A collection of essays by Bill (website@ccjj.info) accompanied by feedback from his friends.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Employee-Owned Companies


I recently went to a lecture where someone suggested that one beneficial change our system can make is to shift from its present form toward employee-owned companies. Thus, the "evil", "greedy", "exploitive" capitalist would be removed from the equation and the company would be run according to the interest of the employees.

There are no legal barriers to doing this: employee-owned companies do exist, but they're rare.

Quantity of Capital

The first problem with it is: do the employees have enough money to own their companies? The total value of all companies in the US that are traded on the stock market is $14 trillion. Say that's 2/3 of the economy, so extrapolating, the total value of all the companies in the country is $21 trillion. The total number of workers in the US is 154 million. That means that the average worker would have to cough up $136,000 to own their share of the company.

The average worker does not have that sort of money sitting around. Typically they want to own their homes, and if they do that nearly all of their money is going in that direction. They also want to save for retirement. One could argue that when they retire, they can sell their stake in the company and use that for retirement. I will show why that is a bad idea later.

Also, should such a company hire someone who is broke, like a young person entering the workforce? How would that be arranged? How would those people get jobs?

The Dubious Wisdom of Investing in One's Employer

A big problem with the whole idea is that it presents extremely poor risk diversification. An important principle of investing is that you don't want all of your investment in one place, you really don't want more than 20% of your net worth in any one investment. That way, if any one of your investments goes sour, you still maintain 80% of your net worth.
From a viewpoint of risk diversification, you are already over invested in your employer just by working there. If your company does badly, especially badly enough to lay you off or go out of business, the consequences for you are catastrophic. If all you own is stock in the company, your stock has depressed, maybe even zero, value at exactly the same time as you lose your income, making it difficult to survive long enough to get a new job, or move to a new job, or retrain for another profession.

Many companies offer stock options to their employees, and stock-purchase plans, where employees are given the chance to buy company stock at a discount as part of their compensation. It makes sense to do this, because it is in the interest of the company to have its employees' self-interest tied to the firm. The fact that it's a good thing for the company doesn't mean it's the best thing for the employees.

Many people feel that because they work at a company, they have an intimate knowledge of how well it is performing and how well it will do in the future. This is not accurate. Studies show that employees really don't have an accurate estimation of their companies. All you know firsthand is how well your part of the company is doing. Most of what you hear is one-sided propaganda from management, spun to put the best possible face on everything. It's common for layoffs to be preceded by an announcement to the effect of "We're facing a tough stretch ahead, but no matter what, we won't lay anybody off!". Furthermore, what you hear from your peers in the workplace is skewed. People know that expressing negative opinions about their employer is not a good career move, so you won't get an honest assessment from most of your co-workers. Furthermore, employees who do have insights that the company is going to do badly find other jobs and quit, at which point they are usually dismissed by the remaining employees as malcontents. So employees usually have a very distorted, rosy view of the prospects of their companies. Not a good position for an investor to be in.

Several times I have worked for companies where company stock has come into my possession through stock options or stock-purchase plans. I have always sold it immediately and invested it in something else, to diversify my position.

Similarly, using stock in your employer as a retirement investment is a terrible idea. What if the company goes bankrupt two years before you plan to retire? Hope you enjoy the taste of dog food!

Quality of Management

Another question is: Would the company be well-run? An employee-owned company would be like a union-run company. Unions are usually the mortal enemies of employee accountability and meritocracy.

When a normal company has a union, there is management independent of the union to represent the interests of the stockholders and customers, to balance out the voice of the union.

Would an employee-run company ever decide to buy new automation so that they can get more done with fewer employees? That is something that must be done periodically to keep the company efficient and competitive. If business is dwindling, would an employee-owned company lay off employees, or would they just sink deeper and deeper into debt until they go bankrupt altogether?

A Balanced Solution: Addressing These Concerns

Suppose we moderate the idea to address some of these concerns. Suppose we have part of the company owned by the employees, and let investors other than employees also buy stock so there is enough money altogether to own the company. The management of the company would be chosen by all the investors, not just the employee investors. New employees, if they don't have enough cash to buy their share of the company, can be hired and have part of their savings go to buying its stock. If the employee would rather buy a house, save for retirement, or just spend their money rather than investing or saving it, they would be free to do that. Management would be not only answerable to the employees, but also to the non-employee investors. Such an arrangement would be completely legal under existing laws. It would be very easy to implement. In fact, it is exactly the arrangement we currently have!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Giving Up on the Bible

I have given up on my attempt to read the Bible cover to cover. It is such crap, and I keep thinking of all the great books I could be reading, and I'm reading this tripe.

Some parts are vaguely interesting because they are so repulsive. There is a lot of genocide that believers don't like to talk about, particularly in, but not limited to, the book of Joshua. I can't believe Jews and Christians still name their kids “Joshua” anymore. At least Germans don't name their kids “Adolf” nowadays, but most Jews and Christians are so oblivious to what that book actually contains. You'd think if a couple was planning to give their kid a Biblical name, they would pick up a Bible and see what the bastard actually did! But no, they have no clue!

Here's a quote from Moses, telling the Jews what they are to do when they enter Palestine: Deut 20:16-18:

16But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

18That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

So Moses was worried his people might learn something from these foreigners. Great reason to commit genocide, isn't it?

Most people, both believers and the religiously indifferent, believe that Biblical figures represent noble, wonderful people. This is wrong: many of them, including the really famous ones (not to mention the diety himself), were horrible people!

The idea of writing the Bible, of having a tribe keep its history in writing rather than just passing it down verbally (though most of it was written generations after the events, so much so that many of the events probably never actually occurred) was a great step forward for its time, great progress. But to hold these savages, real or fictitious, up as role models for modern people is just not healthy.


One bit that was interesting was in 1 Samuel 27:5-12:

5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. 7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.

8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) 9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

10 When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.” 11 He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12 Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”

So David lied to his friend king Achish, and David killed innocent Gentile women and children. Note that for the rest of David's life, there was never any repentance for these atrocities, and the god never got upset about them.

And later, in 1 Kings 15:5, it says

5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

(the case of Uriah the Hitttite was completely separate from this).

So, according to the Old Testament, it is not in any way sinful for a Jew to lie to a Gentile, even a friend, and it is not in any way sinful for a Jew to kill Gentiles, even innocent women and children. Interesting.

Note that this is not a cherry-picked, atypical set of quotes. Contempt for, and hatred of, Gentiles is one of the strongest themes pervading the Old Testament.


1st & 2nd Kings wasn't particularly horrible, just boring. It listed a long sequence of kings, and kept track of how pious or impious each one was, and according to the priests who wrote Kings, the pious kings (surprise!) met with better fortune than the impious ones. Then you get to Chronicles, which comes right after, and you find out they're going to repeat what was in Kings all over again.


I gave up halfway through the book of Psalms. Such repetitive drivel! My summary of Psalms, for those of you who don't want to read the whole thing, follows:

The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!
The Lord rewards the faithful and punishes the ungodly.
Please, Lord, lay waste to my enemies!