Private Ownership

The Economics Lesson Taught By The Pandemic

January 26, 2021 Democracy at Work, ROAR Magazine. Resistance Report COVID-19, Finance and the Economy, Private Ownership, Worker Ownership

On this week’s show, Professor Wolff explains that in countries where the government is respected and empowered, such as New Zealand, Taiwan and Cuba, among others, the COVID-19 pandemic has been effectively contained. Alternately, where the government is demonized, disrespected and distrusted, such as in the UK and the US, the pandemic has been devastating. Prof. Wolff argues that a rational economy includes both private businesses (regulated by the government to different degrees) and state-owned and operated enterprises, depending on which performs best to meet the needs of society. Moreover, besides the question who owns certain enterprises, the way in which they are internally organized (hierarchically or horizontally / worker-owned) is equally important.

Nordic Countries Show State Ownership Works

July 25, 2018 Matt Bruenig, Peoplespolicyproject.org Educate! Nationalism, Private Ownership, Revisionism

Neal Meyer has a piece at Jacobin where he seeks to define the phrase “democratic socialism.” I had a similar post in late June here at People’s Policy Project. Overall, Meyer’s piece is fine as far as these things go. But there is a turning point in the essay in which he attempts to distinguish “social democracy” from “democratic socialism” where he makes clearly false factual claims that really need to be corrected if we want to have a serious discussion about this idea. Here’s Meyer: In rare instances — usually following massive wars and economic crises — progressive governments have been able to win victories. The Scandinavian countries are what we call “social democracies,” societies with robust social safety nets and labor movements that check the worst tendencies of capitalism and limit the power of the wealthy in key ways.

The Cooperative Hostile Takeover

February 8, 2018 Mike Leung, Geo.coop Create! Cooperatives, Private Ownership, Workers

The routes through which workers typically gain ownership and control of their businesses are tightly constrained because they either require the consent of the owners or require the workers to start their own business. This paper proposes ways in which worker ownership and workplace democracy can be achieved on a broader scale through the restructuring of existing companies without the owners’ consent. This could drastically expand the scenarios in which employees of a business can achieve ownership and control and increase the formation of worker cooperatives. There are several ways workers can acquire an ownership stake in their business, short of a full conversions to a worker cooperative. Shares of the business can be purchased by the employees directly, though this is limited to a small segment of the workforce with investable assets.

What Happens When Wall Street Becomes Your Landlord?

January 27, 2018 By Negin Owliaei, Inequality.org Educate! Land, New Economy, Private Ownership, Wall Street

When José Rivera moved into his house, he thought he was on the path to home ownership. But after several years and more than $90,000 in rent, he can’t even get his landlord to fix the broken pipe that leaked raw sewage into his home. Rivera’s landlord is Colony Starwood Homes, a rental giant backed by Wall Street investment firms. When he first told the company about his leaky pipe, they cleaned the carpet, but left the sewage issue alone. When the pipe leaked again, Rivera filed another complaint — and five days later, he received a notice to vacate. Rivera is just one of the many renters highlighted in a just-released report looking at the new face of financialization in the housing market. The report is authored by three consumer advocacy and housing rights groups — the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Americans for Financial Reform, and Public Advocates.

Now Available: 2017 Workers To Owners Impact Report

November 22, 2017 Staff, institute.coop Create! New Economy, Ownership, Private Ownership

By Staff of Democracy At Work Institute - “The collaborative came together in 2016 to respond to a moment of generational opportunity. In the next 15 years, hundreds of thousands of businesses employing millions of people will be sold, consolidated or closed as Baby Boomer business owners retire. Our goal is to ensure the safety of these community economic anchors and local jobs, and to catalyze a wave of business conversions to cooperative employee ownership, which has been proven to increase equity in our most vulnerable communities” says Democracy at Work Institute Executive Director Melissa Hoover. This report shows tangible outcomes of the worker cooperative model, including growing press coverage, interest from minority business support organizations, implementation by the economic development community, and policy support at federal, state, and regional levels. The data contained in this report includes the latest data available, with the majority of information through Q2 of 2017 and select information we have collected from Q3 2017. Throughout the report we see a coordinated, strategic effort that, even in its short life, has moved the dial on employee ownership conversions, raising awareness and enlisting partners. The report points toward a promising future, prompting a greater investment of time and resources paired with a close eye on trends and deeper analysis.

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