[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

When there is no tangible reward for investment, what motivates people to invest into local or shared projects? It should be a shared will to improve e.g. the standards of living of the community - whichever level of community (neighborhood, village, township, state, etc) is under consideration.

Society is pretty individualistic (especially in cities). Communal action and investments require people to think not only in their own interest but also in other members of the community. I think that is the biggest mindset shift we first need to accomplish.

Another complicating factor in current society is money. If you motivated people to think about others, investing their own private money in a project like a communal garden which others will also use for free is another thing I think.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

To my eyes, cooperative companies are to capitalism what greener cars are to global warming : we can change how it works inside, but we won’t really solve the problem until we change how we use them.

Nice analogy. Just to be sure, with cooperative companies¨ in the quote you mean a SCOP, not a worker cooperative?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I agree with the OP that everyone worked hard but it sounds like the reward of profits is proportional to the risk taken by those who purchased more stock. I often wondered how does an anarchist work in this situation?

True, they invest more and take more risk. But are investment systems not a capitalistic feature and thus will be rejected by anarchists?

The risk isn’t zero so it’s obviously worth something but making that equitable across all stock holders in an anarchist system seems difficult if not impossible. I’d love to be educated here.

Why even have the principle of stocks? People have a contract at the company. You can calculate the profit sharing based on the ratio of contract hours + salary compared to the total.

Also, one argument in favor of a co-op is that the employees can prevent a buyout by other companies or investors. Why use a company structure that give employees all control for example via a worker cooperative

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yes, I was describing an ESOP (didn´t know the English term). Interesting last paragraph. Another complicating fact is that if the company already has an ESOP, changing that system is really hard.

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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I would like to get your opinion about employee owned companies.

I do prefer working for companies that are employee owned. This means that employees can invest in the company and that no shares are owned by external investors. The financial incentive is often the stable dividend rather than making profits due to risen share price.

For me, working at these type of companies is still way better than working for a publicly traded company where profit often feels like the only purpose (to please the share holders). However, I got a bit reluctant to invest in the employee owned company as a employee because I find the system a bit unfair:

  • I find it a capitalistic implementation where the more you are willing (or able) to invest, the larger your cut of the profit. Everybody worked just as hard for that profit so why should you be able to get more if you got more shares.
  • To get a management position, you often have to buy a significant amount of shares "as incentive to do your work as a manager I was always told". Of course, they have more responsibility but they already get a higher salary for that. Why also get a bigger part of the profit?
  • On the management part, if there is also a voting system linked to the amount of shares you have, it also means that the management has a significant (majority?) saying in things. Legally the company is owned by the employees but not when it comes to decision making ( if employees are consulted via their shares).

What are your opinions on this and would you participate? Of course, not participating will not have consequences for the system because others will just buy those shares, but by participating you show support for an, in my eyes, unfair system.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Good point. One of the actually valid reasons for the EU to exist, cooperate. Not like the current state where the is basically an unite states of Europe but rather bringing together the countries to work together but still respecting their sovereignty.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Fair point that more wapons dont solve the problem. Didnt think of that. But an easy counter argument will be that as long as others keep investing in weapons, we also need.

It is interesting to think about how to prevent neo imperialism forces taking your country. In the Netherlands even the middle-left parties agree to strengthen the EU. They all somehow want to show their voters they fight for their safety.

I must say that especially the EU and their decisions feel really far away and out of reach. They really don't see (or don't want to) see the long term consequences of their actions. A single country can't make the difference in the EU.

24
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The EU announced its 800 billion euro plan to re-arm the EU with Trump being an unpredictable partner and Putin in the east (read more here if you want to know more).

I would like to get your opinions on this from an anarchistic viewpoint because I struggle to give one. As an anarchist I don't like the idea of a central army (let alone an EU one). Also, to get this 800 billion, countries and the EU have to borrow more money in a world that is already effectively running on debt without a proper way out.

On the other hand, I also understand people I speak to their opinions. Both Trump and Putin are unpredictable so I also understand that people want to feel safer by investing in the army. They also find it a waste of money but if we neglect the army, we might one day face the consequence of that.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Advice my parents to use outlook. They were using an ISP email service which we had to get rid of. I wasn't sure if tutanota was ready for them yet and they already were a bit familiar with outlook. It was a bit of a trade off back then.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I have been raised with the phrase that voting a duty because a democratic system is not for granted and the rights to vote have been fought for. I live in the Netherlands and I don't say it is perfect (far from) but we have a democratic, functional political system. It is moving to the right quickly but as long as I can vote I will. There is no anarchistic party of course but I at least use my vote to vote for left.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I actually started with it this week. It is partially due to privacy but also because I lost a sense for value. It is really easy to press a button online and pay say 20 euro. Not that I am irresponsible with money but the numbers on your bank account feel so meaningless.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I think this is the general conclusion in the topic that it depends on the situation. Maybe at the moment, emotion will also alter your decision at the moment. I suppose I would indeed never accept service to attack another country, only to defend my own country/land.

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submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I have been reading a book about the history of Israel. One section was about people refusing to serve the army when Israel fought war in Libanon and Gaza because they didn't agree with cruelties the Israel army conducted/ accepted. It made me think about the other way around: What if your country is attacked and people are being called to service by the army, would an anarchist refuse out of principle?

Quite some anarchist reject the idea of a centralized army so an anarchist might refuse out of principle. On the other hand, your country is being attacked. You can argue that accepting service is accepted because it is different from invading another country because you now have to defend your own country.

What are your thoughts on this?

[-] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

I personally have no problem with paying for a service. However, if I buy premium to remove the ads, YT has no longer the need to collect my data. But it is Google and they won't stop collecting. That, plus the fact that Google basically has a monopoly with youtube are the reasons I don't buy premium.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

"Your info won't be used for ads". Does that also mean that they won't collect any info about you? Theoretically, they don't have any reason to collect data anymore because you pay them.

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Vincentvd

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