Sally,
I don't buy basic income (sorry, Sally) nor bit taxes (sorry, Arthur) --
both smack of even more centralism -- but I certainly do buy co-operatives.
The onslaught of consumerism has seemingly made individuals of us all but
the instinct for community living and working is still strong. The chain of
uniquely new consumer products with the power to drive advanced economies
further petered out in recent decades so we're either facing governmental
exhaustion (fairly obvious already) or something quite new in the way we
organize ourselves (perhaps this is something that the young are already
anticipating on their mobiles!).
Keith
At 15:06 24/06/2010 -0400, Sally wrote:
Now that Ray has energized the list (and reminded us that music is often
the best solace), what potential do any/all of you see in re-examining
co-operatives (i.e.producer, consumer, worker, credit unions) as possible
roads to better ways of organizing lives (while we await the advent of
basic income and the bit tax, of course).
I've been digging into recent literature and examples (e.g. the Cleveland
Model in the U.S.), finding some useful analysis of why co-ops are good,
especially in crises, why they have trouble starting up and
surviving, what can be done to address the problems, etc. etc. --good
stuff, definitely stimulates hopeful thoughts.
Which I need day to day to counter the sick feeling from the BP disaster -
a whole ecosystem and culture -- and way of life -- wiped out.
Check google and amazon for a wealth of material on co-operatives. Is
this a path worth re-visiting? Is Mondragon still relevant for the future
of work? What think all of you?
Cheers, Sally
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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