All you need to know to understand how actually-existing crapitalism operates.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

RE: https://mastodon.social/@workchronicles/115887342621053928

All you need to know to understand how actually-existing crapitalism operates.

(You don't deal with a mafia organization by fining them on a per-offense basis: you deal with them by jailing their leaders, confiscating all their assets, and ruthlessly hunting down all their cronies.)

[pzmyers@freethought.online]

@cstross And the prospect of that happening? Practically non-existent.

[ralph@hear-me.social]

@cstross

ALT TEXT:

Two characters A and B

B: What you are suggesting is illegal
A: What happens if we do it anyway?
B: We get fined.
A: So it's legal, but for a fee.

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@pzmyers @cstross we had a brief interlude here in Italy where we actually did that. The Mafia responded by literally blowing up the prosecutors involved (famously Giovanni Falcone, whose assassination tore up a whole section of a motorway, and Giovanni Borsellino, whose assassination blew up a a building). This was followed by a negotiation between the government (Silvio Berlusconi was PM at the time) and the Mafia for the State to be less strict in exchange for less killings.

[photo55@mastodon.social]

@Ralph @cstross
In business, I understand this is referred to by lawyers as "taking a view" of the regulations.

[themself@mastodon.scot]

@Photo55 @Ralph @cstross I have explained to many policy people that when they're trying to regulate that the approach business will take is not best available technology but rather CATNIP = Cheapest Available Technique Not Involving Prosecution which includes just paying the civil fines if that's cheaper than actually following the regulations.