In a very radical plan, Labour proposes companies exceeding a headcount of 250 would be required to give shares to workers.
The Financial Times reports Row Erupts Over Labour’s 10% Shares Plan for UK Workers.
That headline is from last year, and unfortunately it’s not all.
Labour’s Big Plans
Commenting on the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Guardian reports on Labour’s Plan for Industry.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, want big companies to give employees a 10% stake in their business and a seat on their boards.
- They plan to renationalize rail, water, energy and Royal Mail, increase corporation tax and the minimum wage, and extend workers’ rights.
- Companies doing business with the government will have bosses’ pay capped and there will be a tax on financial transactions.
Of course, the Guardian, an extreme left-wing rag supports such policies.
Instead, look to Venezuela for what happens when countries renationalize industries and seize private property for the “good of everybody”.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
It’s not necessarily a bad idea. Employees do earn sweat equity and how many times have we seen employees who’ve given their all to a company for decades screwed out of due compensation when a company is privatized while CEOs who can barely be called successful make off like bandits.
I am a conservative however we need to find simple, common sense solutions to the inequality hardwired into the system which grossly over-rewards CEOs and top execs regardless of performance while employee get it from behind.
Excellent idea, they can take the shares out of the pension funds and give them directly to the people! See how they like that idea…I can see it from here “What do you fuc$ing mean you reduce my pension fund to give me shares! I want my pension funds and my shares!
The cash value of every viable corporation is already being transferred to the employees continuously in the form of a paycheck. Only an idiot or political demagogue cannot see that.
Giving shares to all employees isnt unheard of. Some tech companies still do this. I’m not in favor of forcing anyone to do it but good companies still so this as a matter of retention and incentives.
When you privatise a public service you change the aim or incentive to profit making rather than the service. EG to make a profit, a prison NEEDS prisoners, a hospital NEEDS sick people, and of course the big example of these days, is that a military NEEDS wars !
Walmart has 2 million employees and a market cap of $350B. $35B divided by 2 million is what, $17,500? Not a bad bonus, but whatever. Also, once the 10% has been given, what does the next person hired get? Nothing? There’s nothing left to give.
The waltons always have more to give. That’s why they are billionaires. Dont be naive dude
“Oh dear Mish, if you think the Guardian is an extreme left wing rag then it just goes to show how right wing you are.”
Vying for stupid comment of the month.
Forcing companies to give 10% of shares to workers is indeed radical.
Supporting re-nationalization of companies isn’t new, it’s just plain stupid as history shows.
Yes, the Guardian is extreme left-wing and I bet they would even agree!
I don’t know as I ‘d say extreme left wing, but clearly left wing and not centre left as they claim. I don’t even vote for right wing (or left wing) parties and thats pretty clear to me.
I haven’t been impressed with their Brexit coverage. Every little misdemeanor of the Tories is truimphantly seized upon, usually with a comment section for their readers to rage against the perfidy of the Tories while Labour is largely ignored except when they’re not being left wing enough.
Tsk tsk, If you remember Mish you thought the Social Democrats were Libdems. I answered your question and didn’t call you stupid. You have to face the fact that most mainland Europeans are to the left of Bernie and even in England the Conservative party up the election of the liar would be centre-left of the Democrats. You do not realise that a broad spectrum of your politicians from the rightwing of the Democratic party rightwards would be unelectable in the EU.
The Guardian is the Fox News of the left.
Silly comment of the month: “Mish, if you want to use Venezuela as a slippery slope fallacy every time you hear “socialism”, perhaps you could balance it up with Dickensian slums every time you hear “capitalism”. Unfettered capitalism is as dangerous as Utopian socialism.”
My reply: Well for starters, Venezuela is indeed the perfect example because Corbyn has sung its praises many times.
More importantly, your comment shows you are totally clueless about what capitalism even is!
And of course Trump’s sanctions have nothing to do with the state of the economy.
Venezuela’s economy was in the toilet before Trump.
Some time ago, Maduro decreed that electronics were too expensive. As a result, there was a run on stores and they were cleaned out. Imagine being a store owner buying merchandise and being forced to sell it at a loss, facing a criminal penalty if you don’t.
Ron, I agree entirely. Venezuela’s economy was shattered by the time Chavez died, well before Trump came to power.
Sure Mish – I’ve no idea what capitalism is. You keep believing that.
OK, so now you’ve reminded me that Corbyn is a Venezuela supporter, I see your reference – my bad Mish.
Oh dear Mish, if you think the Guardian is an extreme left wing rag then it just goes to show how right wing you are. This story is old hat and believe it or not is defended by saying it is an attempt to create a shareholding democracy. You may remember that the odious Thatcher set in train the current rentier paradise that we now live in she attempted to create another shareholder democracy, nothing remains of it. If you think that the Guardian is a left wing rag then you have to think that Angela Merkel is also a left wing demagogue. Worker representation on boards of all German companies has been settled policy in Germany for decades. The trade unions are also in charge of all apprenticeships in Germany.
Well said. As of the US-Anglo corporate model has been a raging successful.
Here Bob, read this paper and then explain the argument you have to the Brits for giving up the NHS:
Read the f’ing comment@themonosynaptic — you are having a completely different argument with yourself
If you don’t like the U.K. Bob, move somewhere else. Unless of course you don’t live there and so don’t know what you are talking about. The NHS, like all health care systems, has its strengths and weaknesses, but the Brits wouldn’t swap if for the U.S. system in a hundred years. Why do you think that is? (Hint: if somebody in your family gets cancer in the U.K., you aren’t likely to lose your savings, house and credit status in the U.K., instead you get high quality healthcare. Not usually a difficult choice for most Brits.)
I didn’t say the US health system was better. You said that.
I simply said the UK cannot afford to keep its NHS going forward without lots of external subsidies like royalties from the north sea oil fields.
Wrong Country Bob. Our systems is far worst shape than NHS. The only problem with the NHS is the tories constantly unfunded.
You are all too obviously the product of a California indoctrination camp (you call them schools, but lets be honest and call them what they really are: they are politcal indoctrination camps).
Whether or not the US system sucks more or sucks less — that would not make the NHS solvent. Royalties from north sea oil fields made (past tense) the NHS solvent. Before north sea oil, UK government spending drove the UK into bankruptcy and an IMF bailout. Now that the north sea fields have peaked, the UK is circling the drain again. It won’t fail overnight, but it will fail again because the UK economy will not cover the costs of “free” NHS without oil royalties.
And saying the US system sucks more won’t change the fact the NHS is bankrupting the UK.
Canada’s “free” health system also relies on heavy taxes AND oil royalties. Without those oil royalties, Canada’s health system will collapse. This is the reason Canada bailed out of the Kyoto Accord. Canada’s government realized the accord wasn’t happening either way, and they didn’t want to tell voter’s that the Canadian system is unaffordable without oil royalties.
Even Bernie Sanders admitted that his medicare for all plan will bankrupt what is left of the US government.
Go ahead and whine all you want. Soil your diapers. It won’t make government health care viable
Sure it is. I’ve worked in the US healthcare/hospital system for 33 years now and we have some of the best medical treatments around. The problem is the insurance system and government red tape driving up costs. I use our companies medical coverage (as do my kids) and my wife uses her companies medical. None of us have ever had problems with treatment but that is not the case for those I know who use government medicare. It is horrid. My mother said her medicare has fine print to not even call them but to call her supplemental insurer. If she does call the government office, they hang up on her. No thank you. I will run from government healthcare.
Universal Health Care is the future. Not some amalgamated for profit health system.
It would be dreadful if they ran the equivalent of a $1.5T deficit to fund it, wouldn’t it?
Mish, if you want to use Venezuela as a slippery slope fallacy every time you hear “socialism”, perhaps you could balance it up with Dickensian slums every time you hear “capitalism”. Unfettered capitalism is as dangerous as Utopian socialism.
The Libertarians and the Communists have a lot in common – I’ve spent too much time listening to both and they both sacrifice reality to the alter of an expectation of human society and individual people that would be funny if these clowns didn’t get their hands on power every so often.
Most of California doesn’t have clean water? Har har. Did you fail out of Trump University?
I noticed that California has a perpetual water shortage, and is constantly fighting with Nevada and Arizona for water rights.
California has lots of salt water in the Pacific. Lots of polluted water from its own territory.
But potable water is in VERY short supply, at least according to people who live and work in California. Not sure why CA is constantly filing lawsuits against neighboring states for water rights if everything is so wonderful.
So yes smart@ss, California has a shortage of clean water.
Drivel. Just about everybody has plenty of clean water in California. I’ve got a 40,000 gallon pool in my backyard, like many Californians, and pump plenty of water onto my nice green grass, even though I live in basically a desert.
Did you even get into Trump University?
You said “most of California … [has] clean water problems”.
It doesn’t. It is as simple as that.
The southern half of CA doesn’t have clean water — stealing water from AZ and NV doesn’t change the fact that it is AZ and NV water, not California.
Many parts of northern California also have no clean water of their own ( again, stealing other state’s clean water doesn’t make it yours).
For those that squeaked thru CA indoctrination camps (not really schools now, are they?) — southern half plus several more northern parts is more than 50%…. so MOST
Sorry your schooling is so poor.
I notice you didn’t even try to challenge the homelessness, filth and disease that also dominates your sh!t hole of a state
The best water I have tasted out of the tap was not far north of Duluth MN I dont know what ism that part of the country is but the tap water was superior to another I had in the lower 48
Country bob you got owned. accept the L and leave lol
“I notice you didn’t even try to challenge the homelessness, filth and disease that also dominates your sh!t hole of a state”
I’ll bet I can find filth and disease close to where you live. Homelessness isn’t a problem unique to California, but where I live we have it under control and well managed. SF is out there in many ways, but my friend conducts free tours of SF ( link to sfcityguides.org) and sees none of these issues.
SF has a unique situation in that the Tenderloin, the poorest district, is right between the financial district and the Civic/Arts center – most city councils would have bulldozed the Tenderloin and turned it into yuppy flats and pushed the forgotten out of sight. SF, for whatever reason, hasn’t done that and has homeless friendly ordinances, with all the attendant downside.
Trust me, there are plenty of SF residents that oppose the situation, but it is SF – if you don’t like it, don’t visit or live there.
We don’t need to travel all the way to Venezuela, we can look to socialist enclaves in the USA: NYC, Philli, Baltimore, Chicago, and most of California.
Like Venezuela, these formerly first world cities are run as socialist utopias. Taxes are off the charts. Regulations are off the charts. Government bureaucrats come and seize property at will — sometimes via mandated spending (they order you to spend your money on their priorities), sometimes a very liberal interpretation of eminent domain. Sometimes the co-op board or HOA has work done and puts a lien on “your” property for the inflated bill.
These socialist utopias account for the most gun violence in the USA. They don’t collect garbage and have clean water problems, just like a 3rd world socialist country. Homelessness, used needles, and human feces are all over the streets. Medieval diseases like the black plague and lepracy are rampant, as is hepatitis.
In these socialist utopias, many neighborhoods are off limits to outsiders, including the police, fire and ambulance. Outsiders will be shot without warning. Police only enter these neighborhoods in heavy armor, SWAT teams and helicopter support.
That is socialism’s mark on the USA so far. The damage and suffering in Venezuela and Bolivia is much worse, but it is not safe to travel to either of those places.
London-istan has more CCTV cameras than Beijing, despite China being a totalitarian state while UK claims (at least on paper) to be a pseudo-democracy (academics will want to argue details of a constitutional monarchy, but I’m focusing on practicality not pedantic bullsh!t).
Parliament ignored the referendum to leave the EU, so in practical terms, the UK is already a totalitarian state ruled by officials, not unlike the CCCP rules China.
History will rhyme (not repeat exactly) — the UK will go bankrupt again, just as it did in the 1970s. It will need another bailout from the IMF, but now the IMF is bankrupt too. This time the north sea oil fields have been exploited, so its not clear where the UK will get required revenue going forward even if the IMF gives them a bridge loan….. ergo the NHS will collapse along with a lot of other UK government programs. The notion that UK is capable of continuing to pay into the EU ponzi scheme is absurd, they can’t even pay for domestic spending.
PS – how is the nationalization of RBS going, 10 years in? Can the UK run a bank or what!
North Sea oil oil peaked in the 1990s and now contributes a lot of money to Government coffers in percentage terms it is tiny. You really are a numpty
I live in california and I can say with definite certainty you dont have a grain of dust of an idea what you’re talking about. Learn about places before talking shit. Maybe visit. Maybe talk to locals. Learn a thing or two. Get out of your right wing bubble.
So far divorced from reality. I still see out of state license plates moving to California. People are leaving San Franciso but it was never a big city to begin with. Before you write anything I’ve lived in the south, east coast and west for at least 10 years each. The most recent poverty maps show the worst poverty still in the south and midwest and rural areas are worse than urban areas. This is telling.
Awful lot of REALLY defensive Californians on here. You have been drinking the state kool-aid that everything in California is liposuction, saline boobs and botox…. and you don’t like having the seedy underside of your sh!t hole state talked about.
If you could stop arguing with me, and instead try to convince the thousands of ex-Californians moving out of your state and into mine that your state doesn’t suck. You losers voted to make your state a sh!t hole, so enjoy the fruits of what you created and don’t try to mess up other states.
I live in LA and am a registered Democrat. That being said I can’t wait to get outta here because of the amount of homeless folks on the street is heartbreaking, the human feces everywhere, the smell of urine everywhere, the completly unresponsive to the people democratic machine, and the wealthy homeowners that don’t realize a lot of their housing based wealth is due to socialism for the wealthy from the Fed policies. These same folks made wealthy by Fed policies while renters were screwed by them not lifting a finger to help the homeless is just plain crazy making. I recently overheard a young woman(recent immigrant) from Italy talking to a friend in Italy telling them LA is worse than your wildest imagined nightmare. And this is from someone that lives in Culver City…for those of you familiar with LA.
Sounds similar to what is happening up here in Seattle (but not quite there yet). I used to be a Democrat before the DNC went total Socialist bat crazy.
Workers get 10%. Wow that might almost equal what CEO’s get. We can’t have that.