Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism

Wow! It's apparent that no one on this message thread actually listened to or understood what Richard Wolff was advocating.

Wow! It's apparent that many posters on this message thread actually understand what Richard Wolff is advocating.

More fascist/socialistic bullshit.

What the fuck prevents a" worker owned & run businesses" at this time?

If Workers are making management decisions , as opposed to a board of directors, why the fuck pay a board of directors?

Capitalism in no way would interfere with the workers buying and managing a company.

.
 
Wow! It's apparent that no one on this message thread actually listened to or understood what Richard Wolff was advocating.

That's certainly true in my case. I've been responding to others' comments on the topic. I don't expect my view re: the OP to be taken seriously until I've had time to watch it.

What he advocates in this video is worker owned & run businesses. Workers making management decisions as opposed to a board of directors. It's only opposes capitalism in the sense that company ownership and management decision making are by the workers.

This has been successfully done many times, but I'm sure that there are many times that it has failed.

It seems to me that this 'workers cooperative' would be undermined by typical human character flaws. Some people would work hard while others would hardly work. Some people would put a lot of work into the organizational aspects of the company, while others would dominate thru political means. Eventually it would fall apart - in most cases.

Does he advocate any legislative changes to encourage or accommodate these kinds of businesses? There are definitely employee owned businesses thriving currently, and the approach has been tried numerous times in the past, with mixed results. They usually just come back around to a greater appreciation of the role of capitalism and capitalists.
 
People have very differing opinions on what the term "Capitalism" means.

I have my own simple definition which makes sense and which segregates a lot of business activity from "Capitalism".

Capitalism is using money to make money.

Running a business selling goods or services is not in and of itself "Capitalism". Being a silent partner that owns part of a business is "Capitalism".

For example:

A fisherman that fishes in the morning and sells fish in the evening is not a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company but doesn't work at that company is a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company and works at the company is part capitalist and part worker.

The problem with our economy is that thru capitalism we have over-valued ownership and under-valued work.
 
Wow! It's apparent that no one on this message thread actually listened to or understood what Richard Wolff was advocating.

Wow! It's apparent that many posters on this message thread actually understand what Richard Wolff is advocating.

More fascist/socialistic bullshit.

What the fuck prevents a" worker owned & run businesses" at this time?

If Workers are making management decisions , as opposed to a board of directors, why the fuck pay a board of directors?

Capitalism in no way would interfere with the workers buying and managing a company.

.


You neither understood Richard Wolff or myself.

There is nothing stopping worker owned and run businesses. There are many in existence today.

Try reading people's messages before you go off on your rants.
 
People have very differing opinions on what the term "Capitalism" means.
Then they should start by buying a dictionary and looking it up. While they are at it, look up any resulting terms you do not understand in the definiton of capitalism.

I have my own simple definition which makes sense and which segregates a lot of business activity from "Capitalism".

Capitalism is using money to make money.
And this is incredibly wrong and comical.

A fisherman that fishes in the morning and sells fish in the evening is not a capitalist.
He most certainly is a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company but doesn't work at that company is a capitalist.
No, they are investors.
 
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People have very differing opinions on what the term "Capitalism" means.

I have my own simple definition which makes sense and which segregates a lot of business activity from "Capitalism".

Capitalism is using money to make money.

Running a business selling goods or services is not in and of itself "Capitalism". Being a silent partner that owns part of a business is "Capitalism".

For example:

A fisherman that fishes in the morning and sells fish in the evening is not a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company but doesn't work at that company is a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company and works at the company is part capitalist and part worker.

The problem with our economy is that thru capitalism we have over-valued ownership and under-valued work.

and that is the main problem in this kind of discussions.

It would be much better if before starting talking everybody about their own, the real meaning of the term be agreed upon. Better with the initial meaning of the one who coined it.
 
Wow! It's apparent that no one on this message thread actually listened to or understood what Richard Wolff was advocating.

That's certainly true in my case. I've been responding to others' comments on the topic. I don't expect my view re: the OP to be taken seriously until I've had time to watch it.

What he advocates in this video is worker owned & run businesses. Workers making management decisions as opposed to a board of directors. It's only opposes capitalism in the sense that company ownership and management decision making are by the workers.

This has been successfully done many times, but I'm sure that there are many times that it has failed.

It seems to me that this 'workers cooperative' would be undermined by typical human character flaws. Some people would work hard while others would hardly work. Some people would put a lot of work into the organizational aspects of the company, while others would dominate thru political means. Eventually it would fall apart - in most cases.

Does he advocate any legislative changes to encourage or accommodate these kinds of businesses? There are definitely employee owned businesses thriving currently, and the approach has been tried numerous times in the past, with mixed results. They usually just come back around to a greater appreciation of the role of capitalism and capitalists.

Unfortunately, I agree. For a company to function it has to have a command hierarchy. Theoretically the management could be people who have no stake in the company, but that would just degenerate into inefficient and corrupt management.

The best example is the Soviet Union where the Communist Party - and the government - degenerated into a dictatorship.

Perhaps we could have all corporations run by computers?
 
I think that all of the predictive criticisms I've seen so far were addressed by about 27 minutes into the video. The things he advocates are:

A taxation, regulatory and public works role for government as existed in the 30's.
A worker participation in the decision making process in companies as exists in Germany today.
Worker co-ops in which workers more equally share the profits of the company and share in the direction of its operation.

Which means these products and services would be developed elsewhere:

Cell phones
Cloud computing
Search engines
Crowdfunding
Social networking
Biometric security devices
Smartphones


Co-ops don't work on a large scale because the incentive to innovate gets lost in the collective desire for guarantees.
 
Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production.
 
What capitalism? We haven't had capitalism in the US since neo-classical economics took over.

The problem with most heterodox economists, is that they fail to understand the praxeology of economics. Economic democracy is a terrible idea. What you're essentially advocating is the removal of all private property in favor of central planning based on majority rule over the system vs. ndividual initiative.

It would collapse under its own weight.

And again, most of these economists fail to distinguish the difference between corporatism and captialism. Making most of the premise false right out of the gate.


Be careful with that Thesaurus, you might hurt yourself.


heterodox economists…?? -- I'll let that one slide, guess you mean contrarian. The video is hardly that. But "praxeology of economics…" BZZZT -- that's a no go. You don't understand the term. They are two related sciences -- praxeology and economics.
 
Pure ****ing nonsense.

It works if it works for you...But honestly you can't be the only person in the world that has it right? I read from your responses that only you are the enlightened and everyone else is, well stupid...Even the validated high IQ buffs around the world are willing to discuss issues...

The difference is, that post above is not an issue discussion piece. What it is, is nonsensical hyperbole based on dogma that has been thoroughly vetted and found wanting.

Let's agree that we aren't discussing absolutes as nothing is absolute. This entire discussion board is based on perceptual dogma. Hell everything in our society is based on dogma in one form or another.
 
What capitalism? We haven't had capitalism in the US since neo-classical economics took over.

The problem with most heterodox economists, is that they fail to understand the praxeology of economics. Economic democracy is a terrible idea. What you're essentially advocating is the removal of all private property in favor of central planning based on majority rule over the system vs. ndividual initiative.

It would collapse under its own weight.

And again, most of these economists fail to distinguish the difference between corporatism and captialism. Making most of the premise false right out of the gate.


Be careful with that Thesaurus, you might hurt yourself.


heterodox economists…?? -- I'll let that one slide, guess you mean contrarian. The video is hardly that. But "praxeology of economics…" BZZZT -- that's a no go. You don't understand the term. They are two related sciences -- praxeology and economics.

Moron, typing big and in bold doesn't make your nonsense make sense.

Yes, heterdox economics
Heterodox Economics Definition | Investopedia

The analysis and study of economic principles considered outside of mainstream or orthodox schools of economic thought. Schools of heterodox economics include socialism, Marxism, post-Keynesian and Austrian, and often combine the macroeconomic outlook found in Keynesian economics with approaches critical of neoclassical economics.

Praxeology is a term coined as the study of human action. Economics IS human action. They're not just related. They are, in fact, joined at the hip..literally.
 
Unfortunately, I agree. For a company to function it has to have a command hierarchy. Theoretically the management could be people who have no stake in the company, but that would just degenerate into inefficient and corrupt management.

The best example is the Soviet Union where the Communist Party - and the government - degenerated into a dictatorship.

Perhaps we could have all corporations run by computers?

wrong. they did not degenerate into dictatorship. it was dictatorship from the very beginning - as this type of the society based on expropriation of the private property is not possible in any other possible form.
actually when the dictatorship was eased just a little but - the whole monstrosity collapsed.
 
People have very differing opinions on what the term "Capitalism" means.
Then they should start by buying a dictionary and looking it up. While they are at it, look up any resulting terms you do not understand in the definiton of capitalism.

I have my own simple definition which makes sense and which segregates a lot of business activity from "Capitalism".

Capitalism is using money to make money.
And this is incredibly wrong and comical.

A fisherman that fishes in the morning and sells fish in the evening is not a capitalist.
He most certainly is a capitalist.

Someone who owns stock in a company but doesn't work at that company is a capitalist.
No, they are investors.

The definition of capitalism is:

"an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth."

The key phrase is "investment in and ownership of". A shorter, less precise way of saying that is "Using money to make money".
 
In my view, the biggest problem with discussions like this is that most people really don't get what capitalists do. But anyone who's been heavily involved in trying to run a command economy gets a crash course.

I recall, back in the nineties, attending a presentation by an ex-Soviet bureaucrat discussing just this issue. He highlighted how incredibly difficult it is to efficiently allocate labor and resources across a large, diverse nation. Top-down management of such a thing just doesn't work. Adequately supplying people with the goods and services they want, requires decentralized systems that can tightly monitor consumer demand. Pursuing this goal generally points to a distributed system of individual resource 'managers', who are tasked with maximizing consumer satisfaction.

Naturally, you want the most skilled of these 'managers' to handle the bulk of the resources, so a system that allocates more resources to the 'managers' who most successfully allocate their resources makes the most sense.

i won't belabor the point further, as I'm sure you see where this is headed. In a free market, we call these managers 'capitalists'. They are in charge of allocating labor and resources in society to meet the needs and wants of consumers. We channel more of our resources to those who do this successfully, in the form of profits, and deny them to those who fail, in the form of losses.

I think a lot of people make the mistake of assigning moral value to this allocation, assuming that wealth "ought" to go to the most virtuous people, and be denied to those we find repugnant. But in reality, it's all about how efficiently they use their wealth. If they make good calls and allocate it usefully, we want them handling more of our money. It's not a question of providing them with a privileged lifestyle, it's about giving them more power to allocate more resources, because they've proven they can do it well.
 
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I think that all of the predictive criticisms I've seen so far were addressed by about 27 minutes into the video. The things he advocates are:

A taxation, regulatory and public works role for government as existed in the 30's.
A worker participation in the decision making process in companies as exists in Germany today.
Worker co-ops in which workers more equally share the profits of the company and share in the direction of its operation.

Which means these products and services would be developed elsewhere:

Cell phones
Cloud computing
Search engines
Crowdfunding
Social networking
Biometric security devices
Smartphones


Co-ops don't work on a large scale because the incentive to innovate gets lost in the collective desire for guarantees.

Not true.. Check out Mondragon, huge co-op... 120 thousand employees worldwide...
 
The definiton of capitalism is as follows:

Capitalism - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

Now, a free market definition:

: an economic market or system in which prices are based on competition among private businesses and not controlled by a government

Someone who invests into a company by owning stock is an investor. They are not making any decisions about the companies privately owned means of production. They are investing into the copany under the faith that the capitalists who own and run said company, are making efficient adn effective decisons to maintain, or raise the value of their investment.

They are investors.

The fisherman is a capitalist.

The investor is an investor.

Your personal deifnition lacks the breadth and depth of economic understanding. And capitalism is an economic system.
 
I think a lot of people make the mistake of assigning moral value to this allocation, assuming that wealth "ought" to go to the most virtuous people, and be denied to those we find repugnant. But in reality, it's all about how efficiently they use their wealth. If they make good calls and allocate it usefully, we want them handling more of our money. It's not a question of providing them with a privileged lifestyle, it's about giving them more power to allocate more resources, because they've proven they can do it well.

Absolutely right. Which is essentially nothing more than dogma slathered heavily in hyperbole.
 
The definiton of capitalism is as follows:

Capitalism - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

Now, a free market definition:

: an economic market or system in which prices are based on competition among private businesses and not controlled by a government

Someone who invests into a company by owning stock is an investor. They are not making any decisions about the companies privately owned means of production. They are investing into the copany under the faith that the capitalists who own and run said company, are making efficient adn effective decisons to maintain, or raise the value of their investment.

They are investors.

The fisherman is a capitalist.

The investor is an investor.

Your personal deifnition lacks the breadth and depth of economic understanding. And capitalism is an economic system.

Your own definition says:

"characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments..."

Investors invest money so that they own. This is in simple terms "Using money to make money"

Perhaps our disagreement is due to your being too simple to understand what the word "simple" means"

Did you not understand my original statement:

"My own SIMPLE definition...."

I didn't say "the dictionary's definition", now did I?

You can continue to argue over semantics, but I don't care too. Apparently the concept I was trying to convey is beyond you.
 
I think a lot of people make the mistake of assigning moral value to this allocation, assuming that wealth "ought" to go to the most virtuous people, and be denied to those we find repugnant. But in reality, it's all about how efficiently they use their wealth. If they make good calls and allocate it usefully, we want them handling more of our money. It's not a question of providing them with a privileged lifestyle, it's about giving them more power to allocate more resources, because they've proven they can do it well.

Absolutely right. Which is essentially nothing more than dogma slathered heavily in hyperbole.

You believe that because you just contribute and you don't own that you should only be given what has been subjectively defined by the "owner". Under capitalistic/corporatism principles that would be as little as possible. I say that the owner wouldn't be an owner of anything, if there weren't people to help build the business. A co-op makes perfectly good sense to me. Everyone working toward the common good. Everyone contributing, so everyone prospering.
 

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