This week, Michael Lind, economic policy director of New America Foundation, theorized that in order for capitalism to thrive again America, the country must shift from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism.

I like the tenets of stakeholder capitalism, although I’m sure some conservative Americans will dismiss it as too socially conscious and utopian.

In a nutshell, stakeholder capitalism is when corporations seek to benefit not just themselves but everyone who has a stake in their business, from customers who buy services and products to vendors who supply necessities to communities at large. This clashes with how capitalism is currently practiced where companies are focused on reaping dividends for investors and profit for themselves with no thought about how workers, families and communities are affected.

Can you imagine an America where businesses are actually concerned about their employees and see them as more than replaceable cogs in a wheel?  Every now and then, we’ve heard stories of individual expressions of stakeholder capitalism. (For example, once years ago I read an article about how the owner of a business sold his company and divided the profit among his workers, making some of them millionaires.)

Practicing concerned capitalism on a nationwide basis seems like it would be a jolt to America’s paper chase as we know it.  Business people would have to actually learn empathy and respect – and not just for people with high status and the power to fire or promote. I rather like the idea.

Stakeholder capitalism is already practiced in countries like Japan and Germany.  According to a University of Pennsylvania paper, though, this style of capitalism is often plagued by a loss of profit, which, of course, threatens a company’s ability to survive.

I think America has already focused on profit by any means necessary and that turned out to be a losing enterprise. So, what is the loss of a little profit if we can develop more equity and benefits for everyone involved in commerce, from the lowly worker to the biggest shareholder?