The worst three things that can happen to a company are an MBA, going public and private equity. (And to any trolls, no, co-ops are not “going public.”)

Capitalists actively weaken strong, healthy commerce.

This comment doesn‘t seem to understand the difference between a capital owner and a leadership position.

Someone who owns a machine is a capitalist (capital owner). That owner can then use the machine to produce something themselves or rent it to out to others. They can also find a different person to produce something with the machine or rent it out. In return for the use of the capital (machine), the owner ask for rent in the form of a share of profits (this is where shares come from) or a fixed rate (rent, credit).

In the ideal case the capitalist gets a steady return without putting in much labor besides checking his bank account regularly. They are not a leader though and don’t make managerial or business decisions on what jobs to take on, who to hire, and other day to day operations. All of that is on the guy running the show, a leader, or CEO.

Of course in practice even most CEOs paid in shares don’t own a significant part of the company. CEOs are hired by the actual owners to perform a job.

Entrepreneurship and starting a business also needs different skills, than keep an existing business running. The former means taking high risks and innovating rapidly. The latter means stability and evolutionary change.

CEO should be a position where people take turns doing it. Like the anarcho-syndicalist peasants in Monty Python.

The hilarious myth that “company management” is this all-encompassing task that only the very best people in the world can do instead of a bunch of very menial tasks that would be easily taken on by a handful of staff instead of one person.

For small companies in particular, for larger companies they already have a staff dedicated to management and still pretend like the CEO does something unique or important.

How about a system where:

-people petition and propose plans to start businesses including who’s going to run it. This shows that people want the business and are serious.

-startup costs are covered by taxes

-workers take over once the business is stable and a leadership vote is held.

-businesses can’t buy other businesses

-set criteria and a timeline for a business to be considered stable and fold it if it doesn’t meet either of those.

-businesses pay taxes and people do not.

Or something like that. I don’t know, I’m just spit-balling here.

The number of anti-socialist arguments that are repackaged anti-democracy arguments is very high.