[KorematsuFred]

I find this criticism somewhat weird. It is very common for companies or even individuals to promote and support policies that benefit themselves. Intuit is seeking self interest here. But why would IRS and our elected representatives cave in ? Are these people so clueless or unethical that they do not care about their constituents anymore ? And if that is the case I don't see how anyone can bell the intuit's cat.

[caslon]

By your logic, here, an independent actor doing something to terminate the employees and stakeholders of Intuit would be completely blameless, if not celebrated by the people of the United States.

It's not even a slippery slope to imply that acting in self-interest is always excusable: By the time you've gotten to that point, you're already at the bottom of any and every slippery slope. There are lines that we as a species have collectively are inexcusable to cross in self-interest, and without them life gets a lot worse for nearly everyone.

[burkaman]

You accept that Intuit is lobbying for unethical policies in order to enrich themselves, but you don't understand why anyone would criticize that?

[actually_a_dog]

Generously interpreted, I think they are questioning why we're criticizing Intuit for doing it when we don't necessarily criticize other companies for it.

[WisNorCan]

It is a simple bargain. US representatives are dependent on fundraising and endorsements for re-election which lobbyists are happy to offer in exchange for help with their agenda.

[commandlinefan]

> why would IRS and our elected representatives cave in?

money.

[not2b]

The IRS has almost no say in this (because they've been denied funding to fix it); it is entirely Congress's doing.

[jfengel]

They're capitalizing on a generalized anti-government and anti-IRS sentiment. It's not difficult for them to convince representatives that the IRS would do it badly, and it should be left up to the free market.

They made, and basically broke, an agreement with the IRS. But it's really not easy for a government agency to say, "No, you broke the roles, so our agreement is void". It would basically take a lawsuit, which would be ugly, expensive, and time-consuming.

It's not so much a matter of simply "caving", as that Intuit has gotten itself entrenched and it's difficult to dig them out. In theory it's not impossible, but it would require a ton of work, time, and will. Such things are very hard to come by, especially when you're the IRS and everybody already is predisposed to hate you.

[gremlinsinc]

Hypothetical: I make kerosene.... we made a bad batch that doesn't burn just right and could hinder products it's used in...

We're located in California.

We've paid politicians to look the other way while we drop it over forests, in fire zones. It's a lot easier than getting rid of it other ways.

We're enriching ourselves which is the American way, so there's definitely no problem with this, even though it may make fire season a major bitch for some people, luckily all our CEO's have homes in safer areas that won't be affected....

^ Are you saying you'd say to the above scenario: I have no problems with this.

If the answer to the above question is you would say that...

What's it like to be devoid of morality? Is there anything resembling a conscious at all?

[dboreham]

Yes.