What is money,no I am not asking what is money as in gold or silver or pretty pieces of paper some authority blessed and gave it a magical value.
I am asking what is it for. Why was it invented in the first place, people used to trade goats for wheat and wheat for salt etc....
From everything I have been able to find it was to simplify trade, it is something that allows us to trade better, it is the lubrication for the machine known as the economy not the product of it.
If that is true the any mechanic can tell you that lubrication has to placed where the most work is being done, the bearings, the crankshafts, axles etc.
Also anyone can tell you if something is stuck a little lubrication goes a long way towards fixing the issue.
So why are the people that control this lubrication not using it to "unstick" the economy?
This defies all logic unless they are trying to destroy the machine and collect the insurance money, the problem is, we are the machine, we are doing all they work, we are stuck in low wage ruts, our social environment has been depleted of this lubrication to the point where people are going hungry, houses being foreclosed on, small businesses are failing.
Money facilitates trade and currently the trade on the streets is stuck and logic tells us that it needs to be "lubricated" the only things stopping it is they incompetency of the people who has the money, not politicians, but those that control the purse strings of large corporations, the ones who have siphoned off this life blood of society into offshore reserves and tax havens.
If this life blood of society is so critical to the very survival of society then why have these vampires been allowed to use trade agreements, exploitation, and even outright fraud to leech away this precious resource?
Malcolm X was right that we “cannot have capitalism without racism,” we have to ask ourselves if racism has really declined. Who remembers the $20 billion the Haitian people paid to Wall Street to buy their freedom? How long will we continue to pretend that debts to Native Americans have been settled? In 1984, the wealth gap ratio between whites and blacks was 12 to 1, dipping all the way down to 7 to 1 in 1995, by 2009 the gap had jumped back up to an astonishing 19 to 1.
Poverty is human-made. It is created – knowingly and with scientific efficiency – by a vastly sophisticated industry that includes private companies, think tanks, media outlets, government policies, and more.
Monopoly Capital is the exploitative ownership of business that use other peoples labor and resources to provide profit to a limited few at the top. This ownership model uses racism as the lever which exploits the minorities.
Today "Poverty, is no longer an issue of 'them', it's an issue of 'us'," says Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who calculated the numbers. "Only when poverty is thought of as a mainstream event, rather than a fringe experience that just affects blacks and Hispanics, can we really begin to build broader support for programs that lift people in need."
Currently, four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
As the crisis continues indefinitely, those who are privileged enough to have a job, need to ask ourselves: “Why have we punched the clock, day in and day out, year after year, willingly functioning in a system that’s designed to take everything away from us?” Progress has been a round trip. Always fighting from a defensive position, working class organizations have failed to produce our own vision of the future. We have failed to combat the holograms of freedom that keep us in debt, playing the game over and over again. For all we’ve sacrificed in blood, sweat and tears, we remain afraid to take up the labor of imagination necessary to envision our liberation.
If we do not break the dynamic of capital, the world will become a nastier and nastier place and it is very possible that humans will not survive for very long. Our struggle is guided by some key questions. Which debts are legitimate and which are not? Would we rather fund schools and hospitals or pay debt service to Wall Street? Do the profits of international investors outweigh the right of pensioners to retire with dignity or the right of students to attend well-funded schools? What kind of world do we want to live in?
Do we live happy knowing we have a handful of paper, a few entries on some massive balance sheet in the cloud? or Do we use the money as it was intended to lubricate the machine and create a more livable society when where we as humans enjoy together without racial barriers and political scandals knowing that we are working together and not ripping apart the very fabric of life?
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Us vs Them
"Poverty is no longer an issue of 'them', it's an issue of 'us'," says Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who calculated the numbers. "Only when poverty is thought of as a mainstream event, rather than a fringe experience that just affects blacks and Hispanics, can we really begin to build broader support for programs that lift people in need."
One of the things that has always bothered me about the conversation of "poverty" was that the people in power tried to weasel their way out of addressing it by claiming its a "race" issue, well I have always stated it is a "greed" issue. For the past 25 years I have fought and argued that point, now finally someone has some real numbers ones that cannot hide the fact that exploitation is the cause and charity is the cure.
Currently, four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
Economic hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor."
While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in government data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.
The risks of poverty also have been increasing in recent decades, particularly among people ages 35-55, coinciding with widening income inequality. For instance, people ages 35-45 had a 17 percent risk of encountering poverty during the 1969-1989 time period; that risk increased to 23 percent during the 1989-2009 period. For those ages 45-55, the risk of poverty jumped from 11.8 percent to 17.7 percent.
Welfare reform and welfare to work programs have proven to be administrative nightmares and micromanage applicants in ways that debase, belittle, and shame them to the point many would rather face the pain of hunger and live in a vehicle then face the bureaucratic beast that is the current system.
In a system that generates enough income to provide $190,000 for every family of four in the United States why do we have rising poverty levels?
One reason and the only reason, lack of political will to change, the fear of loss, loss of the influx of cash into the coffers of politicians through back room deals made by lobbyist and super rich constituents. We have the ability to fix poverty, it would only take one bill. One bill that would eliminate poverty, eliminate excess bureaucracy, build self esteem and responsibility and rebuild our stagnant economy.
BIG we have to think BIG, the basic income guarantee simple in structure, easy to implement and very efficient. We also have the model in place within our current tax system.
Similar to the earned income / child credit, the basic income guarantee would available to all adults over the age of 18 and would provide all of the benefits without any downsides.
Each adult would fill out a basic tax return and select how and when they would like to receive their BIG yearly, quarterly, monthly.
The BIG would be calculated by using a reversed tax system, with poverty guidelines ($12000 per year) as the zero point.
Anyone earning less then the zero point would "topped up" to that zero point, anyone above that would be taxed at the basic rates.
Additional income earned while still eligible for the BIG would be taxed at the basic rate and the BIG counted as "nontaxable"
This would eliminate and replace welfare, earned income / child credits, food stamps, section 8, low income energy assistance, wic and other "poverty" programs.
In addition a new program of education and self employment programs to be rolled out. The "one stop shop" model to be used in each community to provide a local commons that will provide education, guidance and worker owned / coop environment to promote self sufficiency and self help.
SBA to provide training, promoting and legal assistance for starting and running businesses such as worker owned, coop, and other generative ownership models.
By providing economic security, supportive training and education along with promoting self sufficient cooperative business models the current death spiral of economic inequality can be reversed and WE can all share in the abundance of the planet.
One of the things that has always bothered me about the conversation of "poverty" was that the people in power tried to weasel their way out of addressing it by claiming its a "race" issue, well I have always stated it is a "greed" issue. For the past 25 years I have fought and argued that point, now finally someone has some real numbers ones that cannot hide the fact that exploitation is the cause and charity is the cure.
Currently, four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
Economic hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor."
While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in government data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.
The risks of poverty also have been increasing in recent decades, particularly among people ages 35-55, coinciding with widening income inequality. For instance, people ages 35-45 had a 17 percent risk of encountering poverty during the 1969-1989 time period; that risk increased to 23 percent during the 1989-2009 period. For those ages 45-55, the risk of poverty jumped from 11.8 percent to 17.7 percent.
Welfare reform and welfare to work programs have proven to be administrative nightmares and micromanage applicants in ways that debase, belittle, and shame them to the point many would rather face the pain of hunger and live in a vehicle then face the bureaucratic beast that is the current system.
In a system that generates enough income to provide $190,000 for every family of four in the United States why do we have rising poverty levels?
One reason and the only reason, lack of political will to change, the fear of loss, loss of the influx of cash into the coffers of politicians through back room deals made by lobbyist and super rich constituents. We have the ability to fix poverty, it would only take one bill. One bill that would eliminate poverty, eliminate excess bureaucracy, build self esteem and responsibility and rebuild our stagnant economy.
BIG we have to think BIG, the basic income guarantee simple in structure, easy to implement and very efficient. We also have the model in place within our current tax system.
Similar to the earned income / child credit, the basic income guarantee would available to all adults over the age of 18 and would provide all of the benefits without any downsides.
Each adult would fill out a basic tax return and select how and when they would like to receive their BIG yearly, quarterly, monthly.
The BIG would be calculated by using a reversed tax system, with poverty guidelines ($12000 per year) as the zero point.
Anyone earning less then the zero point would "topped up" to that zero point, anyone above that would be taxed at the basic rates.
Additional income earned while still eligible for the BIG would be taxed at the basic rate and the BIG counted as "nontaxable"
This would eliminate and replace welfare, earned income / child credits, food stamps, section 8, low income energy assistance, wic and other "poverty" programs.
In addition a new program of education and self employment programs to be rolled out. The "one stop shop" model to be used in each community to provide a local commons that will provide education, guidance and worker owned / coop environment to promote self sufficiency and self help.
SBA to provide training, promoting and legal assistance for starting and running businesses such as worker owned, coop, and other generative ownership models.
By providing economic security, supportive training and education along with promoting self sufficient cooperative business models the current death spiral of economic inequality can be reversed and WE can all share in the abundance of the planet.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Operation Detroit
Reverse trickle down economics
Eliminate all tax advantages and lucrative incentives to all corporations including cash rewards, sales tax refund, exemptions or other sales tax discounts, property tax abatement, corporate income tax credit, rebate or reduction, free services.
Immediate local based, basic income guarantee (BIG) to be paid by the above with any shortfalls to be funded by federal government.
SBA to implement an immediate plan to provide worker owned business training and capital funding resources in Detroit.
Fully fund and open all school cafeteria's to local low income and elderly residents daily.
All purchases by and for any federal, state, city programs within the city of Detroit to purchased at a locally owned business with preferences made towards worker owned and coop businesses.
Worker owned weatherization program to retrofit, insulate and repair housing for low income and elderly, multi-family and commercial buildings. Promotes the repair and energy efficiency of local homes and provides basic lower skilled but good paying jobs.
Organic / sustainable local worker owned food co-ops
Community owned local stores
Will this solve the emergency YES will it solve all the problems NO but it will reduce the trauma and buy time to implement longer term solutions.
Eliminate all tax advantages and lucrative incentives to all corporations including cash rewards, sales tax refund, exemptions or other sales tax discounts, property tax abatement, corporate income tax credit, rebate or reduction, free services.
Immediate local based, basic income guarantee (BIG) to be paid by the above with any shortfalls to be funded by federal government.
Change the way anchor businesses needs for services are fulfilled
Friday, July 26, 2013
Evolutionary Reconstruction
At some point, a society like the United States that already produces the equivalent of over $190,000 for every family of four must ask when enough is enough. As Juliet Schor has argued, one important step is to shift the economy to encourage less consumption and more leisure time.
Even former Presidential adviser James Gustave Speth has bluntly observed that for “the most part we have worked within this current system of political economy, but working within the system will not succeed in the end when what is needed is transformative change in the system itself.”
As a matter of cold logic, if some of the most important corporations are massively disruptive and have costly impact on the economy and the environment. Historic and experience suggests that regulation and anti-trust laws in important areas are likely to be largely subverted by these corporations then a public takeover becomes the only logical answer.
It is now time to explore "Evolutionary Reconstruction", that is the systemic institutional transformation of the political and economic systems.
Two primary tactics are needed to promote this "Evolutionary Reconstruction" one arm would be aimed at reforming existing large companies the primary thrust of which would be anti corporate personhood to limit extractive ownership, another at promoting alternatives such as worker owned, coop, and other generative ownership models.
External regulation can constrain corporations and capital markets to some extent, but without internal redesign, their primary goal of profit maximizing remains unchanged, seeking every opportunity to break free.
If the root social construct of government is sovereignty (who legitimately controls the state), the root social construct of an economy is property (who legitimately controls wealth creation). Another word for property is ownership.
While it is easy to think of ownership as a fact, it is more accurately a historically constituted design. The dominant form of ownership of our age serves the needs of capital markets by generating endlessly growing financial wealth. Yet because financial wealth is a claim against real wealth, a claim on future wages, housing values, or company profits, capital-centered ownership works by extraction of future wealth.
So by changing this ownership we fundamentally change the system and transform from extractive ownership (Monopoly Capital) to generative ownership (Social or Democratic Capital).
There are more kinds of generative ownership design than many people realize, particularly among cooperatives. In the U.S., more than 130 million Americans are members of a co-op or credit union. More Americans hold memberships in co-ops than hold stock in the stock market. Worldwide, cooperatives have close to a billion members. They employ more people than all multinational corporations combined. Among the 300 largest cooperative and mutually owned companies worldwide, total revenues amount to nearly $2 trillion. If these enterprises were a single nation, it would rank ninth on the list of the world’s largest economies.
This "Evolutionary Reconstruction" by reversing extractive to generative owner we can fundamentally change our economic and social environment to one that promotes humanity vs exploiting it.
Even former Presidential adviser James Gustave Speth has bluntly observed that for “the most part we have worked within this current system of political economy, but working within the system will not succeed in the end when what is needed is transformative change in the system itself.”
As a matter of cold logic, if some of the most important corporations are massively disruptive and have costly impact on the economy and the environment. Historic and experience suggests that regulation and anti-trust laws in important areas are likely to be largely subverted by these corporations then a public takeover becomes the only logical answer.
It is now time to explore "Evolutionary Reconstruction", that is the systemic institutional transformation of the political and economic systems.
Two primary tactics are needed to promote this "Evolutionary Reconstruction" one arm would be aimed at reforming existing large companies the primary thrust of which would be anti corporate personhood to limit extractive ownership, another at promoting alternatives such as worker owned, coop, and other generative ownership models.
External regulation can constrain corporations and capital markets to some extent, but without internal redesign, their primary goal of profit maximizing remains unchanged, seeking every opportunity to break free.
If the root social construct of government is sovereignty (who legitimately controls the state), the root social construct of an economy is property (who legitimately controls wealth creation). Another word for property is ownership.
While it is easy to think of ownership as a fact, it is more accurately a historically constituted design. The dominant form of ownership of our age serves the needs of capital markets by generating endlessly growing financial wealth. Yet because financial wealth is a claim against real wealth, a claim on future wages, housing values, or company profits, capital-centered ownership works by extraction of future wealth.
So by changing this ownership we fundamentally change the system and transform from extractive ownership (Monopoly Capital) to generative ownership (Social or Democratic Capital).
There are more kinds of generative ownership design than many people realize, particularly among cooperatives. In the U.S., more than 130 million Americans are members of a co-op or credit union. More Americans hold memberships in co-ops than hold stock in the stock market. Worldwide, cooperatives have close to a billion members. They employ more people than all multinational corporations combined. Among the 300 largest cooperative and mutually owned companies worldwide, total revenues amount to nearly $2 trillion. If these enterprises were a single nation, it would rank ninth on the list of the world’s largest economies.
This "Evolutionary Reconstruction" by reversing extractive to generative owner we can fundamentally change our economic and social environment to one that promotes humanity vs exploiting it.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Transparency
Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. For example, a cashier making change at a point of sale by segregating a customer's large bill, counting up from the sale amount, and placing the change on the counter in such a way as to invite the customer to verify the amount of change demonstrates transparency.
In many contexts "transparency" refers to the ability to see what's wrong, to see what the problems are, to see potential trouble. A frequent figure of speech is that transparency is like operating in a fish bowl.
A few months ago, a Senate committee grilled Apple CEO Tim Cook over the company’s creative accounting strategies, accusing it of cheating the U.S. Treasury by stashing away billions of dollars that live in no tax jurisdiction at all.
Corporations have one law and that is to create as much profit as possible at any cost even if that stomps all over "human rights".
One way to help correct this is to sunlight everything should corporations be required to disclose their accounting practices including offshore holdings, so that tax administrations can understand their global value chains and consumers can make informed decisions regarding any business with them.
#PRISM and Snowden has exposed that our governments cannot be trusted enough to operate without "supervision" they are even going for passwords for websites you use.
People look to government to work for them and on their behalf and provide the needed oversight on things that impact their lives. Government is most effectively when its activities are open and transparent to citizens. With open visibility into government actions and spending, people will participate in the political process and hold government officials accountable. When citizens participate in and with government, they ensure that power and public funds are used in their best interests.
Governments primary responsibility is to protect and defend its people without which it is nothing.
In many contexts "transparency" refers to the ability to see what's wrong, to see what the problems are, to see potential trouble. A frequent figure of speech is that transparency is like operating in a fish bowl.
A few months ago, a Senate committee grilled Apple CEO Tim Cook over the company’s creative accounting strategies, accusing it of cheating the U.S. Treasury by stashing away billions of dollars that live in no tax jurisdiction at all.
Corporations have one law and that is to create as much profit as possible at any cost even if that stomps all over "human rights".
One way to help correct this is to sunlight everything should corporations be required to disclose their accounting practices including offshore holdings, so that tax administrations can understand their global value chains and consumers can make informed decisions regarding any business with them.
#PRISM and Snowden has exposed that our governments cannot be trusted enough to operate without "supervision" they are even going for passwords for websites you use.
People look to government to work for them and on their behalf and provide the needed oversight on things that impact their lives. Government is most effectively when its activities are open and transparent to citizens. With open visibility into government actions and spending, people will participate in the political process and hold government officials accountable. When citizens participate in and with government, they ensure that power and public funds are used in their best interests.
Governments primary responsibility is to protect and defend its people without which it is nothing.
Open Sourced government
Roots of Poverty
What would you say if I told you that the biggest obstacle to eradicating poverty is the way we think about it? That the human mind and our common sense logic about how the world works is where the battle to end poverty must first be waged? How might that alter how we approach concerns about economic development, healthcare, education, women’s rights, trade relations, and national debt?
Common sense is our own personal view of the world and how it works. Common understanding is an agreed upon base of logical and scientific facts. We need to have common understanding before we can even start to work on solutions.
Poverty is human-made. It is created – knowingly and with scientific efficiency – by a vastly sophisticated industry that includes private companies, think tanks, media outlets, government policies, and more.
Monopoly Capital we find is a two-tier system comprised of, 1) a global mainstream economy where basic rules of fairness and transparency apply, and 2) a global self-serving shadow economy where fairness is an irrelevant concept, transparency a state to be avoided at all costs and the social contract is ignored.
Like a parasite, it is attached to the body of its host and drains its financial lifeblood at a rate and scale that is large enough to perpetuate global inequality and poverty.
It is extremely popular with those who can afford to access it. It is vast. It is comprised of over 80 tax havens, innumerous trade agreements and legal frameworks, and employs a small army of people to lobby policymakers, provide legal defense, manage and buy-off elected officials.
This industry relies on one thing above all others: secrecy. It is only through the ‘discretion’ of tax havens and the creativity of lawyers, accountants and bankers that they can operate in the way they do.
This is where hope lies. The ability to maintain this secrecy is dependent on the public not seeing, and not using its collective power to demand change. With public pressure, rules can be enacted that shine a light onto these secret places. The gross imbalances of our current system can be corrected so that wealth is more equally shared; and advantage and profit enjoyed within reasonable bounds.
Of course, just because someone benefits from a system doesn’t automatically mean they are controlling it. To investigate who is doing that, we need to look at the industries that have been built, who has built them this way, and observe their strategies and business operations. The best place to look is the industry at the heart of it all, whose very purpose is the management of wealth: banking and finance.
If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that we can never assume clear or absolute – and certainly never ‘simple’ – common sense. Because we have human brains, we inevitably hold false information; are beholden to the perspective engendered by our own particular lives; and rely on stereotypes and archetypes to understand both ourselves and each other. This means, however well-educated or seemingly dispassionate we strive to be, we are always and forever prone to selective understanding and knee-jerk, irrational, and emotional judgments.
So therefor we must agree to base things on common understanding or agreed upon states of knowledge. Then and only then can we move forward in unity supporting and strengthening each of us together as one.
Common sense is our own personal view of the world and how it works. Common understanding is an agreed upon base of logical and scientific facts. We need to have common understanding before we can even start to work on solutions.
Poverty is human-made. It is created – knowingly and with scientific efficiency – by a vastly sophisticated industry that includes private companies, think tanks, media outlets, government policies, and more.
Monopoly Capital we find is a two-tier system comprised of, 1) a global mainstream economy where basic rules of fairness and transparency apply, and 2) a global self-serving shadow economy where fairness is an irrelevant concept, transparency a state to be avoided at all costs and the social contract is ignored.
Like a parasite, it is attached to the body of its host and drains its financial lifeblood at a rate and scale that is large enough to perpetuate global inequality and poverty.
It is extremely popular with those who can afford to access it. It is vast. It is comprised of over 80 tax havens, innumerous trade agreements and legal frameworks, and employs a small army of people to lobby policymakers, provide legal defense, manage and buy-off elected officials.
This industry relies on one thing above all others: secrecy. It is only through the ‘discretion’ of tax havens and the creativity of lawyers, accountants and bankers that they can operate in the way they do.
This is where hope lies. The ability to maintain this secrecy is dependent on the public not seeing, and not using its collective power to demand change. With public pressure, rules can be enacted that shine a light onto these secret places. The gross imbalances of our current system can be corrected so that wealth is more equally shared; and advantage and profit enjoyed within reasonable bounds.
Of course, just because someone benefits from a system doesn’t automatically mean they are controlling it. To investigate who is doing that, we need to look at the industries that have been built, who has built them this way, and observe their strategies and business operations. The best place to look is the industry at the heart of it all, whose very purpose is the management of wealth: banking and finance.
If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that we can never assume clear or absolute – and certainly never ‘simple’ – common sense. Because we have human brains, we inevitably hold false information; are beholden to the perspective engendered by our own particular lives; and rely on stereotypes and archetypes to understand both ourselves and each other. This means, however well-educated or seemingly dispassionate we strive to be, we are always and forever prone to selective understanding and knee-jerk, irrational, and emotional judgments.
So therefor we must agree to base things on common understanding or agreed upon states of knowledge. Then and only then can we move forward in unity supporting and strengthening each of us together as one.
Not Jobs Careers
In response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which helped to create jobs, the Recovery Act supported as many as 3.5 million jobs across the country by the end of 2010.
Obama himself is partly culpable for helping to create the 2011 fiscal framework that locked us in that seemingly interminable argument over austerity with the Republicans, and it remains to be seen what future fiscal deals Obama and the Democrats agree to.
I would like to bring forth a "New Model" that being one that will empower the people. One that aligns with "Common Understanding" that most of the peoples of the world can agree with. Leverages the economic powers of governance and the skills and abilities of individuals. Allowing individuals to take responsibility for their own future.
Since many of our most prestigious economic institutions have embarrassed themselves at our expense over the last year, maybe it’s time to look around.
Worker-owned and -managed businesses combine the romance of entrepreneurship with solid family values and commitment to community. What’s not to like?
Since the start of the industrial revolutions there has been a noble experiment both here and abroad of businesses that are owned and democratically controlled by their worker/owners. If you know about these types of businesses, you probably think of them as small and local. For the most part that’s true here in the US. However, if we look across the Atlantic we find a very different story.
Since its modest beginnings in 1956 as technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters, the Mondragon Corporation is a worker owned collective of cooperatives that is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of turnover (almost $2B) and the leading business group in the Basque Country. At the end of 2008 it was providing employment for 92,773 people working in 256 companies in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail and Knowledge. This model is also prominent in Italy and other countries in Europe. The story in the US has been not so strong.
Research by Richard Freeman, Henry Hansmann, Douglas Kruse, John Pencavel, Louis Putterman, Richard Wolff, and others have validated much of the "economic sense" of worker coops it is time to leverage that knowledge and take a new path towards economic prosperity.
Maybe worker-owned and -managed companies, have more complex goals than maximizing profit, and are less growth-oriented than other companies but they have proven to be more stable and self sufficient in tough times.. When the times get tough, the tough form co-ops.
Obama himself is partly culpable for helping to create the 2011 fiscal framework that locked us in that seemingly interminable argument over austerity with the Republicans, and it remains to be seen what future fiscal deals Obama and the Democrats agree to.
I would like to bring forth a "New Model" that being one that will empower the people. One that aligns with "Common Understanding" that most of the peoples of the world can agree with. Leverages the economic powers of governance and the skills and abilities of individuals. Allowing individuals to take responsibility for their own future.
Since many of our most prestigious economic institutions have embarrassed themselves at our expense over the last year, maybe it’s time to look around.
Worker-owned and -managed businesses combine the romance of entrepreneurship with solid family values and commitment to community. What’s not to like?
Since the start of the industrial revolutions there has been a noble experiment both here and abroad of businesses that are owned and democratically controlled by their worker/owners. If you know about these types of businesses, you probably think of them as small and local. For the most part that’s true here in the US. However, if we look across the Atlantic we find a very different story.
Since its modest beginnings in 1956 as technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters, the Mondragon Corporation is a worker owned collective of cooperatives that is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of turnover (almost $2B) and the leading business group in the Basque Country. At the end of 2008 it was providing employment for 92,773 people working in 256 companies in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail and Knowledge. This model is also prominent in Italy and other countries in Europe. The story in the US has been not so strong.
Research by Richard Freeman, Henry Hansmann, Douglas Kruse, John Pencavel, Louis Putterman, Richard Wolff, and others have validated much of the "economic sense" of worker coops it is time to leverage that knowledge and take a new path towards economic prosperity.
Maybe worker-owned and -managed companies, have more complex goals than maximizing profit, and are less growth-oriented than other companies but they have proven to be more stable and self sufficient in tough times.. When the times get tough, the tough form co-ops.
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