General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: To Survive, the Democratic Party Needs to Stand Up to Wall Street and Global Corporations [View all](just remembered I had wanted to reply to you)
"Some say that capitalism must progress to the predatory capitalism that is dominant in the US." - no it doesn't have to, it just needs to be tempered. The Scandinavians understand the importance of mutual benefit in their system, but their culture is different to ours. They see both the value of enterprise and the importance of social dividends.
The collectives in Mondragon have ended up functioning like your typical company, note their response to pressures in the economy in the early 2000's. In the current capitalist paradigm, there's no escaping capitalist law or the rules of the market place. The same rules apply whether co-op or not.
The opposite of capitalism is communism, which destroys the idea of ownership of capital - I despise this concept since it's illiberal.
The key is to create enough wealth through enterprise so that productivity gains are funneled to wage increases. With advanced technology, and a supplementary UBI, we can finally do away with a puritan work ethic which values work just for sake of it, even if that work is demeaning, monotonous, stressful and unrewarding. To make this a reality requires political will and persuasion and incrementalism. We have to make good arguments for the benefits of taxation, reform our tax codes so they're more effective ( and eliminate corporate welfare), but these arguments won't be won overnight. But abandoning capitalism is not the way we will get there.