Mutual Benefit 03/13/2011
 
It's been an interesting week for economic news – those superstars of Distributism the John Lewis Partnership, a mutually owned retail group, has just announced that its 2010 profits rose 15% to £350 million, and its partners (employees) will share an increased bonus pot of £170 million - up from £151 million last year. This is a brilliant example of how successful the Distributist economic model can be: the company is well run but not owned by “fat cat” capitalists, so no bubbly for shareholders, all profit goes back into the business or is shared amongst the people who made the profits happen – the workforce!

In the same week, it was announced that taxpayer-subsidised Northern Rock bank would be paying out bonuses also - £13 million worth – despite making losses of £232 million! Guess whose pockets that came out of – yours! It took an idiot midwife of Gordon Brown's calibre to bring this unwanted baby into the world – fathered by greedy capitalist banks that go wrong with massive losses, and then mothered by the Labour government who decided socialism was the answer and lumbered taxpayers with the bill.

John Lewis is also raising £50 million through a retail bond issue aimed at customers. It has raised finance through bond markets before, but the "partnership" bond is the first time that it has let its customers invest. The bond will be available to 1.5 million cardholders and 70,000 staff, or "partners". The five-year fixed rate bond will be offered to qualifying individuals to invest a lump sum of between £1,000 and £10,000, in multiples of £1,000. It has a fixed annual return of 4.5% in cash with a further 2% paid in John Lewis Partnership gift vouchers. Once again this represents the fine practice of distributism. Where the British Government borrows money, John Lewis aims to issue bonds to raise capital for further growth. This even shows how we can reclaim the ‘family silver’ of the utilty companies, placing them back in the ownership of the people rather than fat cat directors.

The John Lewis partnership should not be looked at as an eccentric “one-off” business, but the model for all future business in England – businesses well run with pride by their partners, not taking a penny piece off the taxpayer, and not for sale to foreign corporations waving money under their noses. Doesn't all this make sense?

 


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