SENATE BILL: Cooperative Development Act of 2014 (Law'd)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

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Sponsor: TNF
Co-Sponsor: NC Yankee

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We should incorporate or repeal if redundant the bill that Seatown and I passed in mid 2012.

oh and yes, 24 hours to begin advocating for this, TNF.

[TNF]

While cooperatives are not a be-all, end-all solution to the problem of capitalist social relations, they offer a distinct alternative to the prevailing, exploitative model of private ownership. Allow for their full and free development will reduce economic inequality (by creating a thriving sector of the economy that is owned and managed by workers themselves), promote real democracy and give workers a chance to make their own way in an ever shifting, uncertain economy, and create good jobs that don't cause dependency on a boss or the degradation of the human spirit that comes with wage labor.

If my co-sponsor would like to chime in, perhaps make a conservative case for this, that'd be grand.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

While Sen. TNF and I don't see eye to eye on everything, I see nothing wrong and quite a bit right with worker cooperatives, and I believe the government is correct in providing incentives for their existence.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think that if you want to reign in the private for-profit sector, the best way is to hit them where it hurts and undercut them wtih a market competing alternative. That will split the market share with other, alternative forms of economic organization, and force the traditional ones to adapt to compete and survive. This will achieve far more postive results of the like that my Labor colleague desires, with far less of the economic consequences that would entail from many other approaches.

I think the same idea generally applies to healthcare, but that is for a different thread.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

1.4 is a neat idea.  I don't know if it will work out most of the time, but it is good for displaced workers to have the option to form a cooperative.

I support this.

[Lumine]

Most of my concerns towards cooperatives go to the issue of voluntary/obligatory membership, and 1.2 establishes a context that I certainly can not oppose. This has my support as well.

[TNF]

We should incorporate or repeal if redundant the bill that Seatown and I passed in mid 2012.

oh and yes, 24 hours to begin advocating for this, TNF.

I actually don't think that the bill Seatown passed would be redundant and in need of repeal, since it specifically cancels out capital gains taxation on cooperatives. Our bill doesn't mention capital gains taxes, so I think it's safe to say that we can leave the other one on the books, unless you'd rather us modify this one to include a zeroing out of capital gains taxation on coops and repeal the law to keep things tidy on the Wiki.

Thanks everyone for your support on this bill.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I would prefer to consolidate the two programs both for the sake of the wiki and general efficacy, yes, but this is your bill and I will defer to your judgment on the matter.

I can offer an amendment tomorrow probably, unless I can get on after the storms get done hammering us again today.

[TNF]

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[Cincinnatus]

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Feedback: Origination
Status: Senators have 24 hours to object.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I object. I don't want these cooperatives to be so dependent on large sums of government money.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I object. I don't want these cooperatives to be so dependent on large sums of government money.

How else do you propose we get them off the ground? They need funding, after all.

[TNF]

I'm open to debating the numbers. The original program shells out $1 billion, but I figure that we could throw a little more the way of our worker enterprises, given that we're currently debating floating huge sums of money to small businesses under the terms of the Let's Get Atlasia Back to Work Act.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'm open to debating the numbers. The original program shells out $1 billion, but I figure that we could throw a little more the way of our worker enterprises, given that we're currently debating floating huge sums of money to small businesses under the terms of the Let's Get Atlasia Back to Work Act.

I don't expect those numbers to end up near as big when we are done with that bill.  In any case cooperatives will be eligible for those same benefits, will they not?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Are worker cooperatives classified as businesses under Atlasian law?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Are worker cooperatives classified as businesses under Atlasian law?

I see no reason why they wouldn't be.

[TNF]

I'm open to debating the numbers. The original program shells out $1 billion, but I figure that we could throw a little more the way of our worker enterprises, given that we're currently debating floating huge sums of money to small businesses under the terms of the Let's Get Atlasia Back to Work Act.

I don't expect those numbers to end up near as big when we are done with that bill.  In any case cooperatives will be eligible for those same benefits, will they not?

I assume so, given that they operate as for-profit entities, but I can always offer an amendment in that thread to make it explicit.

[Cincinnatus]

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Feedback: Origination
Status: Objection filed by Senator shua.  A vote is now open on the aforementioned amendment.  Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[Goldwater]

NAY

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

NAY

[President Tyrion]

Aye

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Aye.

[bore]

Aye

[DC Al Fine]

Nay