Norm, in addition to the legal impediments that don't exist, it's important
to realize that a company doesn't win in a capitalist market by being
efficient. A company has to have advertising, distribution networks, a
large and aggressive legal staff, friends at the bank, R&D investment,
political connections, and more and more, international operations. As
Justin said, the economic process is also a sociological process. (The
Money & Banking textbook I use, by Mishkin, edges toward this realization,
seeing the importance, for example, of "relationship banking," in which
banks and their main borrowers have long-term relationships.)
In order for co-ops to grow & succeed as a major form of economic
organization, there has to be some sort of social-democratic political
movement (which provides the political-sociological replacement for the
capitalist old-boys network). There used to be a lot of co-ops in Berkeley
when I lived there, because it was a hot-bed of leftism. (It's like in much
of Canada.) But in Los Angeles, until recently the capital of
anti-unionism? no way.
At 01:43 PM 12/5/00 -0500, you wrote:
>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?
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
