But something of value...do all humans have something of value they can place with an LLP?
Indeed they do. They have their ideas and their writing, music, painting and so on: which is what this thread is about.
They also have the use over time of their brain, brawn and accumulated skills and experience.
I would advocate a new approach to the financing of education.
Every student should be able to enter into a mini-partnership with the State - an "Enterprise Agreement" I call it.
Provided the student is suitably qualified for it (ie through ok school exams) the State "invests" as "Capital Partner" in (say) my qualification as a Doctor.
It's not a loan, so that I don't HAVE to pay it back, but in return for the use of the "Investment" I have (say) 2% of my gross salary deducted and this goes into the education pot.
If I like, I can pay the State back, (either as an interest-free loan, or maybe at an agreed multiple of my earnings) and so if I've paid off half, then the "Capital Rental" comes down to 1% of my revenue.
So the more that Society has invested in you, the more you give back. But it's not a debt, hanging around your neck like an albatross: you only need pay if you are earning.
And maybe if you do a few years overseas on VSO - probably getting twice as much experience as you would get in the UK - the government credits your account as though you were earning double....
Lots of new policy options.
In fact I believe that there is NO area of policy which cannot be improved upon using an "Open Corporate" as a policy tool.
The LLP is the first example of an "Open Corporate", but with the addition of a protective coating (or semi-permeable membrane!) - ie "limitation of liability" - a privilege for which LLP members (like shareholders in a Ltd company) don't actually pay anything.
Reinvent marriage, divorce, wills and family law?
Welcome to the Family Corporate. I know someone who formed a husband and wife LLP the day after he heard me talk about the one I'm doing. (except mine will have the kids in it as well)
Reinvent Pensions?
Signor Tonti had the right idea - we simply reinvent Tontines in a big way using an "Open Corporate" linking together everyone born in the same year inot Cohort "Pools" of pension Investment Capital.
Reinvent taxes?
1/ Everyone pays x% of their earned income into a "Pool" and its redistributed equally. ie those earning less than average receive a net transfer.
2/ Everyone pays x% of the Value of the Commons to which they have exclusive rights into another Pool, and that is redistributed equally, too.
And so on.
I'm really getting into the rg stream of consciousness style - you should patent it! "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
I definitely prefer semi-permeable membrane (!)
It has a science edge--for those who don't know what it means, it'll sound like cells and biology (I don't think that'll put people off, though I may be wrong.)
For those who do know, there's the click: Ah! So I am protected from what's coming in but not blocked in what I put out.
If that's the idea.
I like your education idea, but (not a nasty but) your larger ideas involve govt. spending, and I reckon that'll only happen when regions have demonstrated functionality, and that'll only happen when municipalities demonstrate functionality...and that all sounds like a big pile of bureaucrats acting as fingernails down a board...screeee breaking. Though you seem to be in contact with more...hmmm...enlightened local authorities, so good luck with that and I look forward to hearing the outcome(s).
I'm not so sure about this:
They have their ideas and their writing, music, painting and so on: which is what this thread is about.
Can we deal with seven billion songs, books, and paintings? Is it feasible to make an economy around that sort of activity?
Also: I'm thinking of the poor git who's grown up in an orphanage near a slum not far from a war zone; not the brightest eyed but the one who never really "got it", doesn't have much brawn, and has only really accumulated negative experiences...and no pratical skills (no teachers.)
...so they could write a novel! And yes, maybe we do need seven billion stories...'twould be better than bombs.
But...yes. Semi-permeable membrane. In your examples there is always a "rich investor" of some kind who sees the enlightened path. In education: the state. With taxes: the state (via laws); the Jersey businessmen--all rich (enough.)
I think Miguel said (maybe someone else too? HiD?) that it assumes benevolence on the part of the investor, who could make alternative investments.
I'm wondering: what about a group of people, ya know, people who don't have access to a prinicpal (=rich) investor. Something like, say, a bunch of people who have a website, where you have input value, the value of brains learning over time, tech. skills, there's writing, music, photography (no doubt there are some painters too.)
But no huge wodge of investment. So, this website, well, we're thinking about the future, crazy solutions alien to current practice. So let's call this website. I know. ET!
So, let's take "ET". What benefits would acrue to the various members if they agreed to associate within the semi-permeable membrane?
One benefit: limited liability. But as the value being cannot be expressed in liquid money--there is no "key investor", only equals, sorta like the solicitors but without the suits, the legal practices, and the immediate vision of financial gain through tax breaks... So, what is the liability an ET member might face outside the LLP, and how is it limited by us being within the semi-permeable membrane? Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
To me an LLP is just a simple (and optimal, since it is entirely "open") legal wrapper for "pooling" risk and reward, but has the attraction that it can operate across borders better than anything else - a "Legal XML".
"Law is Code" / Semantic Web, yada yada.
An example of crossborder operation is a Microfinance Initiative I am working on (saw a Norwegian junior minister about it last week: it's all ready part-funded by Norway) where we are setting up "Trustee"/ Custodian entities in each jurisdiction, which will be members of a "Development Network" LLP (or - more comprehensibly to Joe Public) an "Ethical Equity/Stock Exchange".
The other members of this LLP are a "Club" of Investors; the "Club" of Users of Investment; and the "Operating Member" consortium.
No reason why ET LLP couldn't use a variation of what is IMHO an optimal generic structure.
ET "Founder"/ Trustee Member ET User Club ET Financier Club ET Service Provider Club
With costs shared as may be agreed, a suitable "core" governance probably convening online etc etc I'm sure it's all been covered before, but I've forgotten what was said! "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
I might have known. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
