Economic Democracy
In After Capitalism and other works, Schweickart has developed the model of market socialism he refers to as "economic democracy". In his own words "Economic Democracy is a market economy." It embodies several key ideas:
- Workplace self-management, including election of supervisors
- Management of capital investment by a form of public banking
- A market for goods, raw materials, instruments of production, etc.
- Protectionism to enforce trade equality between nations
The firms and factories are owned by society and managed by the workers. These enterprises, so managed, compete in markets to sell their goods. Profit is shared by the workers. Each enterprise is taxed for the capital they employ, and that tax is distributed to public banks, who fund expansion of existing and new industry.
Read more about this topic: David Schweickart
Famous quotes containing the words economic and/or democracy:
“The American suffrage movement has been, until very recently, altogether a parlor affair, absolutely detached from the economic needs of the people.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“It was the feeling of a passenger on an ocean steamer whose mind will not give him rest until he has been in the engine-room and talked with the engineer. She wanted to see with her own eyes the action of primary forces; to touch with her own eyes the action of primary forces; to touch with her own hand the massive machinery of society; to measure with her own mind the capacity of the motive power. She was bent upon getting to the heart of the great American mystery of democracy and government.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)