Diversification and meeting wants

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Diversification is a misnomer under capitalism. Investments can be made by anyone with a dollar, but the sheer difference in who decides what occurs and who doesn't is astronomical. The top 10% (http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html) control approximately 90% of all stocks, bonds, and dividends - nearly half of that number centered around the top 1%. Certainly the job of capitalists is to maximize profits, and one part of this formula requires production of goods and services people want. However, oftentimes investments go bunk. Capitalists will recoup losses easily enough, but they'll overlook something important, or place too much importance on something.

I think socialism has an inherit advantage here by bringing consumers to the forefront of diversification. Be it communism (workers' councils) or mutualism (socialized banking), a wider scope of opinions would go into the process. There is less likelihood of fault when the people directly in control of consumption habits and deciding what to produce.

One problem that could arise is not meeting marginal demands. While 70% of the population may enjoy Cheerios, another 15% may not - they might prefer a close tasting substitute called Lenin-Os. Under capitalism different tastes are expressed in different people investing. That 15% still makes money. Socialists will have to answer this problem. For mutualism this wouldn't necessarily be a problem. People still become entrepreneurs in a market, and socialized banks can set up guidelines - like there must be an approval of 10% before anything is invested in. Under communism the workers' councils could set up similar guidelines.

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

Nowadays I don't think its much of a problem, corporations provide a pretty false choice between the various brands, most of its marketing anyway.

The first step is to simply continue producing products at a similar diversification as we do now. Cheerios workers, making cheerios, and leninos workers making leninos. Then through a system of industrial congresses and community assemblies we could determine what needed to get eliminated, and what could be produced in the same plant. Ideally the solution is the retooling of factories from poorly designed one product only mass producers, to multitasking factories which can produce various kind ofs of products on demand. So say that people in region Y, like various kinds of x, y and z cereal. Well they register their wants at some recordkeeping facility, ostensibly a big computer, and then production moves along at the levels of registered want. This already happens with almost all retailers, who calculate demands and supply products at those selected levels. Also I would think all areas would have a joint worker's and community committee for the investigation of new products, alongside the R+D department. That way we could have new cereal flavors.