> Like you, though, I wonder how individuals and family members can
> exploit themselves if they're sharing in the profits or, at least, are
> likely to do so.
This reminds me of the question of worker-managed cooperatives. I helped to organize a print shop of this type in the '70s. It lasted for a few years, but the frustrating thing was that it took at least a year to train people to be reasonably productive, at which point they tended to quit because they got tired of it, or for other reasons. We paid ourselves about $30/week, which astonishes me, looking back on it, because although I had no family then, I was supporting a VW bus. :-) We also lived communally, which cut down on our expenses. But I suppose this could be called self-exploitation, or perhaps voluntary poverty, since we could have done much better financially even at a non-union shop, if earning money were our purpose. But it was a kind of political experiment, as far as we were concerned.
Too bad the worker-managed idea hasn't gone very far. I guess Mondragon is still going in Spain, but I don't know how "pure" it is at this point. There are a few examples in the U.S., too, but admittedly there are many obstacles in the way of its becoming a real movement.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________ "...So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men." -- Voltaire