Timacapitalism

This blogpost ‘Timacapitalism’ is a more concise description of the concept ‘co-operativecapitalism’ first outlined in the website www.co-operativecapitalism.com , without all the supporting research and ancillary findings.
 
Capitalism
 
We cannot deny the benefits of pre millennium capitalism. Free market capitalism has created developments that have been enormously beneficial to the living standards of mankind. That entrepreneurs are more creative, inventive, industrious, tenacious, risk averse or more philanthropic has benefitted living standards in countless ways.
 
Capitalism Developments
 
Bo Rothstein [12]- commented in the Swedish documentary ‘Can We Do It Ourselves’:

‘Today’s capitalism is very different to how it used to be back in the day. Back then there were hard working individuals who owned the capital, had the skills, the initiative and the abilities, and who also helped to run the business. Today for example, more than 80% of the Swedish stock exchange is owned by investment funds, pension funds and so on. They lack the interest, ability or control of production and they do not really care. No doubt there are similar statistics on other share markets.’

‘There is a difference between how capitalism is marketed and how capitalism actually works. It is marketed with these models … the idea of the free market, the choosing consumer and the idea that the consumer is ultimately in charge. In reality, however, many corporations strive for monopoly. Many corporations want exclusive power over the market and will do whatever it takes to get that power, sometimes being granted by Governments. Historically, striving for that power has led to war, plundering and colonialism. Today corporations try to manipulate governments to enforce particular rules that suit certain interests, and thus invest heavily in persuasive lobbying. Advertisement is another way and also buying up competing companies taking them out of the market. The free market can be a means for certain capitalists to take over the market in order to abolish the free market because they want monopoly power.’

‘Businesses work really hard not to have competition and free markets. The really big money is to be made in markets that are not free, that are not competitive. This is the single idea that we really have to understand. Free markets and competition are really good things but businesses will move heaven and earth not to have to operate in such environments.’

‘Power becomes the dominating principle not efficiency, not social well-being, not environmental concern for our planet, and not life fulfilment for individuals.’
 
Capitalism through its evolution has undoubtedly been beneficial to living standards for the vast majority. Capitalism’s evolution, however, has also been subject to lobbying by vested interests. In countries where political parties rely on members and donations for campaign funding, it is inevitable that domestic and foreign policies can be influenced by the lobbying of major supporters. This leads to situation where powerful bankers and international corporates can influence government policy.
 
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), numerous corporations are now bigger than many nation states. Some measures suggest that half of the world’s largest economies are multinational global corporates, and that General Motors is bigger than Denmark, that DaimlerChrysler is bigger than Poland; Royal Dutch /Shell bigger than Venezuela, and Sony bigger than Pakistan.
 
Bo Rothstein - commented again on the Swedish documentary ‘Can We Do It Ourselves’:
‘Like the aristocratic ownership of huge tracts of land, which in 1791 Tom Paine attacked in his book ‘The Rights Of Man’, these large corporate productive assets remain effectively in the hands of a very few, very rich people, and make our claims to real democracy look pretty thin. In Tom Paine’s lifetime the capitalist system was in its infancy. As an advocate of equality and democracy, he focused his attack on the landed aristocracy, the nobility, the monarchy, and on their ownership of huge swathes of land. He seems to have assumed that the market system, then involving mainly small traders and craftsmen, would remain small-scale, fairly egalitarian, and so compatible with democracy. Had he foreseen how the development of huge multinational corporations would surpass the concentrations of wealth and undemocratic power of his day, he would surely have included them in his sights. The classical figure John Stuart Mill, a leader of classical liberalism, took it for granted that the workplace would be under the control of the people that worked there. Go back further to Adam Smith (or David Hulme), they argued that a fundamental feature of human nature is sympathy for others. He also took for granted along with other classical liberals that a society should be designed so that it provides the most extensive possible support for the fulfilment of individual capacities. The creation of opportunities for people to live their creative and fulfilling lives, and so on, and I think if you trended it – if you go beyond what they were talking about and asked what sort of society they envisaged. I think it is quite consistent with the conclusion that Mill drew explicitly – a kind of economic democracy’.      
 
We know from a reading of Yuval Harari's book 'Sapiens' (published by Penguin 2011) that established institutions are not necessarily functioning in the most advantageous way.  As Harari showed us, they are not based on an objective reality but rather they are myths that have been agreed upon as they evolved. Capitalism has evolved, and was shaped, from times when employees would have been illiterate, which opened the door for exploitation and greed resulting in the emergence of trade unionism.
 
 
 
Sociological Changes
 
Since the Industrial Revolution there has been major advancements in technology which continues at an accelerated pace, but our lives have also been subject to sociological changes.
 
From Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s book 'The Spirit Level'[8]

‘People’s sense of identity used to be embedded in the community to which they belonged, in people’s real knowledge of each other. Now, in increasingly mobile and fast changing times, it is cast adrift in the anonymity of mass society. Familiar faces have been replaced by a constant flux of strangers. People used to grow up knowing, and being known by, many of the same people all their lives. Although geographical mobility has been increasing for several generations, the last half century has seen a particularly rapid rise. At the beginning of this period it was still common for people – in rural and urban areas alike – never to have travelled much beyond the boundaries of their immediate city or village community. Married brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents, tended to remain living nearby and the community consisted of people who had often known each other for much of their lives. But now that so many people move from where they grew up, knowledge of neighbours tends to be superficial or non-existent. As a result, who we are, identity itself, is endlessly open to question.’

‘It is a remarkable paradox that at the pinnacle of human material and technological achievement, we find ourselves anxiety ridden, prone to depression, worried about how others see us, unsure of our friendships, driven to consume, with little or no community life, and an alienated sense of not being part of a larger purpose. Lacking the relaxed social contact and emotional satisfaction we all need, we seek comfort in over-eating, obsessive shopping and spending, or becoming prey to excessive alcohol, psychoactive medicines and illegal drugs.’
 
An important psychological need of people is the sense of belonging to, or being part of, a wider grouping. Quoting Yuval Harari from the book 'Sapiens' p.403 (published by Penguin 2011) 'Millions of years of evolution have designed us to live and think as community members. Within a mere two centuries we have become alienated individuals'. Although undoubtedly beneficial in raising living standards, capitalism, and other cultural changes, have undermined that sense of belonging and the high levels of antidepressant use and high levels of suicide are results of an increased feeling of alienation within society.
 
A common need in human society across all cultures is the need to belong and be accepted by others. A sense of belonging is crucial to our life satisfaction, happiness, mental and physical health and even longevity. It gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. Research has shown that loss of belonging has been associated with stress, illness and decreased wellbeing and depression. Abraham Maslow ranked the need for belonging as the next level up after physiological needs (like food and sleep) and safety needs in his 'Hierarchy of Needs'.

We can take a lead from the Maori proverb ‘What is the most important thing in the world? ‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.’ It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.
 
 



American Foreign Policy
 
The neoliberal campaign of the 1990’s, the Ronald Regan era,  was very successful in removing most constraints on the operations of capitalism, allowing for less regulated more predatory, more extractive capitalism.
 
Political campaigning in America requires immense financial support, and, if it is powerful banks and corporates providing that financial support, it is inevitable that they will influence policy decisions that are beneficial to their continued prosperity.
At the end of the second world war America was by far the most powerful country economically in the world. With that status we may have expected that America would have championed free sovereign nations with democracy. The leader of the free world has not necessarily wanted to expand the number of free sovereign democracies. American Foreign policy has followed a doctrine as articulated by the President Clinton administration where he declared that the ‘United States has the right to use military force to ensure uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources, and must maintain huge military forces forward deployed in Europe and Asia, in order to shape people’s opinions about us and to shape events that will affect our livelihood and our security’. Furthermore, the United States has used persuasive questionable strategies to undermine left leaning political regimes, in order to maintain an element of control on regions. Free trade agreements with America have included clauses which give American businesses the right to sue trading nations if American businesses encounter restrictions on access to markets or resources. With a status of having the most powerful economy in the world America has managed to create a lot of anti-American feeling with its foreign policies. American interests that align with the doctrine articulated by the Clinton adminstration are better served by having compliant authoritative regimes rather than risk a democratic populus with anti-American views. The doctrine expressed by President Clinton intended to give stability and certainty of access for American interests has had the opposite outcome of destabilising the world and in many countries creating deep anti-American sentiment.

Very powerful banks and corporates that support American political parties are more aligned with the doctrine articulated by the Clinton administration than in developing a more just world. It is of no interest that these powerful banks and corporates would want people to live more creative and fulfilling lives in a peaceful world, as envisaged by the classical figure John Stuart Mill, the leader of classical liberalism.

Keeping the people moderately happy but controlled is fertile ground for corporate riches, except that the majority of the people are not moderately happy. The pursuit of power and control has destabilised the world.

If the influence of very powerful bankers and corporates has led to the destabilising foreign policy of the most powerful country in the world, is it not time for the people of the world to reassert our humanity? The goals of powerful banks and corporates are more in line with control, expanded access and prosperity and not with human well-being.

Eion Musk is claiming that brain implants could change the world, Timacapitalism could change the world in a far more positive way by reasserting our humanity.

Tima Capitalism

The concept of Timacapitalism arises from merging the benefits of capitalism, free enterprise and wealth creation, with the productivity and social benefits existing in co-operative culture enterprises and has been driven primarily by the three following beliefs.

1. That the vast majority of people when treated with trust and respect will live up to expectations and very often respond beyond expectations, and: -
 2. That the majority of people are willing to contribute to a larger well-intentioned endeavour.
 3. There are unrealised talents among people generally that will emerge when employees are part of an inclusive culture.
 
Good management will create the inclusive co-operative culture that maximises the contribution of employees toward business success.
 
And again in a London Financial Times article by Brian Groom following the global financial crisis in 2008.….’Companies that learn how to make the most of their human capital are likely to be the winners. There is no greater challenge facing the corporate world than the need to unlock the productive power of people’… ‘It will be the employers that best harness the skills of their employees that will succeed’.
 
Timacapitalism is a surprisingly simple minor refinement to capitalism that will give improved productivity, more profits, more employee loyalty, more engaged synergetic employees and easier management. The concept still supports the positive aspect of capitalism allowing for entrepreneurial activity and wealth creation. Additionally, the potential for universal application, gives a vision of a better world that brings people together and reasserts our humanity.
 
Timacapitalism implements a common bond that all employees qualify for equally, and the concept can be applied to any company of more than three employees.
 
A framework of a common bond for all employees within a workplace can create an inclusive culture even though the remuneration from this common bond framework is but a small proportion of an employee’s total remuneration. The concept is relatively simple but the power is in the intent that management now sees employees in an employee partnership as distinct from shareholders or investor partnership, and the transparency of equal qualification for the common bond portion of remuneration will generate the synergetic engaged cooperative workplace culture that will ensure business success.

All employees qualify for Timacapitalism payments equally. This becomes a common bond for all employees throughout an enterprise from CEO down. The transparency of its application is one facet of building enterprise-wide trust and co-operation.

The important differing aspect of a Timacapitalism payment is that it is not an individual performance bonus; it is a co-operative culture common bond – the cement that binds the co-operative team together. Employees are respected as co-partners in success and all employees participate in the benefits of success at this level in an equitable manner. In these co-operative workplaces performance related remuneration will be reflected in an employee’s contracted or baseline remuneration although the possibility of some employees being on performance bonuses (e.g. sales targets being met) can coexist with Timacapitalism.

Another innovative aspect is that timacapitalism annual payments are recorded separately from normal remuneration on the employee’s tax return and these timacapitalism payments have a fixed low tax rate (possibly 5% less than the lowest tax rate) for all recipients, regardless of their normal remuneration tax level. This will not equate to lower tax revenue as there is a phased 4 year transition to the maximum timacapitalism payment and within that time there will be higher productivity and much improved enterprise performance and consequently more tax revenue. 

After one year of employment an employee attains level one timacapital qualifying Unit.

After two years of employment an employee attains two Timacapital qualifying Units.

After four years of employment an employee attains three Timacapital qualifying Units.

After six years of employment an employee attains receives the maximum level of four Timacapital qualifying Units.
 
Of course, the starting point for any discussion of motivation in the workplace is that people have to earn a living. The salaries, contract payments, benefits, a few perks are what I call ‘baseline rewards. If someone’s baseline rewards are not adequate or equitable, their focus will be on the unfairness of their situation and the anxiety of their circumstance. The result is neither the predictability of extrinsic motivation nor the weirdness of intrinsic motivation. You will get little motivation at all.

Remuneration for qualifications, responsibilities, management and performance are already in place in baseline remuneration and additionally all employees are qualifying equally for the Timacapitalism payments. This transparency of qualification and transparency of payment benefits for all employees at this one level of the remuneration package, creates a culture where Timacapitalism payment prospects become a talking point throughout an enterprise from CEO to shop floor, and a real sense of being a ‘part of’ the co-operative team for enterprise success.

My life experience tells me that if people know they are respected and trusted, they live up to expectations. The laggards that choose not to be a collaborative team member will have the consequence of losing their employment.
 
This framework creates a climate where employees are more involved in the workings of capitalism and the common bond of Timacapitalism payments ensures that they act as a teamwork community and not as property brought together and used to earn a return on other people’s capital. What entrepreneur would not want all employees motivated for the success of their employing enterprise.
 
Non-profit making endeavours can utilise this framework by having criteria other than increased profit for measuring success e.g. meeting or surpassing budget goals, meeting or surpassing service goals, expanding the customer base, growing the business.


The initiative being proposed is a minor refinement to capitalism initially termed ‘Timacapitalism’  that will give improved productivity, more profits, more employee loyalty, more engaged synergetic employees and easier management.

Some of the benefits that can be anticipated from a co-operative workplace culture are describe in the following link: -
​
http://www.co-operativecapitalism.com/blog-posts/benefits-of-a-co-operative-workplace-culture
 
It is a surprisingly simple framework that gives us a more people centric capitalism, which will dovetail with the Maori proverb ‘What is the most important thing in the world? ‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.’ It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.

This innovative initiative will naturally become a focal point for new attitudes.
 
This surprisingly simple framework has no initiating cost, no running cost and no risk. The power is in the intent, the intent 'That employees are recognised as employee partners in business success.' 

If we retain the potential for entrepreneurial activity and wealth creation, can we not also have a more inclusive model for capitalisms business endeavours. A more people centric form of capitalism, a capitalism workplace framework that is inclusive, a framework incorporates a common bond that all employees qualify for equally that will give higher productivity, improved social cohesion, more employee engagement, easier management, more employee loyalty, more hope and happiness.
 
This concept can be one thing that unites us, and all participants are winners. Businesses get what they want, higher productivity, more profits, easier management and more employee engagement, more loyalty, and a potential step to a breakdown of inequality and there is no longer the need for power and control.
 
Employees can identify with a larger success story creating more motivation and work satisfaction. The surprisingly simple framework has universal application and in the larger picture employees are assisting a worldwide movement in reasserting our humanity.

​A driving belief in this common bond concept is that people, when included with trust and respect, will respond positively, they will live up to expectations and very often respond beyond expectations.

An important psychological need of people is the sense of belonging to, or being part of, a wider grouping. Quoting Yuval Harari from the book 'Sapiens' p.403 (published by Penguin 2011) 'Millions of years of evolution have designed us to live and think as community members.  Within a mere two centuries we have become alienated individuals'.
 
Although undoubtedly beneficial in raising living standards, capitalism, and other cultural changes, have undermined that sense of belonging and the high levels of antidepressant use and high levels of suicide are results of an increased feeling of alienation within society.
 
The Spirit Level – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

 ‘For several decades progressive politics have been seriously weakened by the lack of any concept of a better society. People have argued for piecemeal improvements in different areas of life, campaigned against new environmental threats or for better treatment of asylum seekers, and have demonstrated against military interventions. But nowhere is there a popular movement capable of inspiring people with a vision of how to make society a substantially better place to live for the vast majority. Without that vision politics will rarely provoke more than a yawn.’

‘Mainstream politics no longer taps into these issues and has abandoned the attempt to provide a shared vision capable of inspiring us to create a better society. As voters, we have lost sight of any collective belief that society could be different. Instead of a better society, the only thing almost everyone strives for is to better their own position - as individuals - within society.’

‘Having come to the end of what higher material living standards can offer us, we are the first generation to have to find other ways of improving our real quality of life.’
 
It is proposed that in time a government will allow for annual Timacapitalism payments to be recorded separately from PAYE on Tax returns and will be taxed at a fixed low tax rate for ALL employees, regardless of their current tax rate on PAYE. By taxing co-operation payments at a fixed low rate for ALL employees, the government will be encouraging teamwork and cooperative cultures in participating workplaces, and thereby dramatically improving productivity. This will not result in a reduction of tax revenue as there will be a phased introduction accompanied by increased productivity and profitability. The framework can be applied to any workplace of more than three employees and has a constraint that an employee’s co-operative payments cannot exceed 20% of standard employee remuneration.


Progressive management teams embarking on a co-operative capitalism framework will see employees as employee co-partners in success as distinct from investor partners in success.
  

Not only is this refinement to capitalism more inclusive, but arising from more widespread adoption of the framework, the ensuing social cohesion will beneficially impact on health, happiness and hope and probably reduce health budgets. More social cohesion would counter the detrimental alienating outcome of neo liberal capitalism, more social cohesion will also be beneficial in policy imperatives for combating climate change.
 
The co-operative capitalism concept has been supported in recent times by American research findings on human motivation as detailed in Daniel Pink’s book ‘Drive’ [1] published in 2009 by Riverhead.
 
 
 
Comments on Capitalism.

Regardless of the origins of capitalism, it is a human construct that has been allowed to evolve to a point where the very benefits of capitalism in its infancy have now been eroded as detailed in the website Blog Post ‘Commentaries on the Failings of Capitalism’ dated 24th April 2019 (Co-operative capitalism Blog Posts), we are also seeing high levels of employee disengagement, high levels of social alienation (The sense of not feeling a part of a collective goal or hopeful social vision), increased inequality and more widespread stress and use of depression medication. Thomas Piketty’s book ‘Capitalism the Twenty First Century’ published following the World Financial Crisis 2008 questioned the myth at the very heart of American life – that capitalism improves the quality of life for everyone. This is just not so, says Piketty, and he makes his case in a clear and rigorous manner that debunks everything that capitalists believe about the ethical status of making money, he also argued that we may well find that the 21st century will be a century of greater inequality, and therefore greater social discord, than the 19th century. Piketty stated that current trends in capitalism are creating increases in inequality that are unsustainable.
 

The co-operative capitalism common bond concept just makes darned good sense from every angle whether it be economically, socially and politically. The company wins, management becomes easier, employees win and investors win.
 
The website details the potential benefits of the co-operative capitalism framework: -

http://www.co-operativecapitalism.com/blog-posts/benefits-of-a-co-operative-workplace-culture
 
In addition to improved productivity, profitability and social cohesion there are other advantages from this framework.  A finance minister will have a mechanism of encouraging co-operation by reducing the Timacapitalism payment tax level whilst incrementally increasing PAYE tax if fiscally prudent to do so. The framework may also be utilised to encourage a collective effort against climate change. Any co-operative capitalism business that reduces its carbon footprint during a financial year can earn an additional tax reduction on the employee’s Timacapitalism payments.  
 
The presentation of the web site is persuasive toward business by predicting improved productivity and profitability, however, the wider more important goals are social.
 
In the initial years of business there may not be sufficient profit to allocate an amount to the Timacapitalism payment level for employees, but employees will be accruing Timacapitalism qualifying units through their employment years of service and therefore will benefit in profitable years.

Following successful years, a Board of Directors have an additional consideration when deciding on the allocation of profits, i.e. when considering the amount to distribute for each Timacapitalism qualifying unit, they must at least maintain the ongoing synergetic contribution of all employees.
 
This framework creates a climate where employees are more involved in the workings of capitalism. Employees looking forward to the prospective level of timacapitalism payment have to recognise that enterprise success is not always directly related to workplace productivity and is also subject to the vagaries of capitalism e.g. commodity prices, competitors or downturns in markets. Business cycles are a reality of the marketplace, but with all employees working as a team, timacapitalism companies will weather the downturns and prosper in the good times.

I foresee that the most capable employees in the future will choose employment with progressive management teams i.e. those companies that have embraced the timacapitalism concept. 
 
The companies that make the best use of their human capital will be the most successful companies.
 
Daniel Pink’s book ‘Drive’ was published in 2009. He suggested that maybe we can reassert our humanity and change the world, it was a response to the research findings on human motivation and that the findings could rejuvenate business.
 
Benefits of Co-operation

The wider social benefits will be in lower levels of mental illness, criminal activity, medication, obesity and illegal drug use whilst seeing more community involvement, less alienation, increased voluntary endeavours and very significantly more hope, pride and happiness and probably reduced health budgets.

Climate Change

Global warming is occurring and when certain thresholds are crossed there will be no reverse options.

John Kerry ‘USA Secretary of State’
‘Ninety seven per cent of peer reviewed climate studies confirm that climate change is happening and that human activity is largely responsible. That is a dramatic statement of fact that no one of good conscience has a right to ignore.
​
Future generations will judge our effort not just as a policy thing but as a collective moral failure of historic consequences. They will want to know how world leaders could possibly have been so blind or so ignorant or so ideological or so dysfunctional, frankly so stubborn that we failed to act on knowledge that was confirmed by so many scientists and so many studies over such a long period of time, documented by so much evidence.’

The collaborative effort of 196 countries in Paris (November ’15) in setting targets to limit global warming is very admirable. The recent accord is an example of collaboration by many highly diverse countries. The Timacapitalism project as a policy initiative for an ‘era of co-operative capitalism’ will dovetail neatly with the motivational sense of a purpose larger than ourselves. If we all work together we all win.



A more co-operative world will enable us to perceive huge issues such as the struggle against climate change as collective issues. Together, we do have the power to tackle any problem, however huge, and work out solutions to pressing problems that affect us worldwide. 

If the most intelligent species on Earth continues allowing climate change to make life unlivable on this miracle planet home, that would be a madness beyond comprehension.

​That the majority of humankind would enter into a more co-operative era would, of itself, have a significantly positive effect on geopolitical, religious, alienation, health and poverty differences around the world.

My grounding for proposing a framework that encourages a co-operative culture is that I have worked in over 30 types of employment, in companies comprising from three and up to thousands of employees and also self-employment. I have been part of highly productive, innovative teams within non-profit and profit-making organisations. This background has shown me that collective co-operative endeavours are productive and have additional social benefits. The paper does not attempt to meet an academic rigorous examination and is more of an autoethnographic approach. I have the conviction that the ideas expressed here have definite merit and are worth exploring. Furthermore, I am the father of a fifteen-year-old boy and I have real concern for his generation and the environment we bequeath to them, their future quality of life and ability to enjoy this amazing creation.

There are those who would label this concept as socialist, but socialism involves ownership and ownership is rightfully created through enterprise and market value purchase. Others will see a smart capitalism and an affirmation of the benefits of free enterprise. What entrepreneur would not want all employees working actively together for the success of the enterprise? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Critical Comments

Tima capitalism and the concept of a common bond for all employees has been criticised on two counts only: -

• That employees at the lowest remuneration levels will be receiving the benefit of Timacapitalism payments disproportionally to their actual contribution to the company’s financial performance.
• That the concept does not lend itself to public service employments and other non-profit making workplaces.

 
Response
There are two constraints on the amount of timacapitalism payment an employee can receive.

1.There is an overriding caveat to the amount of Timacapitalism payment an employee may receive - 'that the total amount cannot exceed 20% of total basic remuneration'.
2. If an employee’s gross income is less than the average income for all employees, the timacapitalism payment amount will be scaled back by that percentage difference.
 
Neither of these constraints are to be seen as penalties but rather an incentive for an employee to improve their skill levels and take on more responsibility, and thereby increase their base remuneration which in turn will give an increased benefit from timacapitalism payments. It creates an aspiration to self-achieve which is a basic tenet of capitalism.
 
Capitalism has evolved through many refinements and that will be so with timacapitalism. When a goal is worthwhile achieving, we can determine to progressively bring those employees into the timacapitalism framework.  Public service employees can progressively become part a timacapitalism framework by the achievement of pre-determined budget goals, and ultimately receive a timacapitalism payment that is the average for profit making businesses. They will reciprocally be playing their part in a healthy society through the efficiency and productivity of public services. There will be more social cohesiveness, a natural permanent feature of healthy society.