Stop Enriching The Investor Class

The fact is that excessive wealth is inflationary. The more the wealthy consolidate and accumulate wealth, the more expensive everything becomes while simultaneously rendering us less able to afford it, and even the things we can afford (barely) become so utterly enshittified that we find ourselves totally beholden to the investor class. This is why the wealthy are always fighting for more wealth – they've learned that, under the current system, wealth is relative. They can only stay wealthy by growing even wealthier faster than the other billionaires. They don't actually care that we're being crushed under their boots, I don't think they even notice.

But what if we were able to reverse enshittification? What if everyone could afford housing, utilities, food, and other essentials? What if we were able to enjoy our work, knowing it undeniably served a purpose in our community rather than helping your boss buy a new yacht and yet another sports car at the expense of the environment, community, and your mental health? What if we were able to end monopolies, protect democracy, and restore natural justice to the world? How would that work? Could that work?

Uh, yes! Believe it or not, we're only a couple of minor tweaks away from an alternative economic paradigm. An economic paradigm in which wages growth correlates with deflation, meaning the success of our neighbors precipitates cheaper goods and services for us. Where good work is fairly rewarded while simultaneously benefitting the community rather than exploiting it. An economic paradigm where you have a share in the rewards of your work, an equal say on important decisions, and where your objections to unjust or harmful policies cannot simply be ignored. An economic paradigm that supports and encourages the best aspects of our human nature, rather than amplifying the worst.

The best part is that we could shift to this new economic paradigm now. We could have it in our lifetimes. It could be ready for our children before they enter the workforce. No one can stop us. The legal, financial, and technological scaffolding is largely in place. The only thing holding us back is learned helplessness, enthusiastically drilled into us by the investor class. I hope to end that learned helplessness by breaking the illusion that the current system is inevitable, unavoidable, and inescapable.

Okay, so what is this new economic paradigm, and the minor tweaks that bring it to life? Unsurprisingly, I call this alternative system a Democratic Economy. But you might be surprised by how we will create it. We don't need new legislation, we don't need to seize control of government, we certainly don't need a revolution. We need only change the bylaws of the small businesses we create. Instead of creating feudal companies where wealth is extracted by shareholders, we create Democratic Companies, where at least 80% of the company must be owned by current and former employees. These Democratic Companies have financial limitations. Limits on profits, holdings, and financial compensation. When these limits are reached, a democratic company becomes Financially Saturated and must take action to reduce profits by either:

• Reducing prices, but not below cost to avoid pricing out competitors
• Voluntarily paying more to the company's democratic vendors/suppliers
• Stopping production, provided it does not harm the company's customers
• Investing in other democratic companies

In effect, a democratic company is an amalgamation of a not-for-profit and a worker's collective. Each is a democratically run, employee-owned, "for profit" company with a profit ceiling that essentially transforms the business into a not-for-profit once it reaches financial saturation. But the most powerful aspect could be that a democratic company's bylaws distinguish between other democratic companies and feudal companies.

By preferencing other democratic companies ahead of feudal companies when volunteering to pay their suppliers more, we create a feedback loop that

• increases the likelihood a democratic company will outlive it's feudal competitors
• incentivizes creating democratic companies over feudal companies
• incentivizes transparency and accountability to the democratic company bylaws – losing your status as a democratic company could cost you a lot of money
• and enriches individuals working at democratic companies who are then likely to seek out and prefer other democratic companies when spending their money

All of which leads to more democratic companies, which further strengthens these incentives, leading to even more democratic companies, and so forth. This is why democratic companies give rise to a democratic economy whose behaviour is totally alien to our current system.

Enshittification, exploitation, environmental destruction, the rise of fascism, authoritarianism, and techno-feudalism are the stochastic destiny of the feudal economy. Without changing the economic paradigm they can never be avoided, only delayed. A democratic government can never successfully regulate and contain a feudal economy. But a democratic economy? That's an entirely different beast.

Instead of rewarding and empowering callous and uncaring people best equipped to exploit others on behalf of the rich, we empower the aspects of our humanity that created our first extrafamilial societies in the first place. By working together, holding each other accountable, and fairly sharing in the rewards of our efforts, we rekindle the checks and balances that protect our altruistic nature from exploitation. We can finally own the tools and the wealth, and we don't have to give up our lifestyles, autonomy, creativity, or individuality to do it.

That's why this idea works. It's so simple, and it is so deeply aligned with our shared nature. All we have to do is create these democratic companies, and in doing so we unlock a new stochastic destiny for humanity. Each democratic company we create increases the likelihood of success and survival for all democratic companies while simultaneously accelerating the proliferation of the democratic economy ahead of the feudal economy, ultimately replacing it.

And all of those feedback loops that help democratic companies? Those same feedback loops will weaken feudal companies. As democratic companies proliferate, and especially as they reach financial saturation, feudal companies will struggle to hire, they will struggle to secure suppliers and vendors, they will struggle to retain customers, and eventually they will struggle to raise money from investors as capital leaves the feudal economy and begins circulating exclusively in the democratic economy.

In the feudal economy, wealth is relative & inflationary, and there is no way of escaping that fact within the current economic paradigm. But a democratic economy is a different paradigm. Yes, we will experience some wealth by earning up to 8x the median wage, but actually, the vast majority of the wealth we will enjoy under the democratic economy will be due to price deflation. We'll also enjoy better working conditions, more meaningful work, better mental health, higher quality products and services, better environmental outcomes, more time with friends and family, socially and psychologically healthy communities, lower crime rates, more resilient and effective democratic governments, a more effective public sector that doesn't have to purchase enshittified services from the private sector, distributive and much more resilient supply chains, and even a reduction in international conflict. We won't simply be financially richer, we'll be richer in every way that matters.

If you want to go even deeper into the details of democratic companies, read Software Never Needed to Eat the World, and to understand the longterm implications for international peace, conflict, and world order check out International Conflict and the Democratic Economy.

Let's Start a Democratic Economy

I want us to create – for ourselves, our loved ones, everyone – the opportunity to work in a democratic company and experience life within a democratic economy in our lifetimes. To do that, I need your help.

Right now, the easiest yet most effective way to help is sharing this article with anyone you know that might be interested!

Next is signing up to the mailing list – it's free! Signing up means you won't miss out on future articles, allows you to comment on articles, and helps build community that can bring the democratic economy to life!

We also need help from people with very specific skill-sets, in particular:

• We need lawyers to help us create template democratic constitutions people can use to start their democratic businesses in different regions around the world.
• We need economists to help us flesh out our demo-economic models, helping us refine the democratic constitution and supporting systems.
• We need great communicators to help us spread the ideas and benefits of the democratic economy clearly and broadly to diverse audiences across all walks of life.
• We need translators to help us share the vision and resources beyond the english speaking portion of the world.
• We need accountants and financial experts to help us create the accounting systems and financial tools democratic companies need to ensure they are following the democratic constitution.
• We need software engineers & product designers to create business software tailored to the specific needs of democratic companies.
• We need people with skills in mathematics, statistics, programming, economics, anthropology, and psychology to help us create economic simulations across multiple techniques and levels of fidelity, to help us preemptively identify unintended consequences or missed opportunities.

If you are one of these people, please sign up and reach out by replying to the email you receive! If you know someone that might be able to help, please send them this article! Ever been so enraged by the world that you started a new economic paradigm about it and accidentally changed everything? 😉 Let's do this!