Comment on It's unacceptable that people like Jeff Bezos exist.
rwrwefwef@sh.itjust.works 5 days agoThe solution is to create a business environment where the moral business succeeds
Yes, but it will be up to the consumer to create such an environment, either with their wallets or democratically.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 5 days ago
The government will have to take a major role in that. Reconfiguring the entire direction of the business environment cannot be left to the easily manipulated vagaries of the American consumer. It has to be much more deliberate than that, with targeted laws and vigorous enforcement.
In the future, we must make it uncomfortable to be super wealthy, like needing permission to spend their money on a second yacht. If the commission determines that’s an unreasonable request, the money will be confiscated, and steered to Social programs. Obviously that’s too much money for them to handle responsibly.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 4 days ago
I think the Universal Ranked Income concept that I put together can address at least some of the issue. The basic idea is that everyone receive basic UBI and benefits, such as free healthcare, food, fuel, and so forth. A job is for earning money, which in turn is used for luxuries and upgrades. In effect, money is a non-essential currency.
Aside from that, each type of job falls into a category of rankings. This rank gives a fixed amount of money. Assuming a full year of work after mandated vacations and whatnot, that would be $40k for a basic job like waiter. An astronaut gets the highest ranked job, which brings in $100k. Mix this with an absolute cap on wealth and assets ($100k for each category), and that will limit the power of a person over society, while allowing for a reasonable level of liberty and prosperity for a person. Plus, companies can’t commit wage theft or use bad terms.
However, this doesn’t entirely address companies by themselves. Each worker should have the ability to vote for the leadership within their own establishment, and also be able to cast votes for leaders that are above the establishment. Say, WalMart managers - you can vote for your store’s manager, the city’s manger, the state’s manager, and the nation’s manager, ect.
Still not enough. Companies also should have restrictions on how much total wealth and assets they can hold. What I propose: the cap is 50% of the staff payroll, based on each employee. An waiter adds $20k to the company’s capacity, while an astro is 50k. If a company needs capacity without increasing headcount, they can instead participate in a government lotto program. The lotto gives an annual income to a winner, and each winner only can have one income at a time, which can replace basic UBI. To qualify, they have to be without a job and not have any benefits to draw upon. (Each day worked, gives 1 day of income as retirement benefits.) This allows companies using AI or not needing people, to still contribute to society while improving their fiscal potential.
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I know, a long list of stuff. Unfortunately, economics are wooly and there are many, many issues to sort out, if we go down the route of an egalitarian society.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 4 days ago
Valid concepts. I like to speculate on the future Utopian Socialist America, too, if we can make it happen.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 4 days ago
If I had the money, I would fund an EVE Online spinoff that existed to compare different socio-economic models against each other. Year 1 would have the shards separate, so that each community would develop in isolation and master their respective styles. Year 2, the shards are linked together to that each ‘galaxy’ can visit each other for trade and conquest.
The way I figure, our world is so used to feudalism and capitalism, that things like genuine socialism or communism would be ‘noobs’ when their governments spawn, and thus be killed or corrupted not long after appearing. Giving time to become equals with infrastructure and experience would be useful for evening the playing field of the experiment. Plus, we can look at each society at isolation before mixing in the complications of competing with other models.
To me, it would be preferable to study these models in a virtual environment, before trying them in the real world. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that we will have to fly by the seat of our pants and hope for the best.