Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Maximum Liberty's avatar

There is a lot going on in this field of law. First, the historic concept is called “common carrier.” Someone with such a designation is prohibited from unreasonably discriminating among customers. That has a historically determined meaning -- they can charge differently in ways that relate to their underlying cost, risk, or value being delivered. But not to unrelated things.

Second there are a host of proposed laws prohibiting banks and other financial institutions from making decisions about financial support to businesses based on ESG scores or opinions.

Third, there are a host of proposed laws prohibiting use of social credit scores in a variety of business decisions.

Both the second and third points also have variations that are much more extensive and cover a person’s affiliations or opinions.

There are problems with this. For example, if and employer doesn’t want to hire Klan members, it seems like that ought to be OK. But what about the employer who doesn’t want to hire Democrats or Methodists? And how do we distinguish a social credit score from a real credit score when looking at a bank’s lending decisions? And for lending to businesses, how do we distinguish between consideration of (a) risks arising directly from global warming, like investing in construction on beachfronts, (b) risks arising from litigation and regulatory exposure of alleged polluters like oil companies, and (c) an ESG score?

Apart from figuring out how to write these laws, their proponents need to make sure that they provide a private right of action for statutory damages and attorneys’s fees. That will turn the plaintiffs lawyers loose.

Expand full comment
Visceral Adventure's avatar

Having alternatives doesn’t have to mean that it competes with conglomerates. It might be more useful to build smaller, local alternatives. Something akin to having a small community bank instead of Chase. Or going to smaller markets for organic food and avoiding supermarkets.

Expand full comment
15 more comments...

No posts