In the last chapter we looked at the means to take control of the land we live on. But there is much more that belongs to us, as of right.
In the 1980s, national resources that were already owned by the public as a result of previous nationalisations, were then made the subject of share flotations. The public were encouraged to buy something that they already owned.
What was floated as a bright new dawn of “shareholder democracy” became what we know as privatisation.
Privatisation is far, far away from the democracy that it suggested that it might be. Anyone who bought shares knows that they have no control over the institution in question. The direction of the company is solely determined by the block votes of those few institutions with massive shareholdings. The fact that the public contributed so much cash to the flotation meant that it simply became much cheaper for big business to buy the institution without losing the slightest control over the future direction of their acquisition.
As we have witnessed, the new owners run the company as they wish and the Directors pay themselves what they like. The decision on the amount of remunerations that Directors pay themselves is made by other Directors of other institutions – a cosy cabal.
Although shares are owned by the public, this is not public ownership. And because one person owns 5 shares and another owns 5 million, it is certainly not a shareholder democracy. But it can be made into both of these.
If the institution controls a naturally occurring national resource (land, water, minerals etc) then the shares in this resource belong, as of right, to the nation, to all of its people.
So how do we turn this company into a publicly owned democracy?
Every one of us has a National Insurance number which can act like a bank account. As institutions create profits from the resources that belong to all of us, the dividends are paid to all of us. One person one share. Companies no longer own shares. A corporate body is not a living thing. It does not share our right to capital. It has no birthright. Only the people own the resources.
Shares may not be bought or sold. The benefits system can be scrapped as the return on the dividend is itself our benefit. We should never feel that support from society is some sort of generosity, some kind of handout, something optional that can be removed by a change in the law. We are entitled to our share of the country in which we are born. We are mistaken if we buy into the idea that we should beg for a benefit. We are correct in our assumption that we own our birthright.
I call this system Alt Capitalism.
There is thus no longer a block vote system to protect the greedy. Greedy directors are removed by popular consent. We may deselect any staff member whose performance does not match up to stated objectives, whose bonus exceeds decency.
There are alternatives to privatisation beyond nationalisation. Neither Private Sector nor Government operate primarily in our interest. The alternative to privatisation is the democratisation of share ownership – one person one share. We don’t need to re-nationalise and give it all back to the Government. Instead we can democratise share ownership and give it directly to the people. Cut out the middle man.
There is one thing called Government and we are all issued a share in it. It is called our Vote.
There is another thing called Wealth – our natural National Resources. We have never received our share of it. Now it’s time. And we are the most suitable candidates for the responsible stewardship of what the Planet provides for us because we have no interest in short term gain. Our future interest is served by the resource being used sustainably so that there is always something for future generations.
And so we sell the concession to a responsible company. They receive the benefits of the wealth that they create and they pay for the concession by paying dividends to the Shareholders. Us.
It is similar to proposals that have been floating around for many decades, first popularised by Henry George in his excellent book “Progress and Poverty”, still promoted by the Henry George Foundation to this day. It was the most popular book following the First World War when people, having been exposed to the full and grisly reality of the System, had a hunger to look around for workable alternatives. In their millions they turned to Henry George and his magnificent refutation of the need for even the existence of this thing we call Profit.
More recent manifestations of Henry George’s idea promote a Land Value Tax where the value of the natural resource (in this case the unimproved value of the land – which varies according to its proximity to population and infrastructure) is reflected by a tax paid by the developer into the national coffers. The idea has become a reality in Denmark, and even in the USA in the state of Pennsylvania. And in Singapore.
But Alt Capitalism pays it directly into the accounts of citizens. Effectively this People’s Dividend is our Universal Basic Income (UBI) – an idea that is now popularly discussed but which has struggled to define how it may pay for itself.
It should struggle with this problem no longer. It is paid for directly from the Natural Resources commonly owned by the entire Nation. But not a UBI. More correctly, it is instead a URE – a Universal Resource Entitlement.
If such a thing were to occur, it should be called the Universal Resource Entitlement Scheme. It’s URES. Of course it is. It always was. The means is Alt Capitalism. The outcome is URES.
The people’s dividend is their social security. The people will look after the resources of their country because the good management of these resources secures the future for their children. The people’s action measured as a whole, will balance wealth creation and responsible development that doesn’t destroy the source of income, expatriate the wealth to offshore tax havens, fill marinas with yachts or oceans with oil slicks.