[lbo-talk] Worker-Owners of America, Unite!

[Chris Sturr]

I think what is especially noteworthy (and maybe this is why Woj posted
this) is that the lead op-ed in the NYT yesterday was by someone who is
promoting the new edition of his book called "America Beyond Capitalism." I
think that speaks volumes about the current political moment--I find it
exciting.  (Disclosure:  Dollars & Sense co-published the new
edition--another reason I was excited about this op-ed!) Gar is a smart and
serious guy with very interesting ideas.  Check out the video of the book
launch event he had in Boston a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3l4PtC7iTA. It's the first of three videos.
I think people will find it worth watching. He's an engaging and compelling
speaker, with ideas worth grappling with even if you disagree with the
particular vision he has (which does have some communitarian elements).


>
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/opinion/worker-owners-of-america-unite.html
> >
> > "But at another level, something different has been quietly brewing in
> > recent decades: more and more Americans are involved in co-ops,
> > worker-owned companies and other alternatives to the traditional
> > capitalist model. We may, in fact, be moving toward a hybrid system,
> > something different from both traditional capitalism and socialism,
> > without anyone even noticing."
> >
> > "And while the American public has long supported the capitalist
> > model, that, too, may be changing. In 2009 a Rasmussen poll reported
> > that Americans under 30 years old were ?essentially evenly divided? as
> > to whether they preferred ?capitalism? or ?socialism.?
> >
> > Wojtek
> >
> > ___________________________________
> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> >
>
>
> "hybrid system"? That brief piece reads like liberalism with a few Fabian
> gestures, though I imagine next to David Brooks and Thomas Friedman it
> reads like, well, anything else. I note that "Some 130 million Americans,
> for example, now participate in the ownership of co-op businesses" has "and
> credit unions" appended to it, and considering that many co-ops simply
> require a buy-in, I think that this more constitutes local and regional
> 'communitarianism' or something like that. "More than 13 million Americans
> have become worker-owners of more than 11,000 employee-owned companies, six
> million more than belong to private-sector unions" reads far more honestly
> to me, since 13 million is not exactly huge. That said, it is still early
> and I'm glad to hear that "don't trust anyone under 30" has been reversed.

-- 
-- 
Chris Sturr
Co-editor, Dollars & Sense
29 Winter St.
Boston, Mass. 02108
phone:  617-447-2177, ext. 205
fax:    617-447-2179
email:  sturr at dollarsandsense.org