socialize the economy

Best part of the debate for me from Bernie: "You know what Mr. Bloomberg, it wasn't you who made all that money; maybe your workers played some role in that as well." That's the crux of my own views on political economy—i.e., the role workers play in the creation of wealth vs. the control owners have over it and those workers' lives.

I'm all for an economy where workers own and control their labour and the products of that labour. I'm all for an economy where everyone has access to food, clothing, shelter, and medical care and opportunities for education regardless of who they are or where they come from. I'm all for the righting of the ship of inequality that is capitalism, for an economy where everyone's heads are above water, not just the rich and the lucky. Rationalize and humanize the economy.

I'm personally in favour of a radical transformation of society, one in which wage labour and our limited and regressive understanding of property rights is replaced by a more rational, humane, and equitable socioeconomic system. At the very least, I think we should begin by nationalizing industries and mandating worker shares in ownership (half or more).

We should nationalize banks and allow state and community owned banks while eliminating predatory penalties and interest rates. We should nationalize the energy sector, creating nationwide public utilities so that everyone has access to clean water and power, eliminating fossil fuels and moving towards wind, solar, hydro, and other, less harmful power sources. We should nationalize healthcare and eliminate an industry that profits off of illnesses, giving everyone access to good health. And we should start to push for a new understanding of the contributions of labour to society, imbuing all labour with dignity and worthy of a living wage, or better, a right to the collective wealth of society.

We can and should do better as a society, seeing one another as members of an extended global family and utilizing our collective labour to make sure every person has a happy, healthy life.