Is there or should there be an economic system that is controlled by the work force?

I posted this as a question earlier, but realized it should be a discussion.

Lately, I have been looking at all different kinds of economic structures. I have not found any that are controlled by the work force. They are all some branch of capitalism or socialism ( basically run by the business owners or by the government) . I think that an economy controlled by it's work force would be very beneficial to all. Basically in America business and corporation are run by the business owner or CEO's. So what if they were instead ran by the people who are improving and sustaining the business (the work force)? It makes sense to me to run it this way, why should someone who founded the company or was appointed by a board of directors be in charge of it after it becomes a big business. Shouldn't The fate of the company and economy be controlled by the people who are contributing to it most? If I work harder at my corporate job and make the corporation more profits, I don't see any of it, so naturally you would think that gives me no incentive at all to work harder. I work at target and the CEO that almost brought the company to it's knee's was rewarded with a 42M dollar severance pay. So he is not effected at all by the bad decisions he makes , but i am. Is there an economic system that would be similar to this and if there isn't, why the hell not?Also if there are any major problems to this kind of system please point them out. Non-bias explanation/discussion please, i am not right or left. I don't care for capitalism or socialism neither work for America very well.

Romeo Fabulini

 

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REPLYWed 13 Aug, 2014 08:04 pm

I'm not a business/economics expert but I think some companies cut their workers in for a share of the profits or something, and/or get bonuses for hitting production quotas

1 Reply

 

AustinS

 

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REPLYWed 13 Aug, 2014 08:15 pm

@Romeo Fabulini,

I'm talking much higher scale, like turning business into a true democracy. All decisions made by a company. This isn't just about pay and profits. It's about job security, reasonable working conditions, etc. Basically a completely different economy. Since capitalism was founded on the idea of "hey you want to make some money? Well work really hard and start your business.". Well this idea does not work for us anymore it did at one point.

1 Reply

 

AustinS

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REPLYWed 13 Aug, 2014 08:45 pm

@AustinS,

Basically if you look at business like a government it would be a dictatorship or something close to that. The idea I am proposing is turning that around into a democracy. Then there are no big scandals, no nonexistent middle class, etc. I'll make an example, say this form of economy is in play. The work force at Walmart wants to make more money, so they know naturally they have to work harder, exchange ideas, all that stuff to make the company appeal more to the consumer. So every decision they make from there will effect them. Instead of the decision of one or a handful of people who's live aren't really effected if those decisions end positively or negatively. So this gives them incentive to improve the company and improve themselves at the same time so they have more to offer the company, thusly making the company and themselves more money. Also if the workers do a good job at appealing to more customers then that means the company can expand and create more jobs. On the contrary to this idea, I'll give real time American economy example. At Target all decisions are made by the CEO and board. But the better target does as a company the better it is for the CEO and board. Where as for the worker, the better target does as a company it does not help them at all. So they have no incentive to improve the company and they have no say in bad decisions being made for the company. So the company is not going to get better or create more jobs or anything. So if you look at my idea it puts more money in the hands of the majority of the consumer which increases demand which will increase the need for supply, which creates more jobs and better paying ones at that, and overall a more healthy and stable economy.