I have some meta-level questions! What has it been like to successfully crowdfund a really ambitious project, in a really unorthodox way? What have been the biggest struggles with the Elysian this year, psychologically, creatively, intellectually? Have there been any instances of 'breakthrough' articles that added a lot of new readers, or has it been slow and steady? Anything that pissed a lot of people off and made them unsubscribe?
You have written a lot recently about employees owning part of the company. One of the challenges this sort of system faces is that many (maybe most?) people would prefer to have money in their pocket today than maybe having some extra money in their pocket in the future. Payday loan companies are an excellent expression of this idea.
This problem is analogous to many similar social problems, such as poverty, where many (not all) cases are not a result of society, but the poor decision making of individuals. How do you propose we handle these types of cases? Should we work to make more options available, and let people decide for themselves which direction to go, or should we be more proactive?
There is such a tension in this question. For instance: We know that people won't save for retirement unless the governement (or a company) does it for them. In an ideal world, should everyong just get all of the money upfront and spend it wisely?
And yet, when the government leaves it all up to invidividuals, their bad choices cost the government a lot of money later on when they don't have money for retirement/health, and become a drag on state resources as they become impoverished during periods of ailment/old age.
With employee ownership, I currently advocate for a middle position! Employees need another way for their equity to be liquid apart from leaving the company or exiting. Employees should get equity in their companies (so they have assets that grow in value apart from just static salaries), but since they already have retirement accounts and other social systems that can provide for the rest, they should also be able to sell that equity and be able to use it as they wish—perhaps to buy a home or start a business, or really anything they need!
Talking about Revolutions, currently the grievances against the global economic/power system is coming to a perilous state again, sort of say end of 19th century which with historic hindsight resulted in two world wars and the current global power system. How does one survive power struggle revolutions? That is: join the revolution, smash the system and hope for the best or be steadfast in gradual reforms?
I have some meta-level questions! What has it been like to successfully crowdfund a really ambitious project, in a really unorthodox way? What have been the biggest struggles with the Elysian this year, psychologically, creatively, intellectually? Have there been any instances of 'breakthrough' articles that added a lot of new readers, or has it been slow and steady? Anything that pissed a lot of people off and made them unsubscribe?
I'm on it!
You have written a lot recently about employees owning part of the company. One of the challenges this sort of system faces is that many (maybe most?) people would prefer to have money in their pocket today than maybe having some extra money in their pocket in the future. Payday loan companies are an excellent expression of this idea.
This problem is analogous to many similar social problems, such as poverty, where many (not all) cases are not a result of society, but the poor decision making of individuals. How do you propose we handle these types of cases? Should we work to make more options available, and let people decide for themselves which direction to go, or should we be more proactive?
There is such a tension in this question. For instance: We know that people won't save for retirement unless the governement (or a company) does it for them. In an ideal world, should everyong just get all of the money upfront and spend it wisely?
And yet, when the government leaves it all up to invidividuals, their bad choices cost the government a lot of money later on when they don't have money for retirement/health, and become a drag on state resources as they become impoverished during periods of ailment/old age.
With employee ownership, I currently advocate for a middle position! Employees need another way for their equity to be liquid apart from leaving the company or exiting. Employees should get equity in their companies (so they have assets that grow in value apart from just static salaries), but since they already have retirement accounts and other social systems that can provide for the rest, they should also be able to sell that equity and be able to use it as they wish—perhaps to buy a home or start a business, or really anything they need!
Talking about Revolutions, currently the grievances against the global economic/power system is coming to a perilous state again, sort of say end of 19th century which with historic hindsight resulted in two world wars and the current global power system. How does one survive power struggle revolutions? That is: join the revolution, smash the system and hope for the best or be steadfast in gradual reforms?
+1, this is a great question
This is a very good question, and something I've been thinking about a lot. I'll write on this!