Economic Democracy

1. Economic Democracy

2. Vocabulary • Democracy • the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives.

3. Consensus democracy • is the application of expanded decision making of a group of people to the process of legislation in a democracy.

4. Direct democracy • classically termed pure democracy, is a form of democracy and a theory of civics in which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate.

5. Representative democracy • a type of democracy in which the citizens delegate authority to elected representatives

6. Economic democracy • suggests an expansion of decision-making power from a small minority of corporate shareholders to a larger majority of public stakeholders/shareholders

7. Vocabulary • Equal before the law • Equality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws, with no individual or group having special legal privileges. No one is exempt or included more than another.

8. Socioeconomic philosophy • suggests an expansion of decision-making power from a small minority of corporate shareholders to a larger majority of public stakeholders.

9. Vocabulary • Corporate shareholders • is an individual or institution (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself.

10. Private stakeholders • the shareholders or stockholders are the owners of the company, and the firm has a legal and binding duty to put their (the company or organization) needs first, to increase value for them.

11. Proponents • A person “for” an idea or thing

12. Vocabulary • Centralized corporate monopoly • exists when a specific enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it.

13. Common Resources • also called a common property resource, is a type of good consisting of a natural or man-made resource system (e.g. an irrigation system or fishing grounds), whose size or characteristics makes it costly, but not impossible, to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining benefits from its use.

14. Vocabulary • Scarcity • is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human needs and wants, in a world of limited resources.

15. Vocabulary • Artificial scarcity • describes the scarcity of items even though the technology and production capacity (resources) exists to create an abundance of a good or product.

16. Vocabulary • Purchasing power • is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency.

17. Economic Democracy Notes: • Democracy is a political form of government in which governing power comes from the people, by consensus (consensus democracy), by direct referendum (direct democracy), or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy).

18. Complete Teacher Lead Activity

19. Economic Democracy Notes: • Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy', equality and freedom have been identified as important characteristics of democracy since ancient times.

20. Economic Democracy Notes: • All citizens are equal before the law and have equal access to power. • Example in a representative democracy: • Every vote has equal weight • No restrictions can apply to anyone wanting to become a representative • Freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.

21. Economic Democracy Notes: • Democracy is represented in all aspects of the American people’s daily activities. • Democratic thinking is displayed in how citizens respond to public policies and actions, as well as their participation in non-governmental organizations, and their active role in the political process and electoral system are all measures of the degree of democratization.

22. Economic Democracy Notes: • Economic democracy is a government that suggests: • an expansion of decision-making power from a small minority (socioeconomicphilosophy) • people who own shares or stock in a business or corporation (corporate shareholders) • to a larger majority of the public comprised of people or organization that has a legitimate interest in a project or entity (public stakeholders).

23. Economic Democracy Notes: • While there is no single definition or approach, all theories and real-world examples of economic democracy are based on a core set of fundamental assumptions. • That is to say, to be able to satisfy unlimited wants with unlimited resources.

24. Economic Democracy Notes: • People who are in favor of economic democracy (proponents) generally agree that modern economic conditions tend to hinder or prevent society from earning enough income to purchase its output production (goods).

25. Economic Democracy Notes: • Large companies or organizations that monopolize an industry ( centralizedcorporatemonopoly) over most natural resources that are available to everyone, natural resources such as gas, oil, land, or water (common resources) typically force conditions of insufficient production of a product to furnish everyone (artificial scarcity) upon the greater majority’

26. Economic Democracy Notes: • This corporate monopoly results in a socio-economic imbalance that restricts workers from access to economic opportunity and diminish consumer buying power (purchasing power).

27. Economic Democracy Notes: • According to proponents of economic democracy, the most basic economic problem is that modern society does not earn enough income to purchase its output production.

28. Economic Democracy Notes: • While balanced mixed economies have existed briefly throughout history, most analysts agree that command economies tend to dominate, listing contemporary expressions of capitalism as an extreme example, not an exception to the rule.

29. Economic Democracy Notes: • As common resources are monopolized (taken over by big companies or the very wealthy) by imperial centers of wealth and power, conditions of scarcity are imposed artificially (artificial scarcity) upon the greater majority, resulting in large-scale socio-economic imbalance.

30. Economic Democracy Notes: • In any economic system, "wealth" includes all material things produced by labor for the satisfaction of human desires and having exchange value. • Land and labor are generally considered the two most essential factors in producing wealth.

31. Economic Democracy Notes: • Land includes all natural opportunities and forces. • Labor includes all human exertion. • Capitalincludes the portion of wealth (extra) devoted to producing more money.

32. Economic Democracy Notes: • While the income of any individual might include proceeds from any combination of these three sources: • land, labor, and capital are generally considered mutually exclusive factors in economic models of the production and distribution of wealth.

33. Economic Democracy Notes: • People naturally look to satisfy their wants with the least amount of effort.

34. Economic Democracy Notes: • Human beings interact with nature to produce goods and services (products) that other human beings need or desire.

35. Economic Democracy Notes: • Three basic components of Capitalism are: • The bulk of the means of production are privately owned (directly or by corporations that are owned by private people). • Products are exchanged in a market (sold in stores) • Most people who work for pay work for other people who owns the means of production – wage laborers.

36. Economic Democracy Notes: • The bulk of the means of production are privately owned (directly or by corporations that are owned by private people). • Apple and AT&T collaborated to form an exclusive agreement whereby the sale and contract of iPhones would belong to AT&T. • By only offering the iPhone on one carrier, iPhone customers are locked in. • They still don’t have the option of switching to another carrier because AT&T is Apple’s only U.S. partner. • How does this affect your life?

37. Economic Democracy Notes: • Products are exchanged in a market (Goods and services are traded for money or bartered for other goods and services in stores) across the U.S. • Wal-Mart sells dry goods and food to its customers. • Kroger sells food and some dry goods to its customers. • David’s sells groceries to its customers. • Gibson’s sells dry goods to its customers. • UPS and USPS sells services to its customers. • How does this affect your life?

38. Economic Democracy Notes: • Most people who work for pay work for other people who owns the means of production, these are called wage laborers. • School district personnel work for the state • Stockers, baggers, checkers, work for stores • Waitress, waiters, cooks, etc… work for resturants • Mechanics work for vehicle collision and repair shops • Brick layers work for construction companies • Architects usually work for a large firm • Advertizing agents work for a large firm • Employment agents work for a firm • How does this affect your life?