Both made the claim that the use of coops would be a significant source of new jobs in America.
This tells me two things. First the Democratic Party is hostile to business (always been true) and very uncomfortable recognizing that business is the only source of new jobs.
Second, the Democratic Party and these two spokespeople for Democratic ideas know nothing about business. To think that one form of business, corporation or partnership, sole proprietor, nonprofit or coop would be better at generating jobs is pure ignorance.
There are several forms of coop. Producer’s coop, consumer coop and worker’s coop. I have worked with all three kinds.
Producer’s coops have been successful in agriculture but most convert to the corporate form as they become more successful. The conversion is simply to deal with ownership and capital issues.
Consumer coops almost always fail outside of the retail food industry. I have seen a dozen fail in fields from auto repair to accounting. The book-clothing Coop at Harvard still exists but nobody knows what its real structure is.
Worker’s co-ops also tend to be in the retail food industry and do not have a very successful history. That is because the good managers and occasional innovators tend to leave. Retail workers' coops seldom survive major transitions in their industry. The competent people and the innovators have left.
In some coops there is a surplus of workers at below market pay which may be what leads the Democratic spokespeople to think that coops can help create jobs. But on a scale larger than a few thousand workers the issue is only sensible to someone smoking too much cannibus.
This tells me two things. First the Democratic Party is hostile to business (always been true) and very uncomfortable recognizing that business is the only source of new jobs.
Second, the Democratic Party and these two spokespeople for Democratic ideas know nothing about business. To think that one form of business, corporation or partnership, sole proprietor, nonprofit or coop would be better at generating jobs is pure ignorance.
There are several forms of coop. Producer’s coop, consumer coop and worker’s coop. I have worked with all three kinds.
Producer’s coops have been successful in agriculture but most convert to the corporate form as they become more successful. The conversion is simply to deal with ownership and capital issues.
Consumer coops almost always fail outside of the retail food industry. I have seen a dozen fail in fields from auto repair to accounting. The book-clothing Coop at Harvard still exists but nobody knows what its real structure is.
Worker’s co-ops also tend to be in the retail food industry and do not have a very successful history. That is because the good managers and occasional innovators tend to leave. Retail workers' coops seldom survive major transitions in their industry. The competent people and the innovators have left.
In some coops there is a surplus of workers at below market pay which may be what leads the Democratic spokespeople to think that coops can help create jobs. But on a scale larger than a few thousand workers the issue is only sensible to someone smoking too much cannibus.