Economic Democracy
Democracy Realized
In worker self-directed enterprises (WSDEs), workers democratically run the affairs of the enterprise. They make the decisions whose consequences shape their lives. Their job descriptions require them to perform some specific tasks within the enterprise’s division of labor, but their job descriptions also obligate their participation in directing the enterprise. To perform their specific tasks, workers in WSDEs must learn how to do the required work, must be trained and educated, first in schools before employment and afterwards on the job as well.Income Inequality
In the United States as in many other capitalist countries, recent decades have seen a growing distance between higher and lower personal incomes. Income inequality and poverty levels have risen. Occasionally defended as necessary, natural, and even desirable by some, most citizens have expressed more or less dismay and opposition to ever-greater personal income inequality. They see that inequality as helping to cause the severe global crisis since 2007. They believe that it strains the implicit social compacts holding contemporary capitalist societies together.Revolution for Income Equality (blog)
The transitions from feudalism and other pre-capitalist economic systems to modern capitalism have always and everywhere been celebrated for bringing a new epoch of human history. Freedom, democracy, and equality were the hallmarks of those celebrations. The French Revolution of 1789 raised the slogan of liberte, egalite, fraternite. The US has long celebrated its capitalism for producing a vast “middle class” that permanently overcame previous societies’ tendencies toward extreme inequalities of wealth and income.Is There an Alternative for Capitalist Economics and Politics? Richard Wolff Says Yes
This article originally appeared on truth-out.org "Imagine a country where the majority of the population reaps the majority of the benefits for their hard work, creative ingenuity and collaborative efforts. Imagine a country where corporate losses aren't socialized, while gains are captured by an exclusive minority. Imagine a country run as a democracy, from the bottom up, not a plutocracy from the top down.Economic Update: "Our Unjust Federal Tax System"
Published on January 6, 2013AUDIOUpdates on how the new US tax deal favors the rich, deepening student loan problems, and how 2012 benefited billionaires. Analysis of possible conversion from a war-oriented to a peace-oriented economy. Response to listener question on using workers' pension funds to change corporate behaviors. On Economic Update with Professor Richard Wolff, Wolff and guests will discuss the current state of the economy, both locally and globally in relation to the economic crisis.Has Capitalism Proven Its Durability?
We ask if falling US unemployment rates and increased profits for large companies show capitalism can adapt and endure.Published on January 4, 2013VIDEOoriginally appeared on Al Jazeera's Inside Story
As unemployment in the US decreases and large companies expand their profit margins, has the capitalist system once and for all proven its ability to endure and adapt?
The jobless rate in the US has dropped to its lowest level in four years. And the economy, which in 2008 appeared to be on the brink of collapse, is said to be recovering.
What the next economy should look like, the value of growth, the intellectual property battles
We’ll discuss what the next phase of the economy should look like after the recovery is over. We’ll debate the value of growth — whether raw economic growth is, in itself, a good thing, or whether a happy, sustainable future with broad prosperity for all is possible without constant growth. And we’ll examine the major battles in Silicon Valley over intellectual property, likely to be one of the bulwarks of the next economy.
Joining Chris at 8 AM ET on MSNBC will be:
The Work Experience: WSDEs vs Capitalism (Blog)
In capitalist enterprises across the US, when the working day ends and employees return to their homes, many stop at bars along the way. Signs invite them in for a “Happy Hour” of drinking. The implication is that the previous hours – working – are the day’s unhappy hours. Similarly, current mainstream academic economics (“neoclassical economics”) ascribes “disutility” to labor, an absolute and universal characteristic of labor per se.
