Tuesday, March 30, 2004
(9:49 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
A Suggestion for Political and Economic Reform
UPDATE: This will be my last post until the University without Condition reconvenes on Monday. It's a shame, because it's certainly not my best post ever. As Anthony would say, c'est la vie.
In our current economic system, there is a trend toward privatizing profits and socializing costs and risks. The public often gets stuck with massive debts, while private investors have a guaranteed rate of return. A corporation profits from activities that cause pollution, while the government has to pay to clean it up. The government is screwed over because it is not a full participant in the capitalist system, but plays instead a regulative and guaranteeing role.
I propose that national constitutions should be written to transform nation-states into a special kind of publicly traded corporation. This would not require a massive change in the national mindset. Already, we are taught to think of citizens as "taxpayers," who have a stake in the nation's future due to the money they have sunk in. The voice of the citizen would be heard even more clearly if all citizens were the nation's "stockholders."
All citizens should receive an equal number of shares in the nation, which could then be freely sold, even to foreigners. Every seven years, all stock would be called in, and the stock would be split in order to reflect any new citizens who had entered the country since then. This would be the replacement for the "social wage" or "safety net."
Nations could make money by selling their services to citizens and corporations for a fee. This would be far superior to the current system in which corporations receive government services largely for free. The nation could redistribute any profits at the end of the year in the form of dividends, or it could choose to use the profits to retire debt or invest in the nation. Citizens/stockholders would demand the best and most efficient possible government services, so that the stock would be attractive to investors.
The best part is that corporations based in a particular country could be considered wholly owned subsidiaries of the nation in question, created to serve the nation's interests and able to be liquidated if they failed to serve that purpose, that is, increase shareholder value for citizens of that nation.
