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August 22, 2018

Comments

John

How much power should workers have? And what system could limit the power to that point, but no more?

D

@John, it's not possible to say prcisely how much, but more than they have now. It's not possible to limit it prcisely, but a combination of mployment rights/union law, market forces and democracy.

John

What kind of things should worker power be able to do and what should it not be able to do? Which employment/union laws need relaxing?

Mike W

Gosh John, Who is the subject and the object in your universe? When I last looked the economic factors Adam Smith considered were: Land, Labour and Capital.

'Which employment/union laws need relaxing?'

Perhaps none! Rather what laws on monopoly and the rentier class, corporation managers,assorted accountants,lawyers and croney banker extraction needs tightening?

Chris, is this an attempt to bankrupt me by a clever 'weekly book review' mechanism? You will fail. For I can stay uninformed longer than I can stay solvent.

John

Sorry Mike, I don't understand the subject and object question.

What is wrong with my questions?

mike W

John, A question is just a question. It is not a true or false issue. In fact, sorry to offend you,if I have. Keep pressing with the questions.

But are you an economist who takes a view that 'Labour' is the object for your study? Or are you a citizen who understands that you are in that group? Smith may well have wanted you, as a citizen (even an economist citizen) to consider Land, and the rentier or Capital, businessmen meeting to rig markets, for example. My honest question to you was, why did you consider just Labour in this context and, if we held all union legislation constant (I am in the UK), what then?

John

Not offended, and just a citizen in the 'labour' group. I was only asking about the 'labour' part because that is less clear to me than the things that might be done to constrain the power of 'capital', which get talked about a lot, but Chris puts quite a lot of emphasis on the importanace of worker power.

Maybe put it another way: I am hoping that left-wing economists in the UK when/if they get their shot at power have thought about what they are going to do. I am aware of some of the things they think they might do to restrain the power of 'capital' and 'land'. I am not aware really of what they want to do to empower 'labour' and what the maximum extent of that power is; it doesn't seem to feature in articles in newspapers and the internet.

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