"agency" isn't given very much lipservice in these discussions about collective ownership (though, if I remember correctly you teach humanities... so perhaps you're aware of and/or can point me in the right direction of some writing on that aspect of this issue)

But ya - with all this talk about overthrowing the wealthy owner/executive class, collective ownership, etc.. has there been sufficient consideration about whether most people even want that responsibility??

Personally, I think executive management in and of itself is not a skillset everyone has, regardless of compensation level lol.

Especially for an enormous transnational enterprise like Walmart. The logistics, inventory and supply chain management, finances, compliance, quality control, branding and marketing, vendor managment and retail operations alone seems mindboggling, talk less of managing
and appeasing hundreds of thousands of people in the workforce.

Tons of people, alone, work on those aspects of Walmart's business. It would actually be interesting to survey minimum-wage Walmart employees about how much of a priority(or purpose?) those aspects of Walmart's business even play in their own everyday lives and fulfillment, and whether they desire more control.

I know for me, personally, when I worked service jobs in retail, hospitality, etc? Those aspects of my employers' businesses mattered very little to me. Even aspects with direct impacts on my actual job duties (eg. oh we have to ask an extra question now BEFORE pouring water in customers' glasses? To improve the customer experience? ok lol). And if there had been an opportunity to participate in the decision-making of some of those aspects, and be compensated for it... would I have taken it? Probably not, actually. Or what if I didn't even have a choice? Would I enjoy a minimum-wage job that required that much involvement from me in its business decision-making? Probably not.

Perhaps there are a lot of people who have felt/would feel similarly, and this is why collective bargaining managed to emerge and thrive in American society but not collective ownership? Who knows..


>Imagine thinking that workers couldn't manage a company
>better than some chud with an MBA and a boat named after his
>fourth wife.