cc: Customer Capitalism!

With so much talk going on about how to save capitalism from the global economic crisis, I like to use radical thinking and toy with totally unheard-of thoughts in my mind.

Here's a recent one that's been toying my head.

We know of shareholder capitalism. Shareholders buy stocks and own a company. Shareholders make a profit (or loss) when they sell the stock or when the company pays dividends out of profits.

Now how about this. Imagine for a moment there are no shareholders and no stocks to buy in a publicly listed, publicly owned company. The company is owned by the founders but the rules are that dividends are not exclusively paid to the owners. After the company's profit is taxed and some money is invested in the business and a portion of it retained by the owners, dividends are paid back to the customers that bought the services and/or products of the company.

In other words, only customers who bought the products/services of the company and are the source of the company's profit get to receive the dividends. Every receipt for purchase of goods and services essentially functions as 'stock'. It entitles the customer that holds it to a portion of the dividends the company normally pays out. The individual portion each customer gets is equal to the percentage of his purchase amount over total sales.

A customer who buys a product and is entitled to a portion of the company's profit will tend to be a loyal customer. He gets a stake in the company and its products because he can make money from it. This incentive will keep him busy consuming because he will get some money back from doing so.

At a time where the global economy and certainly the US economy could be plunging into a deflationary spiral where prices go down with no bottom in sight we need people to consume and buy to help us get out of it.

Customer capitalism in the sense I described it above could be a smart trick to use to get everyone buying again.

Of course the system I just described is a thought exercise, a brain game if you like. I find it very exciting and stimulating to imagine how the economy would function if certain rules are changed.

If you also share a similar passion, I look forward to reading your comments thoughts and reaction on this. Thanks!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

noah's roofs

if you couldn't figure it out by reading the title, perhaps you never read the bible literally enough. a noah's roof is the concept of using a boat as a roof. it's not a joke.

strange as it may sound, it can actually help save people's lives in the developing world from devastating floods. a ladder inside the house leads to an attic-type door opening that gets everyone inside the boat. the boat is anchored on the ceiling in such a way that it detaches easily from it perhaps using pins or latches. villages with boat roofs can become tourist attractions and raise local income, for instance viewed from above on a helicopter ride or balloon as part of a safari or other tourist activity.

again, this is not a joke, it's an idea some people contemplate seriously. I think it must have had its origins in the bible :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

More roundabouts would be nice

Roundabouts are a seeming contradiction, they slow traffic while they keep it moving. But they are safer than traffic lights because they demand that your - and more to the point everybody else's - operation is cooperation. They save fuel because unlike a light-directed intersection they don't require you to stop, idle and start again. They have no moving parts. And you can plant trees and flowers in the circle.

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improve writing of text on mobile phones

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 5 March 2008 by member birand

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it has happened to me many times. if i am in the middle of writing an sms message to someone and i get a call and answer it, the text message isn't saved and i have to write it all over again. this is very annoying and a waste of time. i think mobile phones should save in memory all the text written on the screen the moment it's written so that it is never lost by accident.

how to s(h)ave time and hair...

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 2 March 2008 by member frank

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what if the soap or gel we use to wash our hands and face could also be used to stop us from having to shave every day? I don't know if it's possible but I was thinking that if a chemical substance existed or could be invented that can stop the hair on the beard from growing when you apply it to the skin, then we could control the growth of the beard just by washing our hands and face. This way we could shave time and save hair!

do you think that if it was possible to invent such a harmless chemical, then razor companies might try to stop such research because it would reduce their profits or drive them out of business?

Short hair saves you money

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 24 October 2007 by member josh

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You use less shampoo when you shower and you also save on electricity by making less or no use at all of the hair dryer.

It works.

Water turns fatty food into light food

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 22 February 2008 by member koreen

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If a light food product you buy in the supermarket means a product with less calories, then you can turn every food into light food by adding water to it. Most calorie measurements in food are based on samples of 100 grams, so if you add water the 100 grams become 200 but the calories stay the same or are less as percentage of the overall intake

Products I can think of this can apply are alcohol, beer, wine, yogurt, soups, milk shakes, ice cream, coke etc

The taste might be diluted but will still be the same. If you turn normal food products into light ones this way, you will also be saving money as light products are usually more expensive compared to the original ones!

Re-use rain water

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 21 February 2008 by member luppo

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good idea to consume less water is to collect water from rain on rooftop of every building and purify/clean with filter first. then use it for washing dishes, laundry, shower etc, saves money and water!

How to remove CO2 from the atmosphere

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 18 February 2008 by member ben

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Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that exists in the earth's atmosphere. CO2 however becomes solid at temperatures below -78 °C. In its solid state, carbon dioxide is commonly called dry ice. I thought the following. If scientists can find a way to cool atmosphere at that level then large chunks of it can be removed from the atmosphere. CO2 at a solid state will just fall from the sky like dry ice due to gravity!