Cooperatives Administration Act of 2015 (Failed)

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'll support Senator Hagrid's amendment

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Why should we give preference to cooperatives at all?

Because they're good

Um, there has to be a reason why the Atlasian Federal Government is going to pick winners. I support cooperatives being able to operate, but I think they should have to compete as any small business.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

AYE

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'd like to think that building enterprises with workers' control is a compelling pubic interest.

Oh my...

I pretty much agree with the Vice President here. Fundamentally, if workers wish to establish cooperatives to run a company, that's great. But I don't see why we should be giving them any special treatment including priority for Federal Government contracts. If they can't compete, they can't - if they can, they will.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

As I said before can we stop with this level playing field idea.

Every single emerging market has been given massive governmental support to help it take off-whether it's tax cuts for oil, funding for Monsanto farms or subsidies for wind farms it's clear that everyone supports the idea that govt should give a helping hand to certain businesses.

Co-ops promote a worker lead, progressive business that can contribute to society-hell yes lets give them a helping hand

Except this is not a 'market'. Industry support is one thing (and I'm wary of that) but this is support for a type of business. We have given some support to small business and usually as a form of stimulus during times of downturn. But this is just seems a big ideological high-five over anything without real economic imperatives behind it.

The other part of this, cooperatives generally don't need to worry about competing. They have a pretty decent success rate without needing us to artificially inflate their position. Let them compete properly, if the stats carry through, then good on them. Plus, Government contracting with public funds should be driven by the effectiveness and efficiency of the services they provide. If cooperatives can be competitive in that process, then good, but otherwise, we shouldn't be providing assistance to businesses that cannot otherwise compete.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'm generally more in agreement with Senator Blair on this. Even if cooperatives already have a decent success rate on their own, that in and of itself isn't a great reason to stop the government from promoting them further.

That said, Nix makes a good point about the economic role this would play and the fact that tangible benefits wouldn't necessarily come from this.

So I'm torn.

That's my key issue Senator, I don't believe it's our role to promote a particular form of business organisation. Which is why I agree with the Vice President that if anything, this could be a nil-sum game and we should just support the creation of cooperatives, if suitable, but not create artificial market forces and the expense of other businesses... which is what this Bill will do.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

'I don't believe it's our role to promote a particular form of business organization'

Except that you do, because not promoting co-ops means spending federal dollars on contracts with non-cooperative enterprises.

The government is not promoting anything by paying for the goods and services it needs to operate. Contracts should go to companies who can do good work at a reasonably competitive price. If cooperatives cannot deliver on those fronts, then there's a problem inherent to their business model. I'm inclined to believe they can indeed compete on their own.

And since we don't seem to be giving too much help to small business either, I don't see why we should help cooperatives instead.

Exactly. Not giving one thing extra-bonus doesn't mean giving the extra-bonus to its competitors. There is no need for "if you're not for us you're against us" mentality.

It's a brilliant attempt of circular logic, by not actively promoting something you're promoting something else, lol.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

NAY

We'd be passing something with $TBD in it.