[img]http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-3.25&soc=-3.23[/img] Yes, some of the questions were loaded, it was likely written by one person who tried to be as neutral as is possible but has their own beliefs which influence how they interpret things. I think businesses are good overall in the grand scheme of things because they generate products, help inspire the advancement of technology, and help establish order and a paradigm. Order is required to advance peacefully and have some sense of place and purpose without having to fight for it. I also think the power of business should be curbed, there should be overall rules and codes of conduct that governments enforce to prevent the inevitable... Because from how I see it a business has one purpose: Shareholder value. Everything beyond this is secondary, and expecting a corporation to give more than that is just a fantasy, because if the shareholders are unhappy, the company is about to be in a world of hurt. Businesses also do what a government simply cannot: Provide freedom of choice to people in where they wish to work and how they wish to go about it. In a Marxist society I would be assigned a role based on my aptitudes, logical, but cold. In a free market I have the choice to be whoever or whatever I wish to be, even if I'm not particularly skilled at it I may enjoy it more than whatever preassigned destiny the Marxist society would give me. As well, since I have a strong belief in individual rights and freedoms, to say that businesses should be punished simply for the sake of being businesses is punishing everyone who works within those businesses and everyone who wants to start a business. A guy who wants to start a coffee shop may genuinely just enjoy making coffee and interacting with customers: There's no reason to punish him for doing that because some bigger corporations were pants on head retarded in how they operated themselves. I think we should start moving into a more socialist state as technology makes it not only possible, but simply logical. When automation is fully ready to take over for the majority of the work force, allow it, and do something to make sure that work force has decent lives. Cut out welfare and simply write everyone a cheque who makes less than X amount per year, charging taxes on the corporations that are no longer paying workers but instead are using automation to get things done. People who want to be rich and who work hard for it can still be rich, small coffee shop owners can evade the punishment by simply not making enough to be worth taxing, and people who want to pursue arts or higher education so they can get a job, and other such things, can do so with the safety of knowing that they'll be covered. [b]*Shrugs*[/b] Because once the majority of the work force no longer needs to work, we'll be for the first time in a position where only those who wish to work, will work, and those who do, will generate more currency than those who don't, and have a greater say over the free market about what gets produced. We'll for the first time have a truly democratic representation of the economy that doesn't punish the rich for being rich or the poor for being poor. ... Till that happens though, I'm all for a free market with corporations, so long as the government holds them accountable when they do fuck up and do stupid shit. Otherwise? Let them do their thing. Ever since capitalism and industrialism the amount of shit we make has spiked to an insane degree. I can go out and buy food whenever I want. All kinds of food. I can buy a fucking feast for less than sixty bucks if I want to. TV's, movies, video games, entertainment galore, bars, cars--it's absolutely mind numbing the amount of shit I can buy and most of it is kept at a low enough price that I can afford it. Why the hell would I want to tell the system that made it possible to fuck off? Sure it's not perfect, it needs a few tweaks, and I think once technology has advanced to the point that automation can take over for the majority of it that we could shift gears into socialism while keeping some free market ideals and do just fine... But for now? I'm okay with the system, so long as checks and balances are in place to leave everyone on an equal playing field.