Written by Peter Ellis, Founder of The Society Alliance
In this blog, Peter explains how our market economy can be served by companies, trust companies which operate for societal purposes, independent of shareholders or government.
As l write this, my first blog, l am clear that this is about you and together us and our potential to make things work better and to improve society. More than that, to raise our very expectation of what it means to experience life in our modern society and the rights which flow from that expectation.
Throughout my own life l have been witness to many changes yet we make so little progress on the basic fundamentals which affect us. When l was young energy supply was at times unreliable, we stored a supply of candles “just in case”, now it is unaffordable. Our basic human rights to live free from fear, oppression and war were ignored then, instead the ever-present catastrophe of armed conflict loomed large, promoted by ideologically opposed governments during the cold war. These were the tectonic plates on which we floated, seemingly powerless and do still today. Gender, race, age and social class exclusion led to disempowerment then as it does now. Indeed, inter-generational inequality is more embedded. It is remarkable that we can talk of economic progress when people cannot afford to heat their homes, many cannot afford to feed their children and the lack of affordable homes remains. It need not be this way. Government policies to ensure fairness remain essential, however we should look also to our own power and rights over the market economy.
Governments of every ideology serve sectional interests rather than being guided at all times by societal best interest. We end up believing a market economy, driven by shareholder profits in which inherent inequalities are reduced by the intervention of governments is natural or the predetermined way our economy works. This is the legacy of previous generations and need not be the one we accept. We have the power to change in favour of a new paradigm of fairness and economic rights but as Thomas Kuhn, the philosopher, observed such a change occurs when a current system fails us and a new one emerges which is embraced by a younger generation and the general population. We return to the importance of you!
Our market economy can be served by companies, trust companies which operate for societal purposes, independent of shareholders or government. These companies may choose to reduce profit to give a better deal for customers or increase it to increase the funds they have for their societal purposes, which can include supporting our NHS and public services. This is part of a new societal paradigm.
It is for this reason that, as we launch our Societal Alliance, we call on government to work with opposition parties to establish a societal company, operating for the good of society, supplying gas and electricity to customers who choose to buy from it at cost, matching the buying price that can be agreed with suppliers on the wholesale energy market with its selling price to customers, with the operating costs of running the company paid by an administration charge on those business customers best able to afford it. Once the company has been set up it should then operate independently from government, managed by trustees not shareholders – outside of the political debate and constantly changing agendas and leaders.
When a student at NYU Gallatin Alissa Jacques wrote a poem (2013) which l find inspiring and l want to share it with you. Our landscape is so often hostile to societal groups as is our economy, a landscape described by Toni Morrison in 1970 as hostile for certain seeds it will not nurture. Alissa revisions that landscape as one which allows us to grow “because unlike what you have been told, you are powerful beyond measure, your roots can persevere and you as a marigold will bloom, unfolding your petals burning with beauty”. It is the same landscape to which Linton Kwesi Johnson writes, of “totemic oaks, once fragile saplings taking root in hostile soil, (which) now bear perennial witness to spring’s eternal song of hope”. This is the societal landscape to which we can aspire and you, us together, make a reality.
The benefits of this type of economy are many:
- You have power as a consumer, to choose to buy from a company rewarding shareholders or one serving society. People who are marginalised through race, gender, social class and inter-generational exclusion will be empowered through the power of their value-driven consumer choice.
- We are unified as a society through shared, common purpose where the private sector divides through inequality of opportunity and outcome and too often fails society. This unity of purpose was epitomised by Captain Sir Tom Moore when raising money for the NHS and the universal support we gave the NHS during covid and during Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty.
- Customers can get the best deal when a company operates to reduce profit and offers lower prices. Energy costs can be reduced without as much need for governments to tax and spend more, food prices reduced for those in need and the cost of living reduced.
- Society benefits where company profits are used to fund societal purpose rather than reward shareholders.
- The NHS and our public services can get better value for money from a societal sector with profits used to support their work. Such a company could provide cannabis to the NHS for medicinal use at low cost and profit from other legal sales used to counter the social costs of drug use.
- No longer do we, as a society, have to rely solely on a tax-take or increasing levels of debt and borrowing and politicians to ensure we live in a fairer society
- An economy which does not seek to maximise profits is one which can be reshaped to be sustainable, sufficient and environmentally sensitive.
- A societal economy is a more economically democratic one, leading to fairer outcomes
- Without the need to distribute dividends and respond to shorter-term market pressures a societal sector may lead to longer-term rates of investment, growth and productivity
- We can enjoy the good of what we have through the private sector and is achieved through government intervention but build better and bolder through a societal sector
- Savers denied reasonable rates of return can put their money to good use supporting a fairer societal economy with societal enterprise offering secure, stable returns.
A societal economy is founded on universal principles of equality, compassion, mutual interdependence and the common good acknowledging that we operate and experience life at our best when we work together. It compels regard for society by governments, that they acknowledge our inalienable societal and personal right to well-being, health and happiness, that we have collective rights but should never lose sight of the significance of the individual.
Earlier in this blog l referred to the poetry of Alissa Jacques and Linton Kwesi Johnson. Ours is a cause of consciousness, awareness and reform requiring also the force of Bob Marley’s injunction, for it is time to “get up, stand up, stand up for our rights”!
The Society Alliance 