What does the future of the economy and businesses look like? A group of thought leaders from academia, politics, and social movements explored this question as part of our project "A Future for All – Fair, Ecological, Feasible." The following blog post is not a summary of the workshop's content, but it was inspired by it and incorporates many of its suggestions.
In 2048 there will be: Democratic businesses, time for appreciation in
Operation, Commoning
In 2048 there will no longer be: Jobs to secure livelihoods, highly unequal salaries, pensions based on land or capital ownership, profit-oriented corporations
An interview as part of the dossier “The Losers of Change?”
SoTz (Solidarity Daily Newspaper), published on June 03, 2039
Mr. Wackermann, thank you very much for your time, could you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Andreas Wackermann, and until 2023 I was the CEO of Innoheim, a large company in the care sector that once owned 170 nursing homes and numerous other properties. Now I'm retired and still work part-time in the accounting department of a bookbinding collective.
The 2020s are considered a time of upheaval; could you briefly outline what happened back then from your perspective?
The economy in general had been struggling since the 2008 financial crisis, but my company was doing quite well. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and that changed everything. In numerous countries, it became clear how fragile the healthcare and long-term care systems had become… due to the rationalizations and privatizations of the early 2000s.
Could you briefly explain that?
As a publicly traded company in the healthcare sector, we were competing with all other companies on the stock exchange at the time, companies that could increase their profit margins through technological innovations. These opportunities are limited in the healthcare sector, so the focus was on labor efficiency – the processes in care were quantified, i.e., how long dressing, washing, feeding took – calculated, standardized, and accelerated as much as possible. Every step was assigned a price – and was constantly optimized to drive down costs; salaries were reduced. It was similar in hospitals – everything had to become as lean and efficient as possible. When the pandemic hit, capacity was lacking, and nursing and hospital staff were overworked. Especially after the crisis, there was a movement demanding the socialization of healthcare so that it would no longer be subject to market logic.
How did you experience that time?
The pandemic created a great deal of stress for management and the entire company, and then the accusations came on top of that. At the time, I was still firmly convinced that the market was the best tool for coordinating supply and demand. While I did see that this meant there weren't enough resources available in a crisis, I viewed that more as a problem of the right political framework. Frankly, I didn't believe that democratic control and a departure from the market would work; after all, my colleagues and I had all been there for a long time and possessed so much expertise.
"Democratic control has replaced control by supply and demand. How a company operates is decided democratically, primarily by those who work in the respective company, including what it produces."
But it worked out in the end.
Yes, surprisingly well. First, the entire care sector was socialized, initially as municipal institutions, then increasingly in the form of cooperatives and collectives. Care councils were created for this purpose, which organized and controlled the process democratically.
And as we all know now – it didn't stop there. Once it became clear how well the system worked, suddenly there were many other movements demanding a withdrawal of the market from their area.
You mean the movements in the areas of nutrition, energy, and education? Those existed long before the pandemic.
That may be, I didn't observe these things so closely back then. In any case, what happened in the care sector then also happened in other areas.
And that brings us to the current situation, in which there is still a market, but it, like the companies, is much more tightly controlled.
While it's still called a market and an economy, it has little to do with what it used to be. Democratic control has replaced control by supply and demand. How a company operates is decided democratically, primarily by those who work there, including what it produces. Maximum incomes are limited, and the basic income effectively sets a lower limit. The entire purpose of business has changed – it's about contributing to society, not profit.
And the structure of the economy has also changed.
Yes, the entire financial, insurance, defense, and heavy industries have declined, not to mention the automotive industry. In contrast, my former field has expanded significantly, as has the education sector.
"I had to learn to get by with less again. But at some point I realized that whether I have a garage full of Maseratis and 5 more rooms in my house actually only makes a small difference to my well-being."
How did this change affect you personally?
As I said, I was very skeptical. And of course, it also led to a great deal of personal uncertainty regarding my financial situation. Therefore, and this is something I regret in retrospect, I fought against this change for a long time. But I was wrong about people, and I'm glad about that. After I got through my initial resistance phase, I realized that I should get involved instead of just hoping everything would collapse. I then joined various care boards and was surprised by how I was treated.
What do you mean?
I had expected prejudice and rejection, but when it became clear that I wanted to help, people were grateful for my views. You know, back then, a lot of things happened within our company without money; it was practically a market-free zone. That's why many processes in the councils were similar, and I knew how to organize care. I just didn't know how to organize good care and how to do it without hierarchies. I was very pleased by this appreciation, and also by the appreciation that the entire care sector enjoys today.
Even if this appreciation comes with less pay in her case?
(laughs) Less pay is a gross understatement! The low maximum income, the increasing taxation of capital gains, and the socialization of housing—that wiped out my savings! I had to learn to get by on less again. But at some point, I realized that whether I have a garage full of Maseratis and five extra rooms in my house actually makes very little difference to my well-being.
Is there anything they miss, though?
The maneuvering, the forging of alliances, the power to make decisions – I understand how detrimental that is to a society, but of course it held a certain fascination back then. It was like a game with incredibly high stakes and correspondingly high winnings or losses. You don't see anything like that anymore.
Dear Mr. Wackermann, thank you for the conversation.
Photos: Matt Wiebe
