The case for co-ops, the invisible giant of the economy | Anu Puusa

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Think capitalism is broken? Try cooperativism, says co-op enthusiast and researcher Anu Puusa. She lays out how cooperatives — businesses owned, operated and controlled by their members — can both make money and have a positive impact on the environment and local communities. With co-ops, Puusa says, doing good business and doing good at the same time becomes possible.

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20 Comments on The case for co-ops, the invisible giant of the economy | Anu Puusa

  1. every form of business has it’s place and not everything can be a coop. e.g. how is the liability with a coop? in a normal company only the owner is liable. in a coop it would be everyone I guess. Imagine giving every participant of a coop a 1 million dollar fine.

    • Watch the video and you will find the answer.

      Also the problem you state is of legislative nature, this is solved with writing new appreciate laws.

    • You wrote _”In a normal company only the owner is liable”_ — in which country does that happen? In all other countries, the owners are *_not_* liable. That’s what *”limited liability”* means. Worst case scenario: The owners lose the money they’ve invested in that company. Nothing more. Same with cooperatives. All these organizations—corporations, cooperatives, partnerships, non-profits—are legal entities in and of themselves. As far as the law is concerned, they are equivalent to humans.

      So, to answer your question, the cooperative itself is liable, not its owners, not its management. The management can be separately prosecuted and fined if they acted illegally, but not otherwise. If a cooperative is fined, say, 10 million dollars, the owners and the management are *_not_* required to pay it out of their own pockets. If the cooperative has the money, the cooperative pays the fine. Otherwise it is shut down and its assets are seized. The owners’ other assets are not touched.

      This is exactly the same as with any other limited liability venture. It’s at the heart of capitalism.

  2. Here in Tamil Nadu, India when we talk about such concepts as a political manifesto people question us about possibility.

  3. Co-operatives rock. It’s where the workers own the business and have an equal vote to how the business is run as everyone else who owns that business. Democracy in a workplace, almost an alien concept on the USA. I realize that there are other kinds of co-ops where there are still board of directors who are selected by workers/voters.

  4. Kerrygold started out as a co-op, it became a company in the late 80s. Now is one of largest dairy companies in the world.

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