Free-Market Socialism?

(It is disconcerting to see how many readers cannot get past the fact that this question uses the terms "capitalism" and "socialism" in their traditional sense, rather than a later re-definition.)

Worker-ownership-and-control of the means of production gives workers a much greater degree of freedom than state or capitalist ownership. It can easily be combined with markets, and in fact increases the efficiency markets. (As Milton Friedman pointed out time and again, individuals take greatest care with their own property.) And, as self-employed owners, workers get the entire product of their labor, rather than capitalist owners receiving a share.

Entrepreneurs can gain capital to work with by credit, rather than selling shares in their entreprises to investors.

There are many possible forms of worker-ownership-and-control, including individual self-employment, collectives, cooperatives, and others.

Individuals should also be free to engage in non-market activities, of course, and I believe that a truly free economy would include both market and non-market forms of organization. -- A slogan I like is "Free Trade *and* Mutual Aid".

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One question I have is innovation. In a free market, changing forces would shift investment into growing markets. Your society would seemingly be devoid of big money investors. Or to put it another way:

If this 'market' socialism, where workers own the means of production, would have existed before the 1980's, how would Microsoft have formed?

Communist China has free market capitalist communism. Any kind of combination or label is possible.

Never seen those words together before. Kind of like dry water. How about communism without government interference.

How can you ensure that this will happen unless you have laws and government to enforce it?

Capitalism is the only absence of government tyranny... it means economic freedom. This means that workers CAN control the means of production if they want, but it isn't enforced by government.

In order to have absolute socialism, you have to have government enforcement to make it happen.

Socialism is by nature anti-competitive. You could allow it to exist in a free market, but without government protection, it would wither and die.

I cannot say how I feel about this without a violation. I am against it.

Get outta here man. The US was built on Capitilism. We became the Worlds superpower because of it and now you want to change it? Why? Because your mad some CEO makes more in a hour than you do in 20 years? Take your socialism back to where it came from.

nah, it is just corporate welfare.