Co-ops and Credit Unions

Coincidentally, the NYT highlighted cooperatives and credit unions yesterday (h/t Mark Thoma):

But at another level, something different has been quietly brewing in recent decades: more and more Americans are involved in co-ops, worker-owned companies and other alternatives to the traditional capitalist model. We may, in fact, be moving toward a hybrid system, something different from both traditional capitalism and socialism, without anyone even noticing.
Some 130 million Americans, for example, now participate in the ownership of co-op businesses and credit unions. More than 13 million Americans have become worker-owners of more than 11,000 employee-owned companies, six million more than belong to private-sector unions.
And worker-owned companies make a difference. In Cleveland, for instance, an integrated group of worker-owned companies, supported in part by the purchasing power of large hospitals and universities, has taken the lead in local solar-panel installation, “green” institutional laundry services and a commercial hydroponic greenhouse capable of producing more than three million heads of lettuce a year.

Well farmers are ahead of the game on this one, although I have to note that the agricultural co-ops have been merging a lot lately and are now very large operations.  I have gotten good service from the cooperative electric company and the cooperative fertilizer company.  I like being an owner of the enterprise instead of just a customer.  No sense in corporate shareholders collecting the vig on my business when it can go back to me.