Ch. 18 A New System A New Paradigm
The objective of Part 2 of this book is to show how we can create a new cooperative economic system in this country. But we can't just wave a magic wand and it's not going to happen overnight. Its a multi-step process which we will explore in the next few chapters.
First let's review what we've discussed so far by doing a brief comparison of our current system to our new proposed system.
Our current Neo-liberal Capitalist System
- Purpose: Economic Extractionism
- Inherent conflict between owners and workers
- Workers have no ownership or voice
- System is coercive, forcing the majority of workers to engage daily in tasks that they often don't enjoy and that frequently make the world worse
- Wages kept low to maximize profits
- Competition
- Business entities have no responsibility for equality, workers rights, or environmental impact
- Costs of environmental clean-up, healthcare, retirement, and even basic needs such as food are externalized and paid for through tax-funded programs
- Essential services such as banking, insurance, employment, and education are outsourced to other for-profit enterprises where working class wealth is further extracted
- Leads to extreme economic and social inequality as well as ecological disaster
New Cooperative Economic System
- Purpose: Community Wealth Building
- Workers are owners
- Workers have a democratic say over all aspects of the business
- System is voluntary and workers are given the opportunity to contribute their unique talents and gifts to a likeminded community
- Equitable living wage for all workers. Pay ratio no more than 6 to 1 from highest to lowest paid worker
- Open collaboration and cooperation
- Cooperatives take full responsibility for equal workers rights and environmental impact
- Cooperatives bear the costs and responsibility for environmental impact and the care of all workers
- Essential services such as banking, insurance, employment, and education are provided by non-profit cooperatives at fair prices. Stakeholders have a democratic say in how these services are rendered.
- Leads to prosperity for all, community engagement, and the healing of the planet
A New Paradigm For Wealth and Success
The old system says that he who hoards the most wealth is the winner, but we are seeing the results of that paradigm.
The new paradigm looks more like every worker being given the opportunity to contribute their own talents, skills, and passions while receiving a living wage. As businesses grow, so do workers pensions, as well as their access to fairly-priced services such as banking, insurance, etc. With these basic needs taken care of, workers are freed from the stress and anxiety of subsistence living and able to connect with their larger community and to be more civically engaged. Thus the democratic power that they enjoy in the workplace is expanded to the larger world.
We need to collectively redefine what wealth means to us.
Real wealth means community wealth.
Real wealth means human flourishing.
Real wealth means that a rising tide truly does lift all boats.
Two white men possessing more riches than 150 million of their fellow citizens is not true wealth. It is exploitation and the hoarding of resources that can only be classified as a psychological disorder.
We can change our way of thinking about economics and wealth.
We can change our culture.
As a reminder, Culture = Beliefs + Values + Behavior.
In the last few chapters, we have begun to question our beliefs about the purpose and outcomes of our current system. We are beginning to understand what a new cooperative economic system might look like, but we still haven't talked about what it takes to get from here to there.
In the next few chapters, we are going to inquire into what we collectively value and how we can create a parallel society which will reflect those values and begin to shift the culture around us.
Our current liberal neo-racist system lost near the beginning. Eliminate the apostrophe on “workers.” Workers is used as a plural, not a possesive
ReplyDeleteSame bullet point group as above, bullet point second to bottom. Eliminate comma between the words “Enterprises and where” it’s not required and turns this into a run-on sentence
ReplyDeleteLast bullet point first set. What’s with the colon followed by a Capitalized word? It’s not congruent with the rest of the writing style in your list. Eliminate colon and do not capitalize “prosperity”
ReplyDeleteLast bullet in second list. Eliminate colon and use smaller case for following word. Imo eye, it flows better
ReplyDeleteDemocratic socialism. I don’t think MAGA numb nuts will read this. They’re afraid of the word because they don’t understand it. So far, it’s brilliant!
ReplyDelete