Natalie Golovin wrote:
Govts don't have to be owned and operated by Corporations. Its up to an educated and responsible citizenry to maintain sound govt or democracy will fail.
Corporations routinely purchase legislation and favors from those we 'elect' using the Profits that we, the consumers, pay to those bodies. We, as individuals, cannot afford to pay politicians in this way unless we become as productive as the corporations we blindly support.
Yes, Co-Ops are wonderful-wish there were more of them.
Stop brushing me off as yet another proponent of Co-Ops. Co-Ops have not replaced Capitalism because they are actually Capitalistic at their cores. Co-Ops DO NOT do what I propose. Look at the Consumer Cooperative REI for example. The consumers pay up-front and supposedly become co-owners, yet they still purchase the product from the group for Price above Cost (they pay Profit). This is extremely inefficient and eventually concentrates power into the hands of the originators. Imputed Production is more similar to bulk-buying - where consumers pre-pay for Products which they then fully OWN (according to the % of the Costs they paid) - without needing to buy those Products back from the group yet again. In this case, Price and Cost are the same and Profit is undefined because the final transaction is missing.
Suggest you undertake more rigorous study re scarcity-marginal costs-risks etc.
I suggest you read my analysis more carefully and reconsider the origin and purpose of Profit instead of repeating the same old story that got us into this mess in the first place. Profit arises from the consumers lack ownership in the Means of Production, and disappears completely when the consumers have sufficient ownership in the Means of Production. Profit measures the consumer's willingness to grow the corporation, and so should be treated as an Investment from that Payer - so that all consumers incrementally gain co-ownership in the Means of Production needed to eliminate their need to pay tribute to others.