[PLUG] OT, FYI...IBM Layoff

Neil Anuskiewicz neil at pacifier.com
Wed May 29 13:40:59 UTC 2002


On Wed, 29 May 2002, Jeme A Brelin wrote:

> No argument there.  Management is rightly a servant class; managing
> business affairs that aren't directly related to productivity.
> Unfortunately, many people in management believe they manage the
> production or workers.  They exist to prevent the truly productive
> employees from being distracted from the truly productive work by
> unproductive processes (like time and expense reporting).

And they manage the production of workers. A good manager makes sure that
workers are working on the *right* things in addition to being productive.
That is, he or she sets priorities that align with business/organizational
goals.

I've seen productive, hard working, talented people off working
on something they find personally interesting or satisfying rather than
what is best for the organization and its goals.

> A better model than the "publicly" held corporation used today is a worker
> held syndicate where decisions are made collectively on information from
> designated advisors and researchers and what is today called
> "management" is either eliminated or simply reclassified as "business
> administration"... the generic, non-industry-specific tasks common to
> whole classes of production.

And you and anyone else who are interested in this sort of arrangement can
organize a business around these principles, right?

I think a fair number of businesses are organized around different
principles. For example, REI is a cooperative. There are food cooperatives
and community supported agricultural in many communities. There are a
number of employee owned businesses out there and people are free to set
them up as they wish.

When I lived in Olympia I volunteered at the local food coop making carrot
juice for about 4 horus per week; in return I got 25% food which was a
nice deal for good quality food. That is an example of a business model
where the customers kind of own the business and contribute to its
operation.

> The modern corporation is a sick creature.  It is a collective
> intelligence constructed poorly and operating contrary to its own purpose.
> It is, in short, selfish and insane.

Can some improvements be made? Of course. That said, it is worth pointing
out that humans live better than they ever have in history of human
history. Would you trade places with any other era? If so which one and
why? If you go back in time to that era I hope you get your shots first.

> Direct employee control (a democratized workplace; which includes and
> requires a debt-free organization) resolves all of the problems of
> exploitation by the wealthy.

Again, you and others with whom you organize, are free to setup such a
company and prove how well it works. You can choose a debt free
organization but, of couse, you should not impose that on others. Debt is
not always a bad thing. In fact, debt for investment in plant and
equipment is a good thing. For the individual, debt in order to increase
assets is usually a good thing (e.g., debt to own a home). Debt for mere
consumption of non durable goods or services is usually a bad thing. But
that should be up to the individual or business!


> OK, that's a bit pie-in-the-sky.  I mean, I definitely see the real
> probability that the rich and powerful will find a way to destroy that
> organization and anyone who uses such a model and that they have
> constructed an entire economic and social system based on usury and
> bribery in order to prevent such an organization from finding a foot-hold.

That is just an excuse to talk about what you think the ideal society
would be like, and not actually trying some of these models out for
yourself. The idea that one can or should transform society through
politics is a destructive notion and one that usually results in more harm
than good. It is someone having an idelogy that he or she thinks is right
and then trying to impose this ideology on everyone whether they share
this ideology or not.

You have latched on this to this idea that debt is bad and because YOU
think debt is bad, nobody should be able to lend or borrow. You want to
impose your ideas on everyone even though a vast majority of people want
the option of borrowing.

Imposing idealogy and shoe horning a new system onto society. That is the
domain of tyrants.

By far, history's worst murderers and oppressors were those who thought
that way: Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc., etc., etc., etc.


-- 
Neil Anuskiewicz
neil at pacifier.com





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