Capitalism Sucks: So what is the alternative?

[99th_Monkey]

Henry A. Giroux asks the same question here, but does not really provide an answer:
Capitalism Is a Tumor on the Body Politic: What's the Alternative? Beyond Mid-Election Babble
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27273-henry-a-giroux-capitalism-is-a-tumor-on-the-body-politic-what-s-the-alternative

This question -- finding and articulating a sustainable alternative to rotten-to-the-core capitalism -- is both timely and important for Democrats to wrestle with, especially in light of the Dems recent "drubbing" at the polls. As the Democratic party sorts out a collective strategy for winning in 2016, it desperately needs to include some solid "alternative economics" platform planks to stand on. Otherwise, all Dems have to offer is Capitalism-lite, which does not seem to impress voters, at least not in a good way.

The term "economic justice" needn't be an oxymoron; rather it can and should be a guiding light leading out of the stinking swamp of vulture capitalism. Enter Richard Wolff, speaking here for 30 minutes with Bill Moyers, on this very topic:
http://billmoyers.com/segment/richard-wolff-on-capitalisms-destructive-power/

I truly believe Prof. Wolff is spot-on with his analysis and recommendations for how to morph current-day capitalism into an alternative way to do economics that is much more humane, more community-friendly and more sustainable over the long haul, and it's name is WORKER OWNERSHIP.

Worker-owned Cooperatives represent a powerful business-ownership model for curbing, defanging and humanizing our run-away vulture capitalism, hopefully once-and-for-all. This is no pie-in-the-sky pipe-dream. This is already happening, just not on a large enough scale yet to influence mainstream capitalism very much. However, this model has been successfully demonstrated as viable in many countries, including our own during the early labor movement in the late 1900s, but especially in the Basque region of Spain.

Mondragon: Spain's giant co-operative where times are hard but few go bust
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/07/mondragon-spains-giant-cooperative
More on Mondragon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

I'd love to have a serious conversation with any peeps on DU who would like to perhaps start a group or forum on this, and/or simply share info about worker ownership and related topics. Hit me up if that's you.

[Kalidurga]

1. Good idea on starting a forum

This guy is a genius his ideas could work very well applied both nationally and globally.

[demosincebirth]

2. Capitalism is Ok, but with strong, enforceable, regulations

[99th_Monkey]

4. Why settle for that, AGAIN? Really?

Have you been paying attention lately, and/or to history.? I see Lucy with a football in your future.

This is nothing new, and wiser people than I saw this coming over 100 years ago; such
as this 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville quote:
"...the manufacturing aristocracy which is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest that ever existed in the world; but at the same time it is one of the most confined and least dangerous. Nevertheless, the friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed in this direction; for if ever a permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy again penetrates into the world, it may be predicted that this is the gate by which they will enter.”
―Democracy in America

Our self-appointed Corporate Overlords then struck a "New Deal" with FDR, oh yah, until everyone started looking the other way, then drip drip drip, money changes hands, and well, you know the sorry story of how far capitalists can be trusted, which is not at all. They will ALWAYS use their accumulated wealth to begin their greedy power grabs and meanwhile it's the little people who suffer, and die untimely unseemly deaths.

No. Not me. Never again. Fuck the capitalists .. they've had their chance(s) already. Now it's the people's turn to own the means of production and profit generation outright. No more new new deals. Nope.

[demosincebirth]

5. You'll never have anything else, so why dream. Also, fair taxation for all.

[AZ Progressive]

3. Moderated, Small Business Capitalism mixed with Socialism is good enough

Capitalism is ok along as Government keeps it contained and levels the playing field, and runs everything that capitalism does badly. There should be strict limits as to how large a business can be (preferably no bigger than what's normally thought of as a small business), as the danger in capitalism is concentrated power. Businesses can form associations where they work as a collective ONLY for the purposes of taking advantage of things like economies of scale, NOT lobbying.