The Model for An Economy by The People
We need to take back our country, not only politically but also economically by going into partnership with the workers of America, which is to say that we are going into business with ourselves. We will all become entrepreneurs in a system where inspiration and new ideas and the potential for leadership circulates through the whole body politic and can be found everywhere and anywhere along with the means to implement our hopes and dream for our economy.
Any or all of our goals for our economy can originate at any and all levels of government, (1) by citizen initiatives (2) by referendums (3) by entrepreneurs or groups of entrepreneurs and workers proposing new businesses directly to planning boards or to the people directly through the initiative process. (4) by recommendations and proposals from research centers and by research centers that are networked with the planning boards, legislatures, and the businesses that are part of our network of economic democracies. Through this system of direct economic democracy, we will create new enterprises, industries, and services, restore and revitalize the old, produce new products, create new technologies, and invest in pure science and research that will open new horizons of discovery. Quite simply, we are going to make life better for everyone.
In the workplace democracies that we will be creating, the citizen investors will elect half the members of the board of directors of the businesses that they create, and the workers will elect the other half of the board. Collectively, the workers and the citizen investors will elect the CEO and the head of the board of directors, and the CEO will select their management staff with the approval of the board. The CEO, board of directors the management staff, and the workers in cooperation and coordination with one another are responsible for the organization of the workplace, discipline, hiring and firing policies, what to produce, how to produce it, where and how much to produce, and the salaries to be paid. The workers and the citizen investors not only elect their representatives to the board of directors. They also participate directly in the management of the enterprise through the instrumentality of the initiative, referendum, and recall processes where they can initiate, challenge and reverse decisions made by the CEO and the board of directors. They also have the power through the recall process to remove the CEO, any member of the board of directors and the management staff. At quarterly intervals, a general assembly will be called where the workers, the board of directors, the CEO, the management staff, and citizen investors can meet, discuss and debate issues, present propositions as initiatives by the workers or citizen investors or referendums by the CEO, and/or the board, the management staff, and the legislature. The meetings will be open to the public, and broadcasted through a nationwide communications network called, The People’s Business.
So, what do we do about the profits? The citizen investors and the workers share equally in the net profit after the cost of salaries, operational expenses, liabilities, and investment in new products, services, and research, etc. are deducted. This is an important point. The citizen’s share of the profits does not go to government, they go directly into the citizen’s individual investment account. Or, in other words,
We Get the Money!
How Do We Transform the Existing Private Sector?
The first stage of the democratization of the private sector will be the implementation of codetermination. Similarly, to codetermination in Germany, corporations that employ over 2000 employees will be converted to corporations where half the board of directors is represented by labor and the other half by stockholders. However, unlike German codetermination, the head of the board of directors will not be selected by the stockholders. He or she will be elected by the board of directors.
The members of the board and the CEO are jointly responsible for monitoring firm operations, the crafting of strategic and tactical investments direction, holding management accountable to the board, and the ethical and legal structure established for the business. Like German codetermination, a worker’s council will meet with mid-level management regularly on issues like job evaluation, social and welfare provisions in case of mass layoffs, training, working conditions, worker’s health and safety, scheduling, and worker conduct on the job. As noted with Germany, codetermination, has resulted in more long-term planning, investment, higher wages, expansion of the high skilled labor sector, shorter work week, more expenditures on research and technology, and community responsibility. Unlike German codetermination, where the head of the board is elected by the stockholders, the head of the board in our system will be elected by a board where the workers are equally represented. Through this system the workers will not only have all the advantages of German codetermination, but they will also have more input into the management and policy decisions of the corporation, greater protection against hostile takeovers, and a more equitable share in the profits.
Phase two of our transformation of our economy to an economy by the people is the break up of the corporate Leviathans. Because of the magnitude of the task, the phase two breakup of the private sector Leviathans will have to be done in stages. On the top of our list of conglomerates that will need to be broken up and democratized are the media giants.
Global Corporate Media
These Leviathans cannot be allowed to control information, communications, and our dream world. We can’t allow the vampire capitalists who control these monsters to determine what we hear and see. We can’t allow them, in the name of profit, to turn every value that we cherish into a commodity to be bought and sold, or as Michael Eisner, the CEO of Walt Disney Co. says in defense of capitalism, “We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.” (McChesney)
The primary fear about who controls the mass media and our news networks is that either the government or, conversely, a dominate and powerful private interest group will control the media. In our system the media will reflect a broad-based representation of workers (which includes the profession journalist, producers, creative personnel, the management staff, the CEO, and the custodian, as well as the citizen consumers and citizen investors. In a workplace democracy all our civil liberties are alive and well here, including freedom of speech.
The End of the Cancerous Growth of Vampire Capitalism
Corporate global media is only one instance of the need to break up these global corporate Leviathans and the cancerous growth of vampire capitalism throughout the planet. We need to transform them into true economic democracies. Therefore, unlike phase one where we implemented codetermination, the stockholders in phase two will be bought out and issued non-voting bonds equivalent to the value of the stock. The bonds will pay out at acceptable interest rate by government bond standards until the original value of the bond is bought off. In the companies that are created by the breakup of these monsters, the employees will elect half the members of the board of directors and the citizen investors will elect the other half with the CEO and the head of the board of directors being elected by the board. The CEO will select their management staff with the approval of the board, and the workers and the citizen investors will directly participate in the management of the firm through the instrumentality of the initiative, referendum, and recall process. The question then becomes, in this economy by the people, how does capital as blood flow through the system?
The Flow of Blood That Nurtures All
In the economy by the people, we are going to eliminate the Federal Reserve System that only serves the rich. We will replace it with a nationalized and democratized banking system in which the blood will flow through the body politic and nourish all the body parts, all the cells and selves, each and every one of us. It will be an interest free banking system; and with the elimination of compound interest, we will surgically remove one of the main causes of the cancerous growth of capitalism and its need to continually grow, maximize profit, and spread throughout the globe.
The money that flows through the system will flow on a per capita basis to every region and locality in the country except for priority projects that will be determined democratically. An example of a priority project is a national plan to coordinate the transportation and energy industries and services to create a sustainable transportation and energy system that is totally devoid of dependency on fossil fuels and runs on renewable energy sources that will not pollute the environment. Another example of a priority program would be to direct investment of resources into areas that would be affected negatively by the transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy source, i.e., the coal regions of America that would need to be nourished to relieve the workers of the economic burden of a transformation of our economy that will benefit us all. This can be done through immediate financial relieve, retraining, and the creation of new industries where we the people will go into partnership with the displaced worker and create a new economy an vibrant communities.
In this system of economic democracy where the blood flows equitably on a per capita bases, we can expect national development to be more balanced. Communities will be more stable, and there will be more opportunities for our children to stay home and work where they live, and we will be more willing to invest in our community as a way of life. Also, as noted, through our system, we are more able to coordinate our efforts nationally and pour blood into projects that will save us all and come to the aid of fellow citizens and areas of our country in need of restoration and revival. We can do this because we are creating an economic and banking system that is an organic whole, and when you stick a pin anywhere in the system, we will all go, “Ouch.”
Cites:
1. McChesney, Robert W., The New Global Media; It’s a Small World of Big Conglomerates,
The Nation Magazine, November 29, 1999 http://www.hartfordhwp.com/archives/29/053.html
References
1. Tino, Marcello, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince, 2020
Illustrations
Illustration #24, What About Them? Now? Tino, Marcello and Andrea Dalla Bona, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince2020
Illustration #17, The Illusion of Choice, Tino, Marcello and Andrea Dalla Bona, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince2020
Illustration #10, The Leviathan, Tino, Marcello and Andrea Dalla Bona, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince 2020
Illustration #18, The Alchemy of Money, Tino, Marcello and Andrea Dalla Bona, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince2020
Author's Note - This the first in a series of excerpts on The Prelude To An Economy By The People. The excerpts will focus on the flaws of previous attempts at reform of the economic system. On our way to a new paradigm we will focus on (1) The New Deal, (2) Nationalization of the French economy during the Mitterrand Era. (3) German Codetermination, and The Mondragon Cooperative Network.
Author's Note - I have made Learn or Die: The New American Revolution available to you through Smashwords in a Freedom for Free Edition where you can pay what you want for the book or nothing at all. It is free. I'm doing this because after 50 years of research and study I believe I have found the way for all of us.
Comments