jlou

joined 1 year ago
 

A moral argument for why all firms should be employee-owned - "Inalienable Right: Part 1 The Basic Argument"

https://www.ellerman.org/inalienable-rights-part-i-the-basic-argument/

@general

[–] jlou@mastodon.social -1 points 2 months ago

The ideology is often implicit in how the model is explained. For example, 2 simple facts that go unmentioned.

  1. Only persons can be responsible for anything. Things, no matter how causally efficacious, can't be responsible for what is done with them
  2. The employer receives 100% of the property rights for the produced outputs and liabilities for the used-up inputs. The workers qua employees get 0% legal claim on that. This fact is obfuscated using the pie metaphor

@science_memes

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 2 months ago

I would recommend checking out David Ellerman. He shows that workers get 0% the property rights to what they produce positive and negative violating the principle that legal and de facto responsibility should match @sciencememes

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Marx ≠ anti-capitalism

There are other modern anti-capitalist argument derived from the classical laborists such as Proudhon.

Markets ≠ capitalism

In postcapitalism, we can use markets where appropriate. We have practical examples of non-capitalist firms with worker coops and 100% ESOPs.

There are theoretical mechanisms for collective ownership that can be shown to be efficient like COST.

There are theoretical non-market democratic public goods funding mechanisms

@science_memes

[–] jlou@mastodon.social -3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Economics treats metaphors as deep truths while treating simple facts as superficial. An example of this is in presentations of MP theory where the pie metaphor is emphasized while the actual structure of property rights and liabilities is ignored and obfuscated @science_memes

[–] jlou@mastodon.social -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Sure, in theory, that is what it should be about. In practice, many economists bias the theories they develop to make sure the conclude in favor of their own ideological biases. Often, metaphors are treated as deep truths while simple facts are treated as superficial and ignored or even obfuscated due to their ideological implications if they were plainly stated @science_memes

 

AI, Guaranteed Income, and the “Which Way Is Up?” Problem Afflicting Our Elites

https://cepr.net/ai-guaranteed-income-and-the-which-way-is-up-problem-afflicting-our-elites/

@politics

 

Capital Has No Borders—Why Should We?

Precarious immigration status creates an exploitable labor force, allowing bosses to drive down wages for everyone. Inside the labor case for open borders:

https://inthesetimes.com/article/capital-open-borders-immigration-labor-exploitation-migrant-crisis-urban-citizenship

@politics

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Capitalism's defining institutions are

  1. The employer-employee contract
  2. Private ownership of the means of production
  3. Private property in land

The alternative to capitalism I propose, Georgist economic democracy, abolishes 1 and 3. 2 continues formally but there is widespread collective ownership of the means of production. Markets continue to exist to help coordinate production and allocate resources. Many defenders of capitalism incorrectly conflate capitalism with markets @general

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

What do you mean by capitalism? @general

 

Take it from a former banker: the budget is for ordinary people. The mega-rich look on and laugh - Gary Stevenson

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/05/banker-budget-mega-rich-traders-jeremy-hunt

@politics

 

The case for liberal anti-capitalism in the 21st century

https://aeon.co/essays/the-case-for-liberal-socialism-in-the-21st-century

The most powerful critiques of capitalism are actually liberal critiques in that they appeal to the liberal principles that defenders of capitalism invoke, but show that capitalism does not in fact satisfy them even in the ideal case.

@general

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Dialetheism is the view that some contradictions (i.e. p and not-p) are true. The argument for this is based on the liar's paradox:

This sentence is false.

If you follow the logic through, you get the conclusion that it is both true and false. It requires some changes to Frege-Russell-style classical logic to be coherent, but it allows one to solve almost all paradoxes in one philosophical move. For example, you can have naive set comprehension principles

 

How capitalism violates the most boring and obvious principle of justice and treats people like things - "Inalienable Rights: Part I The Basic Argument"

https://www.ellerman.org/inalienable-rights-part-i-the-basic-argument/

Capitalism violates the principle that legal and de facto responsibility should match in the employer-employee contract.

@aboringdystopia

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago

Perhaps, but there isn't a good reason to place such a restriction on worker co-ops. Worker co-ops shouldn't be forced to buy the entire thing when a segment of its services would do.

Liberals as a group tend to support capitalism. Liberalism as a political philosophy can have implications that claimed adherents don't endorse. After mapping out all the logical implications of liberal principles, it becomes clear that coherent liberalism is anti-capitalist @asklemmy

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Worker co-ops don't necessarily have full worker ownership of the means of production because a worker coop can lease means of production from a third party. It is not socialist. Nor do I mean to suggest it is capitalist. It can't be capitalism as it has no capitalists as you correctly point out. Since you recognize that it is technically correct to say a worker co-op market economy has private property, you recognize

Capitalism ≠ private property @asklemmy

[–] jlou@mastodon.social 1 points 7 months ago (5 children)

When I said capitalists there I meant liberal defenders of capitalism.

A market economy of worker coops has private property, so can't be socialist. Market socialism is a misnomer and unnecessarily associates with a label people already have preconceived notions about @asklemmy

 

"Inalienable Rights: Part I The Basic Argument" Against the Employer-Employee System and for Workers' Self-Management

https://www.ellerman.org/inalienable-rights-part-i-the-basic-argument/

This article discusses how the contemporary system of labor relations treats employees as things rather than persons thus denying their humanity, and violating rights they have because of their personhood. Instead, work should be democratically controlled by the people doing it

@leftism

 

The Power of Land: Georgism 101

https://youtu.be/smi_iIoKybg

Discusses importance of common ownership of land and natural resources

@leftism

 

Fighting Billionaires’ Control of the Media, Individual News Vouchers

https://cepr.net/fighting-billionaires-control-of-the-media-individual-news-vouchers/

@leftism

 
view more: next ›