America Beyond Capitalism – 10 year review
“open their eyes in a country where they must be employees or nothing…”
“if income, wealth, and economic position are also political resources,
and if they are distributed unequally, then how can citizens be political
equals?” (50)
Summary:
In America Beyond Capitalism, Gar Alperovitz highlights
shortcomings of our current economic system and outlines an alternative model for
the US economy. He provides
extensive research on existing alternative institutions that already have
demonstrated success as well as government reforms that could redistribute
wealth. Throughout the book, Alperovitz
develops the “Pluralist Commonwealth Model” which is based on equality,
freedom, and democracy. Although the
three concepts are interconnected, he argues liberty and democracy rest on
equality. The key to greater equality lies in the distribution of wealth. Low and middle-income people need
access to wealth; owning assets such as stocks and bonds will (hopefully)
produce continued income payments for the future. How can people accumulate
wealth? Alperovitz explores a variety of ways people can accumulate wealth:
worker owned firms (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, community development
corporations (CDCs), municipal ownership, individual development accounts (IDAs),
among others. Once wealth is
accumulated, through these types
of organizations or through government redistributed reform, people’s income
will be more secure and they will possess more freedom to do what they will
with their time and money – leading to better democracy and meaningful liberty.
Commentary:
Alperovitz documents citizens’ discontent with the
government’s ability to take care of their needs and their dissatisfaction with
corporation’s influence with politics. Ten years after his claims, Pew Research polls indicate
citizen’s trust of the government is currently at historical low of 19%[1]
and that nearly 80% of those who have heard of the Citizens’ United ruling
believe it has had negative effects[2].
He notes that even though the people are unhappy with current arrangements,
they cannot imagine another economic system than the one that currently exists
(3).
As an economic historian, Alperovitz observes it is very
unlikely US history will end with the current economic arrangements (4). By placing the current economic regime
within historical context, it is easy for him to imagine a new regime emerging
– as has happened multiple times throughout history. In fact, he goes further than imagining a different economy
by identifying and commenting on existing institutions that may well be
transforming our economic system at this very moment.
Alperovitz’s presentation of alternative wealth building institutions
may be more optimistic than warranted – although he does qualify most of his
data. For example, he cites there
are over 11,000 ESOPs in existence, but not all of the ESOPs are 100% or even
majority owned. Furthermore, a more robust picture of these institutions would
not only include the most successful and the success rates, but also the
initial sample sizes. For
instance, he states there are over 4,000 CDCs in existence, but how many CDCs
were started and then failed. These
additional data may prove to be less encouraging, but they would allow space
for investigation and progress towards sustainable alternatives.
Some of Alperovitz’s ideas suggest various institutions
invest individual’s or public money in stocks and bonds via mutual funds, etc. Expanding the financial sector even
with the intention of increasing wealth for low-income earners demands
hesitation and thought. The growth of the financial sector and its dangerous
implications has been well-documented by Epstein[3]
and others.
On the other hand, the idea of local finance is
attractive. Cities and
municipalities could control their investments- making sure any company requesting
a loan has a social benefit, will hire local people, say in the community, and
not exploit the workers. Business
profits will benefit the community members and the community, now a residual
claimant, has a vested interest in monitoring company’s behavior and actions (24).
In addition to developing and promoting new institutions to
create wealth, Alperovitz proposes inequality reduction via redistribution by
government reform. His proposals
to tax the 1% on net worth or estate (180) were echoed by Occupy Wall St. Even
more recently, Thomas Piketty has suggested a tax on global wealth tax to
battle income inequality.
The final piece of Gar’s outline for a new economy – regionalism
– has been surprisingly relevant.
He argues the US is too diverse and large of a state to manage and
decentralization would help restore democracy. He observes state legislation
has been more prominent perhaps due to the gridlock nature of federal action
(154).
Evidence of the need for regionalism can be seen in the literal
areas of progress in the US.
Little reform has been passed by Congress and national legislation, but
local governments have highly active in passing legislation on policies like
minimum wage increases and paid sick days.
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