Thought for the Month - January 2012

As we accelerate our way towards species oblivion in the eternal pursuit of "growth", it might just be worth remembering that this year is the UN International Year of Co-operatives (IYC).

Last year it was, apparently, the UN International Year of the Trees. You probably didn't know that. I'm sure the trees didn't. (They only have themselves to blame. They shoud be better organised.)

The reason it might be worth remembering is that co-operative economics offers a tried, tested, robust organisational model which doesn't involve a few corporate sleaze pigs (CSPs) at the top pursuing their own best interests to the exclusion of all else.

How is this possible you may ask? Well, for a start, no matter how many shares you might happen to own in a co-op, you can never have more than one vote. This is why the CSPs don't like them. What's the point of having shares in an organisaton if you can't dominate; bend it to your puny masculine will.

Also, it is very difficult to dis-mantle a co-op for the purpose of stripping its assets. The members of a co-op may not normally, themselves, be the beneficiaries of any winding up process.

In short, there is very little in the structure of a co-op which appeals to speculators at all. And, guess what? Co-op companies function very well without speculators. Who needs them? The scariest thing about co-ops from the point of view of CSPs and speculators is that co-ops so clearly demonstrate that an economic system and a world can function very happily without either CSPs or speculators.

Yes. The world does not need speculators.

So, get rid of them. Convert every trading entity into a co-op. See what that does to the boom and bust cycles.....