"Back-Door Socialism" | Bernie Sanders Introduces a Plan to Nationalize all Publicly Traded Companies
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation to nationalize all publicly traded companies, kind of. The plan actually calls for the SEC to demand that all companies issue new stock and give employees at least 20% ownership of the companies. In addition to that, the workers will get "right of first refusal" to buy the companies. If they don't have the money to buy the company, don't fret. Bernie wants to create a new bank whose sole purpose is to finance the buying of US corporations. What happens if the worker doesn't pay back the loan from the government? They'll seize ownership of the asset.
This creates numerous gross incentives in the business market. First, workers would naturally gravitate only towards corporations that are profitable, so they can earn dividends. Next, it will remove the risk from the market for creating businesses. Why? Because the government will always have a built in "bailout" for companies looking to sell out.
The other obvious consequence in the market is that the per share value of all companies will fall. If you issue 20% more new shares in a company, then all the exiting shares become less valuable. That's a less valuable retirement portfolio for anyone paying into a 401K, Pension, IRA, etc.
What does it mean to be an "owner" of a company? Since the workers are looking to share in the profits, will they also be willing to share the losses? After all, only 38% of publicly traded companies are profitable. I doubt they will be willing to pay a "negative dividend" if their company is losing money.
What incentive does this create in our society for innovation and risk? You would now be able to be a business owner, without ever having to create a business. Will this lead to more innovation, or less?
As usual, this is a completely crap proposal from BS. It will hurt the people it's aiming to help, and send our economy over the edge.
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In Liberty,
Charlie & Nate
P.S. We can do this. Keep forging on through the disheartening news, and hate-filled rhetoric. We're here to #MakeLibertyWin
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