Brukollapsen i Genova – «et symbol på det vi står overfor»

Faller broene faller kapitalismen, men det ville jo vært bedre om det skjedde på demokratisk vis. Jakten på profitt står over alt, dypt nedfelt som den er i menneskenaturen. Å delta i et arbeidsliv hvor jakten på profitt gjennomsyrer alt, er nokså meningsløst. Kanskje like greit å stå utenfor?

People over profit: An economic democracy is an economy that subordinates profit to people, not the other way around.

Stakeholders over shareholders: An economic democracy is an economic system in which the voices, rights, and interests of all economic stakeholders — including employees, stockholders, communities, ecosystems, other species and future generations — are represented. Unlike our current economy where shareholders are given primacy, in an economic democracy no one stakeholder is granted a disproportionate degree of power and privilege.

Better not bigger: In order to reorient the economy towards people and all stakeholders, we have to release it from the captivity of profit. In an economy geared towards GDP growth, the bottom line is the bottom line, and protecting it means suppressing wages, slashing payrolls, passing on costs to other people, other places, and other times. Most importantly, our economy has outgrown the physical limits of the planet, and saving civilization means stopping growth. A democratic economy should be a steady-state economy where existing wealth is distributed fairly, and where economic health is measured by true indicators of social welfare rather than the blunt and archaic tool of GDP. The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy is a useful resource for steady-state solutions.

Main Street not Wall Street : The design of our financial system undermines true markets and productive community-based enterprises in favor of reckless speculation. It is designed to suck wealth away from communities and towards the corporate elite. A good blueprint here is the New Economy Working Group’s report How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule.

One employee, one vote: An economic democracy is an economy where companies are built around the concept of one worker, one vote. In an economic democracy a company is a community of employees, where the employees, as full citizens of that community and the true source of company profit, decide how to invest that profit in the community. In this way, an economic democracy is distinct from both capitalism and socialism — both variations of economic oligarchy — where private boards on the one hand and public bureaucrats on the other decide how the profits workers generate are disposed of.

Economic Constitutionalism: In the United States Constitution the framers properly defined the powers and limits to the powers of the powerful institutions that govern our society. In an age where corporations have become as powerful as any institution of government, and have amassed undue influence over the policies of those institutions, their powers need to be defined and constitutionally limited just like any institution of government.

Kommentarer

Oyvind_Holmstad says:

Friday 24. August 2018
Faller broene faller kapitalismen, men det ville jo vært bedre om det skjedde på demokratisk vis. Jakten på profitt står over alt, dypt nedfelt som den er i menneskenaturen. Å delta i et arbeidsliv hvor jakten på profitt gjennomsyrer alt, er nokså meningsløst. Kanskje like greit å stå utenfor?
1. People over profit: An economic democracy is an economy that subordinates profit to people, not the other way around.
2. Stakeholders over shareholders: An economic democracy is an economic system in which the voices, rights, and interests of all economic stakeholders — including employees, stockholders, communities, ecosystems, other species and future generations — are represented. Unlike our current economy where shareholders are given primacy, in an economic democracy no one stakeholder is granted a disproportionate degree of power and privilege.
3. Better not bigger: In order to reorient the economy towards people and all stakeholders, we have to release it from the captivity of profit. In an economy geared towards GDP growth, the bottom line is the bottom line, and protecting it means suppressing wages, slashing payrolls, passing on costs to other people, other places, and other times. Most importantly, our economy has outgrown the physical limits of the planet, and saving civilization means stopping growth. A democratic economy should be a steady-state economy where existing wealth is distributed fairly, and where economic health is measured by true indicators of social welfare rather than the blunt and archaic tool of GDP. The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy is a useful resource for steady-state solutions.
4. Main Street not Wall Street : The design of our financial system undermines true markets and productive community-based enterprises in favor of reckless speculation. It is designed to suck wealth away from communities and towards the corporate elite. A good blueprint here is the New Economy Working Group’s report How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule.
5. One employee, one vote: An economic democracy is an economy where companies are built around the concept of one worker, one vote. In an economic democracy a company is a community of employees, where the employees, as full citizens of that community and the true source of company profit, decide how to invest that profit in the community. In this way, an economic democracy is distinct from both capitalism and socialism — both variations of economic oligarchy — where private boards on the one hand and public bureaucrats on the other decide how the profits workers generate are disposed of.
6. Economic Constitutionalism: In the United States Constitution the framers properly defined the powers and limits to the powers of the powerful institutions that govern our society. In an age where corporations have become as powerful as any institution of government, and have amassed undue influence over the policies of those institutions, their powers need to be defined and constitutionally limited just like any institution of government.
AnneBrit says:

Saturday 25. August 2018

Det er jo ingenting som er mer demokratisk enn tilfeldighetene. Selv om det sannsynligvis ikke var tilfeldig at denne brua datt ned. Morandi-brua - som er oppkalt etter arkitekten - ble hyllet som en teknologisk nyvinning, men det viste seg raskt at denne hyllesten var prematur. Det var ingen nyvinning, men en oppskrift på katastrofe, siden den i tillegg til å være dårlige armert, også var bygd slik at alt var skjult for øyet.
Jeg regner med at mye av grunnen til at de fortsatt prøvde å bøte på elendigheten, var at de ikke så noen råd for å få den revet. Med flere bolig blokker under selve strukturen, ville selv en kontrollert spregning ha medført at de ble ubeboelige. I tillegg er dette hovedpulsåren i den nord-italienske økonomien, og derfor måtte de allikevel bygge et alternativ, først.
Nå slipper de å spekulere mer på det. Det er bare å brette opp ermene og sette igang. At kostnadene blir astronomiske i forhold til om de hadde tatt ansvaret de ble betalt for, vel det får en bare håpe blir en lærepenge. I det minste for dem.
Når det er sagt, så er det vel få områder hvor evolusjonsterorien blir utfordret, som i byggekunsten. Vi kikker på romerske akvadukter og tror at våre bruer skal være like gode. Det er de ikke ment å være - femti år er en ganske høy alder for en betong-struktur, og særlig strukturer som er dimensjonert for helt andre forhold enn dagens “just-in-time” prinsipp. Mine øyne er rettet mot salt-gjennomtrukne norske bruer - vi har nok av dem, og som vei-eier vet jeg at slurving med vedlikehold er veldig dyrt, men det blir som oftest med tanken.