Socialism: answer the horizon problem with reserve rules, not share sales

Add the-long-run.md: the Furubotn-Pejovich worry, the French and Italian evidence, the plywood "failure of success", and four rules: the reserve takes its share of pay above the going rate, asset-sale gains go to the reserve, qualifying development can be spread over five years with abandonment charged to those who chose it, and accounts earn Treasury+2 only while at risk. Update capital accounts, worker ownership, the pilot's measures, open problems and the index. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01QWPs69B8nQZjtPEUXMKzZx
2026-09-23 15:32:19 -06:00
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@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ A useful yardstick: among the SBA's mature loan groups from 1992 to 2004, loans
 - **Who got loans.** Approval rates and loan terms by the founders' race, gender and personal wealth. If collateral-based lending quietly shuts out the people co-ops mostly serve, it should show.
 - **Who gets the profits inside each co-op.** Profit shares, founding shares and membership approvals by race and gender, so that an in-group of early members can't quietly take most of the pool.
 - **Who founded them.** Founders' previous earnings and work histories, using linked government records where they're available, compared with the founders of the matched firms. If the strongest founders stay away ([The Founder Problem](founder-problem.md)), this is where it shows.
+- **Investment.** Spending on equipment, buildings and development per worker, how much of each year's profit is kept in the business, and the return those investments earn, compared with the matched firms. If co-ops starve themselves of capital, as economists have long predicted ([Investing for the Long Run](the-long-run.md)), this is where it shows.
 - **Local effects.** Business openings and closures in the counties where co-ops were funded, so any damage to existing local businesses is visible.
 - **Results by industry**, including care work like home health and cleaning, where most US co-op members work today.