The basic purposes of all economic activity including investments, creativity, innovation, production, services and hard work, are to make living, and improve lives and living. Of course, there is no end to these endeavors. You need money, power, skills, knowledge, education and organization to achieve these goals. All of these resources are endless. None of these are never enough to grow and improve your life. So, what started with a little concerted, joint effort to benefit everyone involved, soon turns into the exploitation of each other. Person with most money tries to buy everyone else, to make even more money. Person with most power tries to control everyone else, to gain even more power.
Creators, innovators and inventors try to reap all the benefits of their work, all by themselves. People with education and knowledge try to manipulate it to their own benefits. What doesn’t change here is the fact that it was the incentive to make more money and generate more wealth which brought them together and incentivized to work together, produce, market, sell, and generate revenue and profits. Since, together, they were successful in achieving the basic motives behind their activities, it is sure that there is nothing wrong with basic idea. The problems originating later with distribution of power and wealth among the contributors and partners, must be the result of some other anomaly in overall operations.
If the basic idea is correct and original goals are achieved, just not in the way those were supposed to be then the problem is not with original idea. The problem is with the way activity is organized. So, the organizational structure requires a serious reconsideration and evaluation. Typical organizational structure in contemporary form of Capitalism is called a business or corporation. All businesses and corporations under current setup are organized, and supported by law, based on certain assumptions. For example, the assumptions are that the financier or banker is supposed to receive interest at an agreed rate, regardless of what happens. Government has a sovereign authority to legislate and enforce laws and regulations controlling business activity.
The person who got money from financier and invested it in business has the sole rights to the ownership of this business, and no one else can have this right, regardless of anything, in most cases. People who create, innovate and invent can bar everyone else from producing their product to boost up the profits and reap the benefits of their inventions. Only managers appointed by owners can have authority and power, and no one else. Workers are supposed to work at an agreed rate of wages, and follow all the rules and regulations set up by owners and managers.
Workers job is basically to shut up, follow orders and work. These assumptions are in our blood, this is what we are told, educated and trained about. Our minds almost never question these assumptions. We accept these, very much like divine rights. But, whatever is going on in the world, right now, as it is being increasingly engulfed by crony Capitalism, requires us to question and re-consider these assumptions.
Let us consider the first and foremost assumption in a business organization. It is, “the people with money own it.” This means that the largest proportion of wealth and money generated by this particular business activity will go the people who already have money. No doubt that profits are the biggest motive in risking their capital, but, what could be wrong with sharing these profits with other people involved in generation of money and wealth. For example, 1/6 of profits go to workers, 2/6 to managers and 3/6 to owners. Since, managers and workers will now be sharing profits, they will have lot more interest in working harder, contribute more, and be more innovative and productive, benefitting everyone involved in activity including buyers and consumers.
Since, workers now have profit motive, too, why can’t the authority and power be shared with them, as well. Bring Democracy to workplace. Let workers elect their managers and involve them in decision making. This will end tyranny at workplaces. Much better results can be obtained through this process, and new organizational structure. Banks can also be offered to share profits instead of charging a fixed interest rate. This profit motive will bring in valuable business expertise from banks while banks can have a potential to make lot more, in long run.
Let us modify the patent laws. Instead of providing monopoly to patent owner, allow everyone to manufacture the new product, as long as they pay a set share of profits to patent owners. This will revolutionize the new products and services markets, stabilizing the prices and benefitting the patent owners, businesses, workers and consumers, at the same time. The sales of good, patented products, in this way, can quickly capture a global market, bringing in far more revenue and profits. Worker ownership will also ensure the guaranteed satisfaction of other common concerns like environment, health and safety.
Now, the most important thing. Since, the businesses are now virtually owned by workers which means almost entire population because anyone who works, owns a business, government will have absolutely no need to regulate businesses. Government represents people, and people own businesses. So, there is no need for people to regulate something owned by themselves. This will effectively end all cronyism practiced by corrupt governments. The markets will be truly free, run purely by supply and demand.
For the prospects of a better world, although it hard, we all have to learn and master a basic lesson we teach to our children. Share! As long as we are trying to manipulate and exploit each other, instead of sharing with each other, world can never be a safe and peaceful place. We gave the power of self-determination to world, commonly known as voting which was necessarily meant to share authority and power with everyone else. Now, we must lead the world in providing all human beings the right to own the means of production and have a better life for the themselves and their families.
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