Saturday 29 June 2019

Supplanting Capitalism With Democratic Economy

Something which the 2008 crash and the right wing ideology of austerity and cuts has underlined is that Capitalism is a failed economic strategy producing wage stagnation, in-work poverty, inequality, banking crises, the rise of populism and an ever impending economic catastrophe.
At last year’s Conservative conference, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, admitted that in the west: 'Too many people feel that the system is not working for them' but the left have only been advocating Socialism for decades and we had a taste of it under Tony Blair's New Labour until he imploded on the Iraq War issue which sucked the air out of all the genuine, and successful, achievements he
imposed on improving inequality on Society.
Despite Capitalism’s cruelties being ruthlessly exposed, the left has not been able to fundamentally change how wealth functions in society, leaving Capitalism with it's privatisation, deregulation, drip down, lower taxes for business and the rich, more power for employers and shareholders to shut down any argument with the shout that there is not an alternative.
They mischievously managed to merge Socialism with Communism which they linked to Soviet Union policies and shut down any debate and anyone arguing that Capitalism should be reined in.
As those most profiting from Capitalism are the same people who back it, it is hardly surprising that the left have been unable to break through but with a dawning recognition that a new kind of fairer, more inclusive, less exploitative, less destructive of society and the planet economy is needed, the left have seized the opportunity to put forward 'The Democratic Economy'.
The new left wing economics, a branch from the ideals of Socialism, put forward by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the New Economics Foundation (NEF) wants to see 'an economy that makes society, rather than a society that is made by the economy' and in short 'shift decision making power to workers, customers, suppliers, neighbours and the broader public to ensure a more equal model that puts society and it's people before profit, growth and shareholders'.
The idea is to dismantle and displace corporate and financial power in Britain in favour of the less privileged by requiring companies to give their employees shares and to create an 'inclusive ownership' policy which would see inserting into a company’s ownership structure a group of employees with a say in how profits are distributed and wages, hours and employment and working conditions are implemented, workers managing themselves, rather than submit to employers or shareholders.
With Capitalism less effective and more unpopular than it has ever been and many voters unwilling, or unable, to pay much more tax, with living standards squeezed under Capitalism and society in one of the worst, and most unequal, states in several lifetimes, the idea that an economic idea that puts social before commercial goals is a worthy one.
The push should now be to explain that profit and growth are not the economic outcomes that matter, that other values should matter more from now on and Capitalism has failed, just look around you at the ashamedly busy food banks and the homeless sheltering in the town centres to see that, and there is a new economic idea in town.

10 comments:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

IT IS NOT FAILED. IT IS FLAWED. EVERY ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS FLAWED. BUT CAPITALISM IS THE SYSTEM THAT HAS MOVED THE WORLD FORWARD MORE ON ALL FRONTS IN 200 YEARS THAN IN THE PRIOR HISTORY OF HUMANITY.

Read some freaking world history (try Wil and Ariel Durant) and one real economics book (Man, State, and Economy).

PLEASE

if you are so "open minded" as you boast, then there is no reason to ignore...

Falling on a bruise said...

Bit shouty. Anyway, it has failed because it is not proving to do what it set out to do, it is increasing inequality and concentrating finances in the hands of a few and it falls over regularly and creates massive economic harm on it's users when it does. On top of that it drives the mantra that making money is the be all and end all.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

Who said the goal was to create equality?
Capitalism is intended to reward people that offer others value...

why should lazy, risk averse, and stupid people have as good a life as active, risk managing, smart people?

we are all born with rights, but privileges have to be earned...
- you have the right to be lazy or active, but there is a consequence
- you have the right to take risk or to avoid risk, but consequences exist
- you have the right to learn or be ignorant, consequences...

when you:
disparage money in one sentence,
then gripe about the inequality of it in another sentence,
then say it doesn't matter in another sentence

you seem confused... if it isn't important then why is it one of your main topics for the past 10 years?

Falling on a bruise said...

I admit to being confused about the part where you see me say it doesn't matter.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

"On top of that it drives the mantra that making money is the be all and end all.

your point was that equality is more important than wealth. No?

Falling on a bruise said...

No, the point was that making money should not be the most important and only thing.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

ok, fair enough. I agree.

now stopping whining about economic disparities...

Falling on a bruise said...

If we stop whining then things will just get worse so nope, never going to stop.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

well, you've been whining since we crossed blogging paths, and the left has dominated american politics and government most of my life and things just keep getting worse. the leftist controlled cities in america have the worst problems (chicago, LA, san francisco, detroit, washington dc...). when do things get better if you are a leftist?

oh yeah, when everybody is equal...

Falling on a bruise said...

Yeah, everybody including blacks, gays, women etc etc