ware installed in employee's body could still be a corp's possesion - then if employee dies, quits or is fired, the corp can get skillwires from he's body and install it in a next employee's body. Or sell it on a grey market.
And what if some crazy technomancer or AI hack your factory? If there are drones "employeed", everything probably will be destroyed. In this case, metahumans are much safer solution, I think.
'Ware installed in employee's body could still be a corp's possesion - then if employee dies, quits or is fired, the corp can get skillwires from he's body and install it in a next employee's body. Or sell it on a grey market.
And what if some crazy technomancer or AI hack your factory? If there are drones "employeed", everything probably will be destroyed. In this case, metahumans are much safer solution, I think.
QUOTE (RedFish @ Jun 6 2010, 10:27 PM) 
The idea that corps want to pay high wages so that their own workers can spend more is completely illogical and one of the reasons the whole mega corp thing doesn't make much sense in the first place. It's just not how an economy would logically work. Somehow you need to get more money in than you pump out, and that line of thought is counter intuitive to that. It'd be way too easy for a much smaller company to just undercut your prices and steal all your customers that aren't directly employed by you.
The reason some of us are painting bleak, dystopian visions of slavelike conditions for the wage slaves is that it's more or less the only way a mega-corp structure makes any sense. Mega corps depict a roman slave economy or the days of the British triangular trade as well as the East Indian companies - few benefit at the expense of the masses. Also, what on earth is the common citizen of the regular country doing? All the production and most of the service industry seems to be in corporate hands, so how can a country have anything but SiNless citizens eroding the very foundation that would make a country?
Argh! One question raises another and I think I'm better off just ignoring most of the fluff
The reason some of us are painting bleak, dystopian visions of slavelike conditions for the wage slaves is that it's more or less the only way a mega-corp structure makes any sense. Mega corps depict a roman slave economy or the days of the British triangular trade as well as the East Indian companies - few benefit at the expense of the masses. Also, what on earth is the common citizen of the regular country doing? All the production and most of the service industry seems to be in corporate hands, so how can a country have anything but SiNless citizens eroding the very foundation that would make a country?
Argh! One question raises another and I think I'm better off just ignoring most of the fluff
"High wages" is relatively speaking. High wages compared to SINless? Sure. Execs? Hell no. But the point is that a typical wageslave is doing ok.
The Megas are not paying so much that they don't profit of course, they're paying just enough that the employees will stay employed. Only those that work hard or have natural talent will get much rise in real pay. Now how is a functional society where people get enough money to survive AND entertain themselves less believable than a completely black-and-white WH40K-like universe where the numberless masses toil endlessly for nothing to make the bosses rich?
Also you're not taking into account that wealth grows. By making products and offering services, paying employees, and then having alot of those same employees spend their wages on your products and services, the corps get constantly richer. The workers will generally stay where they are, except for the talented or lucky few. Everybody's "happy." Well enough not to cause a major revolution at least. The big 10 may be very powerful and rich, but even they understand the same principle that has existed since Roman times: The citizens needs to be content. That means they need bread (well, Soy) and circus (entertainment!).
Or as Henry ford put it: I make cars that everyone can afford, at the highest quality possible, paying the highest wages possible, and as cheaply as possible. Oh yeah and they can pick any color they like, as long as it's black
BTW if you want to understand the economics of SR I suggest Ancient History's "The Corporate Shuffle" that was recently posted for free here on these forums.
i wwoud say that AAAs in SR are all about minimal imports, maximum exports. Good old mechantilism, without some kind of national posturing to get in the way.
QUOTE (Abstruse @ Jun 6 2010, 10:09 PM)
I'm not saying it's just a bad neighborhood. However, logistically, there HAS to be garbage collection of some sort. Seeing as the Barrens have been the Barrens since at least 2050 (I can't remember the year Redmond got smashed flat off the top of my head, but the Barrens were in the original BBB), there would be 20 years of accumulated filth and refuse from everyone living there. That is just logically impossible that anyone could live there.
I've been to several village or even towns in Mauritania where they don't have any garbage collection systems. Granted, they don't have the same level of consumption and the same amount of packaging as we do, but they still have a lot of garbage that they just throw out the windows. The garbage eventually gather wherever the wind push it and you have some random piles of garbage. Once a year, the inhabitants will gather it somewhere and burn it down.
It's not ideal, but it's still possible to live there.
QUOTE (Blade @ Jun 7 2010, 06:13 AM)
I've been to several village or even towns in Mauritania where they don't have any garbage collection systems. Granted, they don't have the same level of consumption and the same amount of packaging as we do, but they still have a lot of garbage that they just throw out the windows. The garbage eventually gather wherever the wind push it and you have some random piles of garbage. Once a year, the inhabitants will gather it somewhere and burn it down.
It's not ideal, but it's still possible to live there.
It's not ideal, but it's still possible to live there.
Feral Cities talks about trash collection in Lagos being the job of the citizens once a month, with the haves often paying the guns to make the have-nots do their share.
Back on topic, I think a megacorporation can get more money even if it works in a closed environment (workers getting paid by the corp to buy the corp's product). I'm not an expert so I might be wrong but here's my reasoning:
1. Today, most of the money comes from debt. Banks generate money by lending money: when a bank lend money, it doesn't lend existing money (as explained in AH's Megacorporate Shuffle) but it creates money out of thin air. Basically the bank says "I'm pretty sure this guy will have what it takes to pay back this loan so his debt is as good as real money."
2. Most wageslaves will be indebted to the corp's bank. They get loans to pay for their lifestyles, which means that they spend today money they'll get tomorrow (and many days after) with their work.
1+2 = Each time a wageslave loans money to the corp's bank, he actually has the corp "creates" the money that the wageslave will earn the company with his work. This way, the corp keeps creating more and more money.
And of course, all corps try to get the employees of the other corps to buy their own products to get a positive commercial balance, but it's not necessarily a requirement.
1. Today, most of the money comes from debt. Banks generate money by lending money: when a bank lend money, it doesn't lend existing money (as explained in AH's Megacorporate Shuffle) but it creates money out of thin air. Basically the bank says "I'm pretty sure this guy will have what it takes to pay back this loan so his debt is as good as real money."
2. Most wageslaves will be indebted to the corp's bank. They get loans to pay for their lifestyles, which means that they spend today money they'll get tomorrow (and many days after) with their work.
1+2 = Each time a wageslave loans money to the corp's bank, he actually has the corp "creates" the money that the wageslave will earn the company with his work. This way, the corp keeps creating more and more money.
And of course, all corps try to get the employees of the other corps to buy their own products to get a positive commercial balance, but it's not necessarily a requirement.
what to keep in mind is that the AAAs are effectively nations consisting of only embassies.
go shopping at the aztech pyramid and your on their land, not ucas land, and so pay their taxes and fees, not ucas taxes and fees.
go shopping at the aztech pyramid and your on their land, not ucas land, and so pay their taxes and fees, not ucas taxes and fees.
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