Thanks for this article - which shows there is an alternative to greed, plutocracy and exploitation. Co-operatives could definately be part of a 'democratic mixed economy'. Hoping to hear more from you here...

sincerely

Tristan

“I would welcome a critical analysis that was able to refute the theories of freedom which show capitalism to be the only ethical, as well as the only practical way possible for a modern society.”
No you wouldn't, Wing. You only welcome people who agree with you.
The blind faithful of Mises all share his terror of totalitarianism, and rightly so. But please explain to me how working for a socialist government is any worse than working for a global corporation, larger than most governments?
You have never bothered to refute my argument that even socialist or communist governments *can* be democratic, but corporations will never be.
Do you really want to live in a world where the rule is 1 share one vote, instead of one person, one vote?
30 odd years ago, the median wage was around 10 grand. An average new home (in the Blue Mountains) was about 50 grand, or five years wages.
Today, the median wage is about 35k, and the new house is more like 400k, or more than 10 years wages.
In another thirty years, following the same trend, wages will be around $122k, and a house will be 3.2 million. About 26 years wages. In other words, the banks will own all the houses, and our children will be back to being serfs.
If you really believe in private ownership -for everyone- you cannot defend extreme, unregulated capitalism. Instead of asking why banks loaned money for houses to people who cannot afford them, why not ask: in the richest country on the planet why can so many people *not* afford so basic a necessity as a roof over their heads?

All this Coop talk reminds me of Gough's time , Remember the getup organized by Lawsie , Caine's , Morosi , etc a lot of people got ripped off in that experiment and Lawsie lost his cool at his gig in a big way , I have forgotten the name of the experiment I guess it's on the net somewhere ?

For me there won't be any Coop , I know how many Co's will turn up when there's some work to be done or the power's to be paid
Better to do it for yourself , the harder you work the more you make providing your Business plan is not a colander .

Co-operatives are a good idea as are limited companies as are government controlled entities like the Police Force. What is more important is how these entities are governed and run - not who owns them.

When people talk about capitalism they seem to be talking about ownership and investment.

The current system of ownership favours those who already have assets. It is very difficult to raise money to build a new productive enterprise unless you already have an asset. I do not think who owns something has much to do with how well it is run in the same way that I do not think it makes any difference to the productivity of a CEO if you give him 1,000 as much as a worker instead of 15 times as much.

The important things are the structures of the organisations that we build. It is my opinion that it matters little who owns something as to how efficient it is. Essentially restricting ownership of new enterprises to those who already own a lot is if anything likely to be less efficient than opening up ownership to those who have little.