Like Sheep to the Slaughter

There is a call by many in this country to end the practice of treating corporations as people. The people calling for this change don't even understand the consequences or what it means legally. Their concern is that corporations contribute to political campaigns. These laws wont change that at all. What it will do is destroy small businesses.

When a corporation is given the status of personhood, then the owners (or stockholders) are only at risk for the amount of their investment. Lets say that you want to open a car wash. Four people loan you $50,000 each. In exchange you promise them 25% of the ownership until you pay them back with interest. Now, someone trips and breaks their leg at the car wash and sues you. Even though you have no control over the company, they could sue you for everything you own rather than just your interest in the company. That is the purpose of corporate personhood. Why is this important, it is important because people won't be able to start businesses and small businesses are where most job growth has occurred.

There is an organization called "Move To Amend" here is a link to an article by them. Vermont Becomes First State to Call for Amendment that Would Remove Corporations From Constitution. This is the sort of ill thought out, knee jerk reactions that happen when people who never paid attention to the laws suddenly think they get it, it is a type of mob mentality.

The funny thing is that most people calling for this change don't even know why they are against corporate personhood. They merely blindly repeat that corporations are not people.