It's amazing how many people believe that every company is publicly traded. The vast majority of companies do not have stock and never will.
If every company were owned by its employees, the net result would be higher unemployment, and many of those who found work would then do so as contractors. Hiring an employee is a major decision, especially for small- to mid-size companies. For a fledgling family business, giving an hourly employee an ownership stake in the company you and your wife started in your garage is a non-starter for most people regardless of their stated political ideology. For megacorps with deep pockets, mandatory ESOP would immediately accelerate the replacement of humans with machines.
If you look at the incentives you can fairly quickly guess a person's (and a company's) future behavior.
If every company were owned by its employees, the net result would be higher unemployment, and many of those who found work would then do so as contractors. Hiring an employee is a major decision, especially for small- to mid-size companies. For a fledgling family business, giving an hourly employee an ownership stake in the company you and your wife started in your garage is a non-starter for most people regardless of their stated political ideology. For megacorps with deep pockets, mandatory ESOP would immediately accelerate the replacement of humans with machines.
If you look at the incentives you can fairly quickly guess a person's (and a company's) future behavior.