thank you for your valuable addition to the co-op discussion. all kinds of
cooperatives are welcome, including industrials.
seems to me that co-ops are an ideal way for the socialists and their
suffering proletariat to conquer the world.
assumption: no legal impediments for co-ops of any type.
then,
1. co-ops extract less surplus value for investments than profit
businesses, therefore they can offer better wages and lower prices.
2. with higher wages and lower prices, they attract better people, sales
expand and they use the surplus value to grow larger.
3. with better people, some of these employees make competitive
innovations/inventions using their co-op surplus value to keep up with the
innovations of profit businesses.
4. with larger co-ops they buy more economically (economies of scale) to
reduce unit costs and prices, increase wages, increase co-op surplus and
expand indefinitely.
5. ERGO, the capitalists are beaten at their own game and whole world turns
into one big socialist co-op. Q.E.D.
however, since co-ops have not conquered the world and since i haven't
become rich and famous for my brilliant idea, then there must be something
wrong with it.
what is that?
norm
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Hanly [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 10:05 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:5554] Re: Re: co-ops
I missed the earlier part of this discussion. You must be talkiing of some
type of production co-op. THere are co-operative financial institutions:
credit unions, or caisse populaires. There are retail co-ops, agricultural
marketing co-ops, dairy co-ops, housing co-oops and on and on. Go to any
small town near where I am and the main financial institution will not be a
bank but a credit union. The main or only grocery store in town will be a
co-op. I belong to four retail co-ops and two credit unions. Our local
credit union amalgamated with two others. THe growth increases our
advantages rather than losing them. We now have 24 hour no fee access to an
ATM rather than paying 50 cents for each transaction formerly. It may be
that some very large urban credit unions lose a lot of advantages of smaller
credit unions I couldn't say. But if they do why would they continue
growing?
Cheers. Ken Hanly
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 1:33 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:5506] Re: co-ops
> At 01:55 PM 12/4/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >if co-ops can successfully give people what they want at a price that
> >excludes "surplus value", then why haven't they become a major factor in
> >republican-capitalist societies?
>
> there are at least two reasons:
>
> (1) if they grow, they lose most or all of their advantages;
>
> (2) banks won't lend to them, except at higher interest rates.
>
> Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
>
