I am talking about something more radical.
You are talking about what to do with the surplus output of economic activity, economic activity that currently is driven primarily by an assumption of scarcity and a conditioned impulsion to acquire and accumulate -- in a word, a primarily self-interest based economy.
What I am talking about is changing the pimary basis/motive power of the economic activity itself from self-interest to giving/sharing. In other words, one will not work primarily to gain wealth or status or power for oneself, or even for one's kin, but rather primarily for the benefit of others in general, with the understanding that others will help the individual achieve their own physical, psychological, intellectual, social and even spiritual needs.
I guess this is a sort of blown up extrapolation of some recent psych findings that have given a lot of press in the media that people obtain a lot of "happiness" through giving to others. (Though it's always dangerous to build castles in their based on pop-media interpretations of feel good psychology!)
There is a dark side to such a model: The crushing of the individual and individualism for the sake of the group. See communism, see certain aspects of Japanese culture.
But I think a healthy balance can be achieved. I think social democracy (as far as I understand it) is a huge step in that direction. But I want to find out if it is possible to go further and deeper. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
In this participative model the individual may remain individual while still benefiting from the "common bond" to which he has - consensually (not by imposed government fiat) - agreed.
Moreover this is not a RE-distributive model but a PRE-distributive model.
Within an "Open Corporate" there is no Profit and no Loss: and it is in members' interests to cooperate, rather than to compete.
It opens up the possibility of a model neither Private nor Public but both/ and - where investment may be obtained for developing public assets by selling not the assets themselves, but merely a proportional "Equity Share" of their production (or the revenues from the sale of production). "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
But the more I know about cooperatives, the more I know I don't know about them, so would like to impose a moratorium on myself for mentioning them until I do some more homework.
Actually, that goes for a lot of subjects discussed here! Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
