[Zope] corporations, accountability, and trade

[Ethan Fremen]

leriati,
I have a brief question. I'm of the opinion that changing the way organizations go about doing their thing is meta-programming on a macro scale, and is thus appropriate to this list.  If anyone has any feelings about it that are stronger than their delete key, please let me know.

OK.

What organizations need:

1. they need to be more accountable.  Every buisness or organization should be required to maintain open books- i.e., on the internet and also the way other public firms are.  Small firms or non-profits might only need to put them on the net (can't make 'em bear dead-tree costs)

2. transaction-economies should be transparent.  Every good or service should sell for market price.  Government subsidizing of goods and services distorts the valuation, and should stop. 

Individuals and organizations may pool money to aquire goods and services, and in this manner replicate the social benefit supposedly deriving from governmental agency.

3. Governments should attempt to derive most of their income from providing regulatory services and begin to deemphasize tax-taking.

For example, retirement could be funded by mandatory retirement funds, where 5% of your income over your lifetime would go into an account and invested as you see fit. It would be your money, not the governments. Individuals offering investments that qualify for the retirement fund would pay the government, and the government would ensure (not insure) that the investment vehicles met certain standards for stability and quality.

This can be tricky because of conflict of interest issues, but I think it's manageable.

4. We need to focus more on our methods of accounting and attempt to capture more of the true costs of what we do in our transactional economies.  This includes not subsidizing damaging behavior.

--
Ethan "mindlace" Fremen
you cannot abdicate responsibility
for your ideology.