IS CAPITALISM DOOMED?
AND QUESTIONS ABOUT A BETTER WAY FORWARD FOR EVERYONE
BY Joseph Segal
Author Grace Blakeley's new book on capitalism describes it as an authoritarian top-down system that replaces the voice of workers with the views, priorities & needs of both government & shareholders. And then goes on to discuss examples of the way to make things better for everyone especially organizing locally to run things together without so many middle managers and top-down dictates.
Worker-owned ESOPS cooperatives keep people employed longer, keep working people happier and healthier, and keep more money in local communities which helps us all. That’s what we want, right? Systems of living together that benefit everyone and not just the few of us with the most money and opportunity?
“A worker cooperative, or worker co-op, is a business that is owned and operated by its employees, who are also the members of the cooperative. Worker co-ops are based on democratic principles, and workers have equal representation and voting power in the business.” link
Worker coops (companies owned by their workers) are terrific ways to run a business however there’s insufficient government and private sector funding to start up this form of business and there needs to be.
“In the latest iteration of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey (AOS), a remarkable 36 percent of employed respondents — equivalent to 58 million Americans when extrapolated from the representative sample — identify as independent workers.” Aug 23, 2022 link
How can gig/independent contractors organize to increase access to capital, revenue sharing, sick pay, and some sort of unemployment insurance?
How can content creators organize to make big Tech AI pay us for training their big language models on our works? Why should they be able to profit from all of our work without compensating us?
How can we organize as social media users to own our own data and get paid from big tech social media platforms when they sell our data to data aggregators and advertisers?
How can renters organize to ensure we have legal aid representation and sufficient time and help to relocate to secure dignified housing options when properties are sold or lease agreements end. Properties are maintained to a proper living standard without pressure on renters’ rent going up?
A renters insurance program that protects both renters and small landlords is needed in this and other countries.
Capitalism can only function in conjunction with democracy.
It cannot last and survive if it operates within an authoritarian model that serves owners, CEOs, and massively concentrated shareholder power whilst dictating how much or little pay and work employees get.
This especially can’t function and be sustainable while there’s a massive concentration of ownership in all of our main industrial sectors like the corporate media, big AG/food, housing, e-commerce, mobile telecommunications, healthcare big pharma, etc. These monopolies must be broken up and reparations made to any consumers and business owners harmed.
We need to learn to use social media to have deeper more personal conversations with each other and find ways to help one another and organize with local neighbors and businesses. We NEED human contact and connections to be healthy and happier people!
