Inalienist

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worker co-ops worker co-ops worker co-ops worker co-ops worker co-ops worker co-ops worker co-ops

Worker coops do fight selling of labor because a worker coop is an instance of joint self-employment

Capitalism isn't natural. It is particular institutional choice. There are other choices that could have been made.

he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.” — Abraham Lincoln

Capitalism in economic theory capital: I get the part of the product my capital contributes labor: I get the part of the product I contribute Capitalism's property rights in reality Employer: I get 100% ownership of the whole product (Q, -K, -L) Labor: I have 0% claim on the whole product

Comparing property rights reveals a starker contrast than wages, as workers as employees receive 0% claim to what they produce

“We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as

Actual democracy would include democracy in the workplace, which capitalism tries to kill at every angle.

David Ellerman

Take the economic democracy pill
www.pbs.org/newshour/eco...

Unionized worker coops > worker coops > unions in employer-employee firms

imo democracy in society is easier to exercise when you have democracy in the workplace, because like anything else, it's easier when you understand a process on a fundamental and personal level to exercise it elsewhere

YouTube video by Inalienist What if every company was a democratic worker co-op? Exploring economic democracy ⚖️

Economic democracy is an alternative system that could work.
youtube.com/shorts/o2aQ3...

Carl Christ, an economist, testified to Congress the following:
"Now it is time to state the conditions under which private property and free contract will lead to an optimal allocation of resources.... The institution of private property and free contract as we know it is modified to

Liberal paradox - Wikipedia

It has also been shown in social choice theory that a social order that enforces Pareto efficiency is incompatible with freedom: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal...

permit individuals to sell or mortgage their persons in return for present and/or future
benefits."
Pareto efficiency requires full labor futures markets, which implies legalizing slavery.

A notion of efficiency that implies slavery should give us pause.

Carl Christ, an economist, testified to Congress the following:
"Now it is time to state the conditions under which private property and free contract will lead to an optimal allocation of resources.... The institution of private property and free contract as we know it is modified to

The Democratic Firm by David Ellerman discusses some aspects of legal structure that are important to get right to have good incentives. David Ellerman has experience with worker cooperatives.
www.ellerman.org/wp-content/u...

How is a system where all firms mandated to be worker coops capitalism? I'm arguing against employer-employee contracts. I'm making the stronger claim that employer-employee contract is invalid even if the employees have an advantage and the employer is the worse off party.

Institutions Involuntary institutions Political: Autocracy Economic: Slavery and feudalism Voluntary institutions Voluntary alienist insittutions Political: Constitutional Non-democracy Economic: Employment system Voluntary delegate institutions Political: Constitutional democracy Economic: Workplace democracy

The same inalienable rights arguments imply both as David Ellerman's philosophy illustrates

Yes, if all firms were worker cooperatives, the economy would be democratic. Capitalism is a misnomer. The institution that determines capitalist property and labor relations isn’t private ownership of the means of production, but rather the employer-employee contract.
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Economic democracy is obviously *required* to sustain a political one, because without it the people with the money will constantly try to destroy political democracy.

Americans support workplace democracy
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Rethinking Common vs. Private Property The purpose of this paper is to suggest a rethinking of the common-versus-private framing of the property rights issue in the Commons Movement. The underlying normative principle we will use is simply...

There are left-wing anti-capitalist Georgists.

www.ellerman.org/rethinking-c...

my favorite is when they actually bore into the logic behind their own existential fear a little and reveal that the ‘collapse of democracy’ they fear is leftist policies will prove too popular so people will never elect rightwingers again

Their ownership of capital is fine because, if worker coop structure is enforced, all property will trace back to a just labor-based appropriation.

The “Ownership of the Firm” is a Myth (1975) This paper was originally published in a journal: Ellerman, David. 1975. “The ‘Ownership of the Firm’ Is a Myth.” Administration and Society 7 (1 May): 27–42, and then we immediately reprinted in a co...

A firm democratically controlled by the workers leasing capital from a third party is still a worker coop.
Ownership of the means of production doesn't determine the firm.
www.ellerman.org/the-ownershi...

The firm’s role is determined by the employer-employee contract, not private property. Capital ownership affects bargaining power, but employers don’t derive legal rights solely from capital ownership since capital can be leased out like labor can be hired in.

I'm aware of private vs personal distinction Marxists try to make, but I'm legitimately endorsing full private property. A worker coop could rent means of production from a third party. If socialism is anything, it is the abolition of private property, so a market economy of co-ops isn't socialism

An employer and employee cooperate to commit a crime and get caught. Both are held responsible for the crime. An employer and employee cooperate to engage in non-criminal production, and the employer gets sole legal responsibility over property rights and liabilities created in production.

Worker control is compatible with private property in the means of production. It's based on the private property norm that people have an inalienable right to appropriate the positive and negative fruits of their labor. For instance, a worker coop can lease means of production from third parties.

YouTube video by Thought Bat Why Utilitarianism is Wrong

Why Utilitarianism is Wrong

#Ethics #Philosophy #Utilitarianism #Utilitarian

youtu.be/WfcUJ40JK74

Love to see every single private equity/asset management company expropriated, the businesses it owns converted to worker co-ops, shares handed over to worker collectives in the relevant firms, and real estate turned over to local land trusts managed by the residents.