Where does that money come from? Because the typical way to getting that capital, is by selling shares of the company, but you just said they can't be bought or sold, thus no one would have any reason to give money to a company.
Where did the money for Mondragon come from?
Mondragon Corporation - Wikipedia
"The
Mondragon Corporation is a
corporation and
federation of
worker cooperatives based in the
Basque region of Spain.
"It is the largest cooperative in the world.
[4]
"It was founded in the town of
Mondragon in 1956 by
José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical college he founded. Its first product was
paraffin heaters.
"It is the seventh-largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country.
"At the end of 2016, it employed 74,117 people in 257 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge."
Capital gains are not the only source of compensating initial investors/workers. Imagine a WSDE cooperative version of a successful tech company earning a billion$ a year.
No individual associated with such an enterprise could earn more than one percent of total revenues.
No employee of such an enterprise would earn less than ten percent of the highest paid worker.
Like I said before. Go read the testimonies of people who worked for Mondragon.
The workers have zero voice in the operation of the company. Zero.
They don't earn more money than people at other similar jobs. They don't have any real vote in how the company operates.
Workers are so completely detached from any aspect of the company, that Mondragon has to make it a company rule to force workers to come to company meetings. The workers saw it as a waste of time, and thus the company had to make it mandatory to show up at the coop meetings.
No individual associated with such an enterprise could earn more than one percent of total revenues.
No employee of such an enterprise would earn less than ten percent of the highest paid worker.
So here's my one point on this.... Why would that matter?
Seriously... why does that matter to you at all?
Mondragon does not pay it's employees any differently, or more money, than any other similar store.
The cashier at Mondragon, makes the same money, as the cashier at another store.
So let's pretend for a moment, that you imposed this on Walmart.
So you are at Walmart making $10/hour.
Across the street is Mejiers where cashiers make.... $10/hour.
You reduced how much the CEO of Walmart makes. Because now he can only earn 10 times as much, or $200,000 a year.
But what is that to you? You still make just $10/hour. No more money than the guy across the street at Mejiers making $10/hour.
Why do you care? There is only one reason you would care, and that would be if you are motivated by envy and hate. Because the CEO earning less money doesn't benefit you at all.
It reminds me of when I was in high school, there were two grocery stores that I could apply for a job at. One was unionized. A student in school tried to get me to go to that store for a job. I went to the non-union store instead. I earned exactly the same amount of money as the guy at the Union job, except.... I didn't have Union dues I had to pay.
And lastly, the biggest myth in this entire story, is that somehow things are more equal. Things are not more equal at Mondragon than anywhere else. Not even close.
Mondragon Executives enjoying an all paid Champaign dinner at an expensive elite venue in Spain.
Más de 140 profesionales, empresarios y autoridades han asistido este lunes al último desayuno empresarial de 2017 de Navarra Capital. Iñigo Ucín, presidente de Mondragón ha hablado sobre el modelo de este negocio en el que ha destacado la solidaridad y corresponsabilidad de sus empresas...
navarracapital.es
You think the cashiers at Mondragon are more equal to the executives? Really? The base hourly worker at Mondragon, is no 'more equal' to the CEOs and executives at Mondragon, than the cashiers at Walmart to the Executives at Walmart.
They have no more voice in how the company runs at Mondragon than a cashier at Walmart.
Now don't get me wrong....
If you want that system, by all means open your own business, and run it that way. But don't patronize me with this idea that at Mondragon, the wealthy elites are more equal to the hourly worker... they are not. The rich are rich. The poor are poor. Mondragon is no different.
Mondragon works exceptionally hard at keeping up appearances to make it look like they are this egalitarian utopia, but that is just to fool the gullible that want to believe it.
That said, by the way... I highly doubt your system would work in a high end tech company.
The reason I doubt it, is that in order to survive in the high end tech, you need to have a vision of the future, and are willing to put in thousands of hours to make that future happen.
Bad CEOs in tech companies result in the companies disappearing. Where is AST Computers? AST Computers were 1/3 of all computers sold in the 1990s. Where are they today? Gone. They don't exist. Bad CEO, bad future vision, company.
You can't even have a CEO that just coasts along. Apple computer had John Sculley in the 1990s, and Apple computer almost went the same way as AST Computers, and some even called for them to close.
Then came Steve Jobs, with a vision, and a future, and put in thousands on thousands of hours to make it happen.
That doesn't happen by chance. If you think you are going to get quality CEOs like Steve Jobs, by offering $200K a year, you are wrong. A workers Co-op for Apple computer, would have resulted in Apple no longer existing. Steve Jobs would have been at a new company somewhere else, making billion dollar products.
But if you want to try it.... I'm not opposed. By all means, build your own company, and run it like a co-op. Best of luck.
