connected capital

[Dan Bell <dbell@kent.edu>]

Responding to Michael (in lower case) below:
>EMPLOYMENT IS NEITHER THE ONLY, NOR NECESSARILY THE MOST IMPORTANT
>CONNECTION BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SYSTEM. ONE IS A HUMAN BEING, A
>CITIZEN, A COMMUNITY MEMBER, ETC. IN ADDITION TO BEING A WORKER. I THINK
>SHAREHOLDING IS A FUNDAMENTAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE
>CORPORATE CAPITALIST SYSTEM AND THE UNEMPLOYED OR SELF-EMPLOYED DEFINITELY
>NEED TO HAVE THAT CONNECTION AS WELL. I DON'T THINK SHAREHOLDING IS
>DISCONNECTED AND CERTAINLY NOT WELFARE BECAUSE WITH SHAREHOLDING ONE HAS A
>STAKE IN POLITICS AND TAX POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ETC. AND MUST MAKE
>THE NECESSARY TRADE-OFFS AS A FULL PARTICIPANT. BUT THERE ARE STILL
>CORPORATE GOVERNANCE/STAKEHOLDERS ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE RESOLVED.
>MICHAEL

I agree that there are other ways to be connected to capital.
For example a CSOP (Consumer Stock Ownership Plan) could borrow
money to purchase stock in a local utility company for
expansion. The utility company's customers would have accounts
in the trust. There is an up-close relationship and this
stock would represent more than just a dividend paying piece
of paper to its owners.

Mutual funds on the other hand, while providing me with
diversification do not tend to lead me to take an active
interest in the activities of the companies owned. I am reduced
to having ROI be the only all-important factor.

To feel connected, I think shareholders need to be active,
not passive shareholders. I guess there is something
qualitatively different between actively "owning" shares,
and passively "having shares owned" on my behalf in a
trust.

Yet, if the state is going to assist me in accumulating
capital, it would seem this should be structured in a
way that I cannot "squander" the capital in a short term
way which leaves me back at where I started. A trust is one
example of a mechanism which could attempt to safeguard
against this.

And yet, how much can we / should we protect people from
themselves. And who's to say that the trustee's choices
will be better than the beneficiary?

Dan

--
Dan Bell
International Program Coordinator
Ohio Employee Ownership Center
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-3028
(330) 672-4063 fax
dbell@kent.edu
http://www.kent.edu/oeoc/