designing a post-capitalist economy
There are two dimensions to this: the inertial effect of the status quo & prevalent belief-systems is primary, and the creative collective endeavour of all who try to create a better world is secondary.
In respect of the primary dimension, we must accept human nature as it is - most people try to preserve the world they know. Even when the capitalist system crashes, the natural tendency is to wait for authorities to get it going again. Those who prefer to co-create a better world will only ever actually do so if they provide a positive alternative that is credible enough to persuade the others. Co-creators must collaborate to weave a synthesis of all the requisite design elements of an alternative economy. This process is a task for those with an intellect, which is why it hasn't happened yet - despite many useful and some vital texts on the topic having been authored by individuals. Only when such individuals agree upon a design and plan will collective progress be made.
The cult of individualism that afflicts our times developed from a prior cult of narcissism fostered by the capitalist system, and the key point is that individuals are free to choose. Socialist use of the state to limit freedom of choice alienated voters in all western countries and leftists keep failing to learn the lesson. The moral of this story is that an alternative economy will only happen by design if the right incentive-structures are included. People will only choose it if they can see that it is both viable and preferable!
Alternative-minded folk capable of operating as theoreticians must therefore have a grasp of how motivations link the individual psyche into a social context in which group psychodynamics form economic and political outcomes. You won't learn this at university. Most psychologists are clueless and the entire field of political psychology barely exists.
The key design element necessary is that which motivates people to work together for mutual-benefit results. Business uses money to do this, and the system has proven to be resilient for centuries, so capitalism endures despite crashing sometimes. Capitalist design minimises wealth-sharing by maximising profits to owners and operators of businesses. The system is designed to ensure that stake-holders benefit only to the extent that they rank in the hierarchy of the antique privilege system, so traditional treatment of employees as wage-slaves persists. The positive alternative that emerged several generations ago gives employees an equity share in the business, the profits, and the management (the Mondragon model). The steadfast refusal of the political left to choose this positive alternative to business as usual has always revealed their claim to be progressive as a sham, and their rejection of an economy based on fairness proves that they are using an immoral strategy of deceit. Radical centrists will endorse an alternative economy that incorporates stakeholder equity as the primary design principle.
In respect of the primary dimension, we must accept human nature as it is - most people try to preserve the world they know. Even when the capitalist system crashes, the natural tendency is to wait for authorities to get it going again. Those who prefer to co-create a better world will only ever actually do so if they provide a positive alternative that is credible enough to persuade the others. Co-creators must collaborate to weave a synthesis of all the requisite design elements of an alternative economy. This process is a task for those with an intellect, which is why it hasn't happened yet - despite many useful and some vital texts on the topic having been authored by individuals. Only when such individuals agree upon a design and plan will collective progress be made.
The cult of individualism that afflicts our times developed from a prior cult of narcissism fostered by the capitalist system, and the key point is that individuals are free to choose. Socialist use of the state to limit freedom of choice alienated voters in all western countries and leftists keep failing to learn the lesson. The moral of this story is that an alternative economy will only happen by design if the right incentive-structures are included. People will only choose it if they can see that it is both viable and preferable!
Alternative-minded folk capable of operating as theoreticians must therefore have a grasp of how motivations link the individual psyche into a social context in which group psychodynamics form economic and political outcomes. You won't learn this at university. Most psychologists are clueless and the entire field of political psychology barely exists.
The key design element necessary is that which motivates people to work together for mutual-benefit results. Business uses money to do this, and the system has proven to be resilient for centuries, so capitalism endures despite crashing sometimes. Capitalist design minimises wealth-sharing by maximising profits to owners and operators of businesses. The system is designed to ensure that stake-holders benefit only to the extent that they rank in the hierarchy of the antique privilege system, so traditional treatment of employees as wage-slaves persists. The positive alternative that emerged several generations ago gives employees an equity share in the business, the profits, and the management (the Mondragon model). The steadfast refusal of the political left to choose this positive alternative to business as usual has always revealed their claim to be progressive as a sham, and their rejection of an economy based on fairness proves that they are using an immoral strategy of deceit. Radical centrists will endorse an alternative economy that incorporates stakeholder equity as the primary design principle.
