Well, this list strikes me as rather insular. Louis talks about Co-ops in
the same breath with utopian socialism. On the prairies co-ops, credit
unions, etc. are all
around us. They are not failing. Part of the reason for the plethora of
co-ops is that there have been social democratic and/or populist provincial
governments committed to them. The party that ruled Saskatchewan for many
years and brought in the first North American universal health care system
was called the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation..The Regina Manifesto, the party
platform for some time, called for the abolition of capitalism and its
replacement by a Co-operative Commonwealth. I posted the Manifesto to Pen-L
some time ago,. We still have a minister responsible for co-operatives in
the Manitoba provincial government. Things have changed for the worse but it
was not long ago that co-operative housing was funded by both provincial and
federal government. While there were some ridiculous restrictions a group of
which I was president were able to get financing at below market rates. In
exchange we made some of our units available to the local housing authority
for public housing. We had two apartment bldgs and a substantial number of
double units plus one special unit for handicapped peoples. The local
Conservative MP helped us rather than hindered us . He had a son who was
handicapped. Even the local Conservative dominated council did not give us a
bad time since construction was almost non=existent and the city had
landbanked land they were eager to have developed. So it all depends upon
the specific context whether co-ops work. At present in rural Manitoba,
banks are losing the battle with Credit Unions. Many banks are just pulling
out of smaller towns because there is no profit to be made for them.
Customers are then snapped up by local credit unions.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message -----
From: Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 3:02 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:5525] RE: Re: co-ops
>
>
> >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/04/00 03:30PM >>>
> to CB: can you make a substantiated case for capitalists putting co-ops
out
> of business? of course one would be for banks to lend at higher interest
> rates as JD says. what other destructive mechanisms do they have?
>
> ((((((((((
>
> CB: Credit unions are coops. Recently there was an effort by big banks to
get a federal law passed that would restrict credit unions.
>
> My parents live in housing structured as a coop. That is rare. But that is
only indirect evidence of how big biz may limit the proliferation of the
form.
>
