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WINNIPEG, MB - It was a simple idea born in dire times, during the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution in 1844 England: could ordinary people pool their resources to their mutual benefit? That idea led to a global co-operative movement, with the first member-owned credit union appearing in Manitoba in St. Malo in the 1930s. Today, there are more than 350 Manitoba co-ops serving 800,000 members in all facets of life from grocery stores to financial services to gas bars.

Economists who think economics should serve people, the planet, and the future make their case in a short video.

This is a good piece on the privatization efforts in Cuba with a distinct emphasis on worker-ownership. Worth a look.

It's also worth going back to pick up Richard Wolff's interview of Gar Alperovitz from April of 2012. The transcript and audio are both available at the link.

On the last day of 2012 our 25^th year as a worker cooperative (and 37th in business) ended.  It was an extraordinary year – rich, full, profitable, demanding, restorative, and uplifting. It was a year of many “first-evers”. On November 1^st we welcomed...

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TruthOut published a very positive review of John Curl's 2nd Edition ... discussed in Michael Johnson's interview of Curl late last year. As the U.S.

By Robyn Ross, Fri., Jan.

In the fall of 2011 we were asked to examine a 50-acre property with multiple buildings to see if we could determine ways to reduce our client’s carbon footprint.  The historic buildings presented a challenge.  There were acceptable ways to reduce energy consumption but they were not as significant as we would have liked.  Likewise, the opportunities to produce energy were limited as most places to mount solar electric panels on both roofs and ground were ruled out.

The Peer-To-Peer gang discovers an Economic Democracy resource. Dada Maheshvarananda, an american Yogi working at the PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory) Institute in Venecuela has recently updated this book with new material.

Last week I traveled to Portland Oregon...the reason for the trip was to meet with the 19 members of the Partners Group who own the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, MI.  Zingerman’s is one of the great stories of today’s business world, a hopeful harbinger of the Next Economy.  The partners manage nearly 600 employees and the eight distinct businesses have combined annual revenues of $46 million.  They are all food-related (and educational) and they are all in Ann Arbor.