The 99 Percent Economy: How Democratic Socialism Can Overcome the Crises of Capitalism

We live in a time of crises - economic turmoil, workplacedisempowerment, unresponsive government, environmental degradation,social disintegration, and international rivalry. In The 99Percent Economy, Paul S. Adler, a leading expert on businessmanagement, argues that these crises are destined to deepen unlesswe radically transform our economy.But despair is not an option, and Adler provides a compellingalternative: democratic socialism. He argues that to overcome thesecrises we need to assert democratic control over the management ofboth individual enterprises and the entire national economy. Toshow how that would work, he draws on a surprising source ofinspiration: the strategic management processes of many of ourlargest corporations. In these companies, the strategy processpromises to involve and empower workers and to ensure efficiencyand innovation. In practice, this promise is rarely realized, butin principle, that process could be consolidated within enterprisesand it could be scaled-up to the national level.Standing in the way? Private ownership of society's productiveresources, which is the foundation of capitalism's ruthlesscompetition and focus on private gain at the cost of society, theenvironment, and future generations. Adler shows how socialized,public ownership of our resources will enable democratic councilsat the local and national levels to decide on our economic, social,and environmental goals and on how to reach them. The growingconcentration of industry makes this socialization step evereasier.Democratic socialism is not a leap into the unknown, Adler shows.Capitalist industry has built the foundations for a world beyondcapitalism and its crises.