Posted by Wally P. on January 12, 2008 at 09:54:00:
In Reply to: What about 'individual freedom and initiative and pay ? posted by Frank R. on January 06, 2008 at 09:59:08:
In the proposed system of an Economic Democracy, questions such as : “Will we have private businesses not associated with the mainstream, social production in our necessary industries ,” must first have acknowledgement by the questioner that the “WE” in the query includes all of us in our community and work place settings…, doing the “deciding” as to what WE want, and how our wants and needs can best be implemented and practiced within our democratic guidelines which are predicated on premise that we all gain from our cooperative endeavors…, that there are NO losers as a result of our policy making decisions.
The constructs of the new system’s equitable remuneration system, in which all labor produced values are exchanged equally…certainly is a question for We, the People to consider, evaluate and democratically decide its appropriateness for society and the individual.
Individual freedoms and opportunities for private dealings in all economic enterprises are whatever we decide will be in our best interests. All of the individual freedoms related to civic life which are in our present Constitution are included in the New Society program…. The prevailing credo will be…“We, the People, have a direct voice and vote in all matters that affect our lives,“ and certainly our preferred economic life style, will be factored in the new Constitution..
We can provide whatever choices for those among us who may prefer to work independently and apart from the general, social production facilities which necessarily make up the major sectors of production for society’s needs and wants, no matter how such social settings are most conducive for the daily well being of the people who work there.
Undoubtedly, the new society would be populated by for folks who would feel better suited to contribute to a socially needed product or service, in an environment other than an industrial setting, a society that may develop many needed areas outside industrial confines… , where the distribution outlets…, stores…, restaurants…, and other public places we would want…, would require a people presence. That’s the beauty of living in a democracy…such as we envision.
Reasonable and attainable individual preferences must necessarily be respected. For those of us who may opt for being in our own business …” in our own private surroundings …, there are ramifications worthy of our considerations.
Lets first consider the overall industrial and service settings in an Economic Democracy…,where, when we contribute our labor time in a socially necessary industry or service, and we are remunerated…, paid according to the number of labor time hours (menial or intellectual) spent producing socially needed goods or services. The “hours” serve as “exchange’” mediums for whatever goods, and /or services are available that were produced in a cooperatively and democratically operated and administered industry.
Understandably, the citizen who opts for a “private” business removes himself from society’s cooperative work place…, and does not earn any LTV (Labor Time Vouchers) that are the established currency ( Earned Labor time hours and minutes that are used to “purchase” available goods and services that have been produced in socially necessary industrial sites) …, hence, the, the “private” business person needs the LTV’s of his “customers” in order to have the exchange resources to purchase all the goods and services he finds necessary for his own well being… His customers, of course, have the LTVs to spend on anything available in society …, which the private business owner depends on for his own well being. His stability depends on the successful flow of his business.
OK, now let’s consider the product of the “private” venture. Is it a product or service that is already available through the cooperative, industrial processes of the established society? If so, let’s consider any one product in particular…., say…, a baby carriage , or a sled…, or any other socially useable product people use to enhance their individual life styles……, a product that is already available from the highly efficient, collective labor/technology factors that already exist in all socially necessary industries.., a product that can easily be “purchased,” or “exchanged” according to the LTV remuneration/exchange system …
Now consider how our individual “entrepreneur” obtains possession of his article for sale? Did he make it himself? If so, his “product” would necessarily be “priced” according to the LTV mode of society’s exchange medium…, and unavoidably…, according to the human labor input , that of the individual entrepreneur’s , and it would be this amount of LTVs he would necessarily need to charge…, unless he offered more of his product than that of the going rate for that item…, which would mean that he was working for less compensation than his cooperative work place counter parts…, and this would also mean he would have less “exchange rate” powers than were he to be part of a socially needed industry and would receive his full measure of LTVs accordingly.
The individual producer, as we have exemplified in our “individual business owner” scenario…, could not, at his one-man operation, have the societal-owned technology to produce his “article” for sale as quickly and efficiently as would be the conditions in a modern, industrial setting where similar “carriages” were being produced.
The private person’s hours spent fabricating any item for private sale, or exchange of LTVs with anyone whose LTVs were earned in a socially necessary industry…, would necessarily be greater than the individual hours that were required to produce the same item in the cooperative industrial operations… which would leave the “private” business person in a very difficult “market” position. Obviously, he would not be able to “compete” with his cooperative, industrial counterparts.
For purposes of illustration…, the private guy uses say, 10 hours to fabricate his item (the carriage) thus, his “price” for the item …, supply and demand factors being equal…would necessarily be 10 LTVs…,. The same item produced in a cooperative industrial work place would be produced in much less time …, say 2 hours (the disparagement ratio is not exaggerated… when we compare the single, individual producer’s time to gain access to raw material…, and fabricate the item using hand tools to complete any hardware items …, compared to the aggregate production of hundreds or thousands of an item by a relatively few people…, using the sophisticated tools of modern industry…
The simple “exchange” advantages of anyone’s LTVs earned in the cooperative operations over the “private” production item are astronomic, hence, the “private” guy would be at a great disadvantage.., and the “business” would not be economically feasible. But that would be a consideration for the person whose direction is toward individual business means to live a life.
Another consideration for the person who would rather be in his own business rather than involved in a cooperative industry …, be it service or hard goods…, is the situation where he may need “employees” to help him in his “business.” Now that can be an insurmountable problem. When we calculate the LTVs able to be afforded to individual s working in an efficient, high tech industry where the greatest amount of production can be achieved using the least amount of human labor power, the aggregate labor time hours in the production of our needed and wanted goods and services divided by the number of people involved…, would represent the greatest possible return to each individual person in the process …, an amount far greater than could be afforded by an “individual” business person who hires a helper., and would necessarily have to pay him in LTVs, the accepted exchange medium, in amounts far less than the “hired” hand could earn in a setting of work place democracy…, a condition which would not exist in the now-archaic employer-employee, or worker-owner relationships from which the new society had liberated itself.
Or put another way…, any person in the new, economic democracy of socialism, who preferred to be over lorded over in a work place by a private business owner…, rather than working in a place where he has rights of exercising his prerogatives in group discussion, and expressing these through a direct vote in all matters than affects his life…, and being Constitutionally assured that whatever the work place decisions arrived are at by his work place colleagues, all such decisions are predicated on the premise that no one would suffer materially as a result…. , would be taking some giant steps back to “wage slavery.” Hardly likely. Would you?
Given the realities of the great advantages cooperative production has over individual production…, this question in such circumstances becomes rather moot.
But there undoubtedly exist other individual ventures that may be adaptable to sustaining a “market” for a particular product that may not compare with products emanating from cooperative, social production
As one example, consider the place of all forms of “Art” in an Economic Democracy… This is a definite factor that we, having the voice and vote in all matters that affect our lives…, will necessarily have to consider and make the necessary accommodations that will satisfy ourselves as a society whose culture is formed by any variety of contributions by ourselves in our communities and in our work places…
Let’s say you want to be a full time artist, spend your time painting, sculpting, rather than working in a socially necessary industry..., perhaps like the furniture industry..., creating designing fabrics for interior design …, or whatever ..., wanting to use your time with an art form that pales the usual art form productions flowing from our cooperative, socially needed, and wanted, industrial outlets. So, you don’t get involved in using my artistic proclivities in the production of all kinds of household items ranging from furniture to kitchen gadgets…. You paint murals, portraits, and other subjects that may or may not be included in the society’s overall social production divisions (although many art forms can also be involved within the realm of society’s overall “wants” and included as a viable part of the whole industrial/service process.)
There are no limits to what “we,” in our new society, may reasonably “want.” We can democratically decide to provide the necessary LTVs to support our chosen social institutions…
Returning to yourself as a fine arts painter, or a carriage maker, or any one of chosen production modes which would suit your aspirations. You have options. You can work in a social industry spending your the normal “few” hours to earn the needed LTVs to support yourself…, and spend the rest of your own time painting landscapes…, vistas of choice, whatever…, and you set up your works for anyone to “buy” using their own LTVs in exchange for their desired choices. Here we can have some problems deviating from the normal flow of equitable LTV exchanges …, because the “artist” in you cannot operate in the usual exchange rate processes… You may have spent 100 hours to complete a painting…, (or a carriage) which, in the “normal” exchanges of our new system can easily be traded equitably for perhaps two automobiles! ( a “fact” that has been confirmed by Ford Motor Co. itself)
Would you, as a holder of 100 LTVs earned in a socially necessary industry, be willing to use your LTVs for my painting in which you have invested a 100 hours of your time? Given such a ramification, that’s a question anyone in the new society who seeks a market for his private work, will have to confront. Or, given an artist’s deep devotion to his own self expression of his own individuality…, his individual spiritual identifications with his subjects…, along with using his labor time in a socially necessary industry, his art work may remain his own personal statement as a reason for his being…, and pursue his “art” and share it with others in whatever ways he sees appropriate…, as in simple exhibitions for others to enjoy…, or as gift giving to both private and public recipients…
In a society liberated from the dire material limitations always threatened by this present system…, a society buttressed by a culture of democracy and cooperation, rather than competition for “bread,“ for all of us…, the possibilities for our individual intellectual, aesthetic and social growth are endless.