User talk:RobertC/Consecration and capitalism

Capitalism <> Free Enterprise

Robert, In your ponderings regarding Consecration and Capitalism, may I offer an insight that may prove helpful to you? Before I risk losing your attention in the justifications below, I would invite you to consider adding "Cooperativism" to Consecration and Capitalism, and compare and contrast all three in your ponderings. I am certain you will find it enlightening.

Background

In the USA, we have come to equate Capitalism with Free Enterprise and use them as synonyms (with no thanks to Ayn Rand). The Germans, and I suspect the Russians and Chinese, do not equate the two. Erich Weede, professor of sociology at the University of Bonn, in his book, "Wirtschaft, Staat und Gesellschaft: zur Soziologie der kapitalistischen" in a footnote on page 9, states (in German), "While in Germany the concept of the [free] market economy has become the preferred characterization [ie. label] for western economic systems, the Americans (like the classical German [economists] Weber and Sombart) prefer to use the term 'capitalism'". More succinctly put, German scholars in general prefer to refer to Western economic systems as "market economies" rather than "capitalism", like the Americans do.

In fact, as discomforting as it may be, Karl Marx was the first to use "Capitalism" in reference to an economic system in his book, Das Kapital, published in 1867, long after the USA implemented their Free Market system. To Marx, who for all intents and purposes coined the term Capitalism, it meant when Capital (ie. those who control it) hires Labor (the wage-laborers) to produce products that are sold in the free market for profit which then reverts back to the owners of the capital.

Equating Capitalism and Free Enterprise is like calling the soda pop isle at your grocery store "the Coke isle" (what about 7-Up and Root Beer?). My point is this, Capitalism is one way to organize Capital and Labor within the free market – there are also other ways.

Cooperativism

Cooperativism is one of those other ways. In a cooperative, Labor pools their Capital and uses it to produce products for sale in the marketplace. So, in Cooperativism, Labor and Capital are one and the same, ie. they are represented by the same people, the members of the cooperative. This approach is much more in line, I believe, with the principles behind Consecration than is Capitalism, as it makes the traditional Capital vs. Labor dispute irrelevant, and, engenders a greater spirit of unity and equality.

The Basques of Northern Spain have perfected the cooperative with remarkable results. Starting with a single worker-owned cooperative in the late 1950s, they have expanded to a network of well over 100 such operations which collectively have their own banks, retirement programs, health care, etc. Their network of cooperatives have averaged 7% growth every year, including recessionary periods. Their workers experience no unemployment, they are simply retrained and reassigned to other cooperatives that need help. Doesn't this sound more "celestial"?

If you have interest in learning more about Cooperativism, as I call it, you may want to read an article by BYU Professor Warner P. Woodworth entitled, "Managing From Below", Journal of Management, 1986, Vol.12, No. 2, pages 391-402. The wikipedia entry for "cooperative" is also informative.

I hope this perspective proves helpful for you.

Jesse 22:35, 16 February 2010 (CET)

Jesse, thanks, great thoughts, and welcome to the site. Yes, I like the general direction of Warner Woodworth's work, and work related to it. In fact, I take Elinor Ostrom's winning of the Nobel Prize in economics as a nod precisely in this direction of thought and research (which I'm pursuing myself, as much as time allows!). I look forward to more conversations and productive exchanges on this topic, in the scriptures and otherwise. --RobertC 23:22, 17 February 2010 (CET)