The World's Fourth Largest Inland Body of Water Has Disappeared

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96. I agree somewhat

No, I don't want the government to own all the means of production like capitalist do now. I think it would and did (using the USSR as an example) end up corrupting the government officials and all levels of government. The initial idea in Russia before the dictators took over, was for the state to own the means of production. State officials took over the roles of capitalists and owners. The worker in a factory was doing the exact same thing before and after the communist revolution. The difference was only in who his boss was. Instead of a capitalist it was a communist official who ran the factory. They thought if the government officials were corrupt, then they would be voted out. They didn't realize that much money and control in the hands of a few was very corrupting. To the point that their voting process became corrupt much like ours is today.

So what I am proposing is that neither the government nor the capitalist owns the means of production. The workers in mass would own it and control it. Whoever worked there, would get a say in every aspect of the business. For 4 days a week they would do their jobs, and on the 5th day they would do all the voting, deciding on policies, committees and deciding what to do with the profits.

Yes there are greedy and evil people everywhere. Yes, some of them will try and take over. But if everyone who works there gets a vote, then those greedy evil people will for the most part be kept in check. Because the really big money will be in the really big corporations and they would have a huge number of people to con in order to take over. Now they would probably get to corrupt some of the smaller businesses but eventually they would be caught.

This is NOT utopia I'm describing. There will still be nonprofits and government functions and free enterprise. Too many people equate free enterprise with capitalism. The only difference would be that workers NOT corporate CEOs and board of directors would run and own all businesses.

I would add to this that farming needs to be looked at as a government function or at least not a profit making business. Our current farming systems are destroying our planet. We need to encourage farmers to grow sustainable with the future of the planet in the forefront of their plans. Right now it is a free for all. Huge corporations run huge machines in vast waste lands of mono-crops, killing birds, fish, frogs, bees, butterflies and anything else that gets in their way. They ship those crops huge distances to get better prices while at the same time we ship in just as much to feed our own citizens. This is a huge waste of fuel and is destroying our planet.

The more problems you can dump onto the environment the more money you make. Corporate farms horribly abuse livestock routinely because it makes them lots and lots of money. Keeping living creature locked away in dark dank barns is sooooo much easier than tending to their needs twice a day and rotating them in and out of pastures. If profit is your primary motive, than you will be a lousy farmer but make lots of money. Everyone should have access to unadulterated foods without chemicals, poisons and abuse of animals. It can be done but not if the primary motive is profit. So, I believe we need to consider farming like we do fire departments and police - A government function. Pay the farmers a living wage. Set up standards for them and distribute the food to the people who are in the area.

Ok, I also think food should be free. Maybe not luxury items like chocolate cake....but that's for another discussion.