海角大神

Marissa Mayer tells us a lot about why Americans are so angry, and why anti-establishment fury has become the biggest single force in American politics today.

Mayer is CEO of Yahoo. Yahoo鈥檚 stock lost about a of its value last year, as the company went from making $7.5 billion in 2014 to losing $4.4 billion in 2015. Yet Mayer raked in in compensation.

Even if Yahoo鈥檚 board fires her, her contract stipulates she gets The severance package was disclosed in a last Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In other words, Mayer can鈥檛 lose.

It鈥檚 another example of no-lose socialism for the rich 鈥� winning big regardless of what you do.

Why do Yahoo鈥檚 shareholders put up with it? Mostly because they don鈥檛 know about it.

Most of their shares are held by big pension funds, mutual funds, and insurance funds whose managers because they skim the cream regardless of what happens to Yahoo.

In other words, more no-lose socialism for the rich.

I don鈥檛 want to pick on Ms. Mayer or the managers of the funds that invest in Yahoo. They鈥檙e typical of the no-lose system in which America鈥檚 corporate and financial elite now operate. 聽

But the rest of America works in a different system.

Theirs is cutthroat hyper-capitalism 鈥� in which wages are shrinking, median household income continues to drop, workers are fired without warning, two-thirds are living paycheck to paycheck, and employees are being classified as 鈥渋ndependent contractors鈥� without any labor protections at all.

Why is there no-lose socialism for the rich and cutthroat hyper-capitalism for everyone else?

Because the rules of the game 鈥� including labor laws, pension laws, corporate laws, and tax laws 鈥� have been crafted by those at the top, and the lawyers and lobbyists who work for them.

Does that mean we have to await Bernie Sanders鈥檚 鈥減olitical revolution鈥� (or, perish the thought, Donald Trump鈥檚 authoritarian populism) before any of this is likely to change?

Before we go to the barricades, you should know about another CEO named Hamdi Ulukaya, who鈥檚 developing a third model 鈥� neither no-lose socialism for the rich nor hyper-capitalism for everyone else.

Ulukaya is the Turkish-born founder and CEO of Chobani, the upstart Greek yogurt maker recently valued at as much as $5 billion.

Last Tuesday Ulukaya he鈥檚 giving all his 2,000 full-time workers shares of stock worth up to 10 percent of the privately held company鈥檚 value when it鈥檚 sold or goes public, based on each employee鈥檚 tenure and role at the company.

If the company ends up being valued at $3 billion, for example, the average employee payout could be $150,000. Some long-tenured employees will get more than $1 million.

Ulukaya鈥檚 announcement raised eyebrows all over corporate America. Many are viewing it an act of charity (Forbes Magazine it one of 鈥渢he most selfless corporate acts of the year鈥�).

In reality, Mr. Ulukaya鈥檚 decision is just good business. Employees who are partners become even more dedicated to increasing a company鈥檚 value.

Which is why research shows that employee-owned companies 鈥� even those with workers holding only a minority stake 鈥� tend to the competition.

Mr. Ulukaya just increased the odds that Chobani will be valued at more than $5 billion when it鈥檚 sold or its shares of stock are available to the public. Which will make him, as well as his employees, far wealthier.

As Ulukaya wrote to his workers, the award isn鈥檛 a gift but 鈥渁 mutual promise to work together with a shared purpose and responsibility.鈥�

A handful of other companies are inching their way in a similar direction.

Apple decided last October it would award shares not just to executives or engineers but to . Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is giving a third of his Twitter stock (about 1 percent of the company) 鈥濃��

Employee stock ownership plans, which have been around for years, are lately seeing a bit of a comeback.

But the vast majority of American companies are still locked in the old hyper-capitalist model that views workers as costs to be cut rather than as partners to share in success.

That鈥檚 largely because Wall Street still looks unfavorably on such collaboration (remember, Chobani is still privately held).

The Street remains obsessed with short-term stock performance, and its analysts don鈥檛 believe hourly workers have much to contribute to the bottom line.

But they鈥檙e prepared to lavish unprecedented rewards on CEOs who don鈥檛 deserve squat.

Let them compare Yahoo with Chobani in a few years, and see which model works best.

If I were a betting man, I鈥檇 put my money on Greek yoghurt.

And I鈥檇 bet on a model of capitalism that鈥檚 neither no-lose socialism for the rich nor cruel hyper-capitalism for the rest, but share-the-gains capitalism for everyone.

This article first appeared at .