Cooperative

Two Tips On How To Avoid Bankruptcy

2010-09-02T20:11:00.001+07:00

Bankruptcy is the last thing that anybody wants to go through. It tears your credit apart, cause's public humiliation, and it generally means you have to start over financially. If there was any possible way of avoiding bankruptcy many people would take it in a heartbeat. The good news is that there are many ways of avoiding bankruptcy it just depends on what stage of financial ruin you are in.

The most important thing you can do if you are facing any type of financial crisis is to start a budget. A budget is an organized process of determining where your money is going. To start this budget, list your financial spending patterns and obligations. You begin to track exactly where your money is going in an organized way so that you can see the consistency in your spending habits. Once you have control over your financial spending habits you can than begin to save or pay off your debt. If you are in an extremely dire financial situation begin to use that extra discretionary income for paying off debts.

The second tip is you paying down your debts. Start a budget and begin to pay your debts down starting with the smallest debt first. If you have two debts that you owe the same amount of money, than go off of which one has the highest interest rate. It does not matter what the interest rates are on your different debts, the smallest must be your first priority in terms of paying it off.

Conventional wisdom might at first glance be, that you should pay down the debt with the highest interest rate first, but if you pay down the smallest debt first you can then use that old minimum payment and apply it to your next debt, this is what Dave Ramsey calls the "Debt Snowball." You get compounding payments which helps you build momentum and pay off the rest of your debts. This strategy gives you the confidence that you need to be successful against such a daunting task.

Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result." If you go back to the old patterns of spending and managing your money you will end up right back where you started. Getting out of a financial coma takes a long time but if you set goals and establish good habits you too can become debt free.

Bankruptcy - 15 Facts You May Not Know!

2010-09-02T20:09:00.000+07:00

15 Facts About Bankruptcy

1. Stops a foreclosure of your home.

2. Stops repossession. For instance, if your car is being repossessed, Bankruptcy can stop your creditor from repossessing your car and possibly lower your payment.

3. Stops bill collectors. If you happen to be behind in your bills and your creditors are constantly calling you, that will definitely stop once you declare bankruptcy.

4. Enables you to keep your car as well as your home. Most people who declare bankruptcy do keep their home and their car while they are paying down their debt.

5. The new bankruptcy laws actually help people more than the old laws.

6. When you are married, you can file individually if the debts are mostly in one of the names.

7. Bankruptcy is not published in the newspaper.

8. Fast filing is normal. Some worry it will take forever to file, but that isn't the case. Usually it can be within 1-2 days, as long as you provide the necessary documentation.

9. Bankruptcy laws are federal laws and the cases are brought into federal court.

10. You have to petition for bankruptcy with a judge.

11. Not all debts are forgiven when you file

12. Student loans and tax debt usually can't be eliminated in any bankruptcy.

13. Your credit report will show Bankruptcy for 10 years after you file.

14. Filing Bankruptcy can Lower Payments...

15. Debtors must meet with a credit counselor six months prior to applying for bankruptcy and must attend money management class.

Corporate Finance - Some Key Terms

2010-07-24T21:52:00.000+07:00

Corporate finance in business is a general term used to describe anything in a monetary field to do with businesses. It is used to describe not just terms which involve the flow of money throughout a business e.g. revenue and costs, but also describes the tools which are used in order to calculate said figures, in order for data that has been collected to be analysed. This gives the numbers meaning, or better, an actual context which could be used in order to help a business keep on top of its cash flow and run more efficiently.

There are hundreds of different terms used in businesses to talk about money and each of them have different meanings, or just something minor which is different from the one before, in order to produce a totally different number all together.

The following are a few terms used within business to describe certain aspects of the business on a monetary basis: Assets (Current & Net), Stock, Shares, Costs (Total, Fixed, Variable), Profit (Gross & Net) and Price Elasticity. Price Elasticity is more to do with the running of a business, not as a whole, it is more aimed towards certain products themselves instead of the whole product portfolio. All of the other terms look at the business as a whole, or can be used to take a step back and look at it as a whole instead of smaller departments.

What is the point in knowing these numbers if you are not going to do anything with them? Well the answer is there isn't really that much of a point. As the previous titles stand, they are pretty much meaningless, not giving a user any indication of what is what it is just there. Hence, why the handy tools known as formulas were invented, in order to turn that data which is gathered into some much needed knowledge and understanding.

Some of the following formulas are used within the business world: Profit, Contribution, Break Even, Investment Decisions, Company Accounts and many more. Each have their own contribution in telling a user how the company is doing and some are used to predict trends to give a possible snapshot of the future e.g. Profit and Loss accounts & Time Series Analysis. These simple predictions take into account the trends that have been developing, then keeps the trend going to give a brief outlook on what would happen if everything continued at the same pace. This can help give an excellent outlook into the future of your business and finances.

6 Ways to Save Money

2010-01-23T19:05:00.001+07:00

Cooperative Credit Union

2009-11-04T17:56:00.001+07:00

The Co-Operative New Mills

2009-08-14T09:36:00.001+07:00

Bank Of America

2009-07-26T20:19:00.000+07:00

Co-operative Bank announce 48 per cent growth

2009-06-10T18:01:00.000+07:00

Treasury Official: Money Flow Takes Time

2009-05-13T20:08:00.000+07:00

Why Help AIG?

2009-05-13T20:06:00.000+07:00

Co-operative Bank announce 48 per cent growth

2009-04-26T13:18:00.002+07:00

Co-operative Bank announce 48 per cent growth

2009-04-26T13:18:00.001+07:00

How To: Save More Money in 2009

2009-04-23T18:30:00.001+07:00

Obama should save the banks, not the bankers Pt.4

2009-04-09T19:20:00.000+07:00

The Collapse Of The U.S. Dollar

2009-03-31T18:08:00.001+07:00

The Truth About The Economy: Total Collapse

2009-03-31T18:07:00.001+07:00

Principles of economics, translated

2009-03-31T17:59:00.000+07:00

China, the U.S. and the Economic Crisis - Niall Ferguson

2009-02-22T19:07:00.001+07:00

Wider economic crises

2009-02-12T21:13:00.000+07:00

A downturn in economic growth lasting several quarters or more is usually called a recession. An especially prolonged recession may be called a depression, while a long period of slow but not necessarily negative growth is sometimes called economic stagnation. Since these phenomena affect much more than the financial system, they are not usually considered financial crises per se. But some economists have argued that many recessions have been caused in large part by financial crises. One important example is the Great Depression, which was preceded in many countries by bank runs and stock market crashes. The subprime mortgage crisis and the bursting of other real estate bubbles around the world is widely expected to lead to recession in the U.S. and a number of other countries in 2008.

Nonetheless, some economists argue that financial crises are caused by recessions instead of the other way around. Also, even if a financial crisis is the initial shock that sets off a recession, other factors may be more important in prolonging the recession. In particular, Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz argued that the initial economic decline associated with the crash of 1929 and the bank panics of the 1930s would not have turned into a prolonged depression if it had not been reinforced by monetary policy mistakes on the part of the Federal Reserve, and Ben Bernanke has acknowledged that he agrees.

International financial crises

2009-02-12T21:10:00.000+07:00

When a country that maintains a fixed exchange rate is suddenly forced to devalue its currency because of a speculative attack, this is called a currency crisis or balance of payments crisis. When a country fails to pay back its sovereign debt, this is called a sovereign default. While devaluation and default could both be voluntary decisions of the government, they are often perceived to be the involuntary results of a change in investor sentiment that leads to a sudden stop in capital inflows or a sudden increase in capital flight.

Several currencies that formed part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism suffered crises in 1992-93 and were forced to devalue or withdraw from the mechanism. Another round of currency crises took place in Asia in 1997-98. Many Latin American countries defaulted on their debt in the early 1980s. The 1998 Russian financial crisis resulted in a devaluation of the ruble and default on Russian government bonds

Banking crises

2009-02-12T21:09:00.000+07:00

When a bank suffers a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors, this is called a bank run. Since banks lend out most of the cash they receive in deposits (see fractional-reserve banking), it is difficult for them to quickly pay back all deposits if these are suddenly demanded, so a run may leave the bank in bankruptcy, causing many depositors to lose their savings unless they are covered by deposit insurance. A situation in which bank runs are widespread is called a systemic banking crisis or just a banking panic. A situation without widespread bank runs, but in which banks are reluctant to lend, because they worry that they have insufficient funds available, is often called a credit crunch.

Examples of bank runs include the run on the Bank of the United States in 1931 and the run on Northern Rock in 2007. The collapse of Bear Stearns in 2008 has also sometimes been called a bank run, even though Bear Stearns was an investment bank rather than a commercial bank. The U.S. savings and loan crisis of the 1980s led to a credit crunch which is seen as a major factor in the U.S. recession of 1990-1991.

Financial crisis

2009-02-12T21:08:00.000+07:00

The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults.

Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented. There is little consensus, however, and financial crises are still a regular occurrence around the world.

Member the Co-operative Insurance

2009-02-07T08:08:00.001+07:00

The Co-operative Insurance and The Co-operative Investments are trading names of Co-operative Insurance Society. The following are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Society, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority:

CIS General Insurance Limited
CIS Unit Managers Limited
CIS Policyholder Services Limited
In 2006 CIS split its life and general insurance businesses into two separate entities and CISGIL was established, within which all new and renewing insurance business is now being written. All existing CIS general insurance business is now reinsured with CISGIL and CIS will in future continue to write long-term savings and insurance business only. CFS Management Services Ltd was created at the same time to provide common support services to CIS and CISGIL.

A co-operative is a business, but more than this, it acts together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically. Co‑operatives are not about making big profits for shareholders, but creating value for their members. Their top priority is to provide the best possible services for their members and to invest in the communities where they live. This gives co‑operatives a unique character and influences what they stand for.

Members of The Co-operative Group are entitled to earn dividend on home and motor policies held with the Society.With-profits policy holders share in the surpluses of the life assurance fund.

Co-operative Insurance

2009-02-07T08:04:00.000+07:00

The Co-operative Insurance, formally Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd, is a large insurance company based in Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two main constituents of Co-operative Financial Services, which is in turn owned by Co-operative Group Ltd, formerly the Co-operative Wholesale Society.

The Co-operative Insurance is both a general insurer and a life insurer, as well as a fund manager. It shares surpluses with holders of its with-profits life policies and with individual members of The Co-operative Group in proportion to their general insurance patronage. The insurer built and owns the second tallest building in Manchester, once the tallest building in Europe.

The Co-operative Insurance Company was formed in 1867 to provide fire insurance to co-operative societies. In 1899 this became an Industrial and Provident Society and changed its name to Co-operative Insurance Society. The Society is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.[1]

In 2002, Co-operative Financial Services was created as a holding company for both CIS and The Co-operative Bank including Smile, the first full internet bank. To maximise the co-operative identity, The Co-operative Group brought all of its businesses under the common The Co-operative brand. CIS was re-branded The Co-operative Insurance in April 2008.

The Society's head office on Miller Street in Manchester city centre was, at the time of completion in 1962, the tallest building in Europe, standing at 387 feet (118 m). Since the opening of the Beetham Tower in 2006, it is now the second tallest building in Manchester. In 2006 the CIS Tower was clad in solar panels, becoming Europe's largest vertical solar array.

The Society has a tradition of football sponsorship. It currently sponsors the Scottish League Cup in Scotland and the Irish Football League Cup in Northern Ireland.

How to Eat Healthy on a Budget

2009-02-02T16:59:00.000+07:00

A visit to a health food store can convince anyone that eating healthy is a luxury rather than choice. To the contrary, eating healthy does not require buying the hottest new diet food or piles of exotic fruit. Nor does eating cheaply limit you to a menu of pre-packaged pastas. The exact items that make up cheap, healthy diets vary greatly by location, but the methods to creating these diets vary little. Since most of what you pay for in food is convenience, you can save money and maintain your health by investing time and planning into your diet.

1.Determine what kind of diet is healthy for you. Generally, a diverse diet that is heavily based on unprocessed plant products is healthy. Fortunately, grains, fruits and vegetables can be bought for low prices, if you know where and when to look. Potatoes and carrots, for instance, are very beneficial for most people and are often very cheap. Meat, unprocessed vegetables and eggs are the main foods you should be buying. Meat and dairy products should be treated as side dishes (or eliminated altogether) and prepared foods should be avoided.

2.Get an idea of what kinds of foods are inexpensive in your area. Check your local grocery store(s) and other food vendors such as farmers' markets, bakeries, and specialty stores. For best results, explore with an educated mind and adventurous palate. Generally, foods that grow well and sell well in your area will be the cheapest. The more willing you are to substitute new foods for your regular purchases, the more likely you are to lower the total cost of your shopping list while still eating healthy.

3.Eat seasonally. Harvests come in waves, showering consumers with abundance that results in cheap prices. You'll not only save money by eating what's in season, but you'll also eat food that's fresh. Find local farmers' markets and strike bargains with the farmers. Many times, they'll be thrilled to sell at a discount if you buy regularly and in bulk.

4.Invest in food storage facilities. If you're purchasing foods that are in season and you're buying them in bulk to realize savings, then you'll need to take measures to store all that food. It's best to have a cool, dark cellar or pantry as well as a large freezer for meat and vegetables.

5.Buy the least expensive variation of any type of food. Some foods come in pre-seasoned frozen packages, in cans, and dried in bags. Establish which forms of foods are available in each store and at what prices.

6.Stop eating out. On those rare occasions that you do go out to eat, choose the simplest item on the menu, which is often the cheapest, too. Eat only half or one third of what is served (most restaurant portions are enormous) and take the rest home to eat later, combined with healthy side dishes.

7.Learn to cook from scratch. Cooking from scratch is the cheapest (and best) way to eat. Get in the habit of using leftovers. Manage your refrigerator: never let anything go bad. Eat it or use it as an ingredient in a sauce, casserole, or soup. For example, old lettuce can be chopped and put into a soup, old salsa can be added to a curry, and old milk can be turned into a quiche. (Of course, don't use anything that has actually gone sour or rancid!) Make your own pasta.

8.Use greater quantities of cheap food than of expensive food in cooking. Use a base of enriched or whole-grain rice, whole-wheat pasta or bread, or cooked oats to provide cheap, healthy bulk to more expensive, flavorful foods. For example, you can use less beef in some chili recipes by halving the amount of ground beef called for and adding water and instant plain oats instead. Be original and try your own variations.

9.Cut down on the amount of meat you consume. Meat is one of the most expensive food items you can buy, so by going meatless once or twice a week, you can save a lot of money. Meatless Monday is a national public health campaign and their site has a bunch of meatless recipes that you can try. Meatless Monday Recipes

Paulson's Hyperinflationary Folly! Endless Bailouts. The Current Economic System is Doomed.

2009-01-30T17:01:00.001+07:00

The End Of The US Dollar - Weeks Away !!!

2009-01-30T17:00:00.001+07:00

The Federal Reserve is Engineering the Economic Collapse

2009-01-30T16:59:00.001+07:00

Economy Total Collapse !! America Bankrupt ! trillion fraud

2009-01-30T16:58:00.001+07:00

800 Billion Sent to China !! Foreclosure of USA ! Amero

2009-01-30T16:57:00.001+07:00

Stimulus 101: What's in the Bills

2009-01-28T22:42:00.000+07:00

The plan by Obama and congressional Democrats to revive the economy is taking shape. Here's what we know so far.

You've probably noticed: The Obama administration and Congress are talking about spending an unprecedented sum of money to try to revive the economy.

President Obama and House Democrats laid down the marker with an $825 billion package of spending and tax cuts.

Dozens of proposals. Hundreds of pages of legislation. Billions of dollars.

What are some of the headline proposals, and what is the debate all about? The legislation is a work in progress, but here is an overview.

Infrastructure

The case for: By investing in renewable energy, health care, education and modern construction projects, the Obama administration expects to create between 3 million and 4 million jobs and address key sustainability issues.

The case against: Opponents argue the spending will lead to a rapidly increasing and unsustainable deficit. They also say that a majority of infrastructure projects will take too long to implement.

Construction projects: $90 billion. Fund the rebuilding of crumbling roads and bridges, build clean water and flood control mechanisms and provide funding for mass transit systems.

Education: $142 billion. Rebuild thousands of schools by modernizing classrooms, labs and libraries. The plan would also increase funding for Pell Grants.

Renewable energy: $54 billion. Double production of alternative energy in the next three years. Weatherize low-income homes, modernize 75% of federal buildings and update the nation's electrical grid with a new, cost-efficient "smart" grid.

Health care records: $20 billion. Modernize the health care system by computerizing all of the nations' medical records in the next five years.

Science, research and technology: $16 billion. Invest in science facilities, research and instrumentation to create new industries, new jobs and medical breakthroughs. Expand broadband Internet access in rural and underserved areas.

State Relief

The case for: As states face budget shortfalls, Obama's plan seeks to help states pay for Medicaid and unemployment benefits. State fiscal relief will be allocated to prevent increases in state and local taxes.

The case against: Opponents say the bill should focus on job creation that will make an immediate impact the economy. Republicans have specifically criticized a provision that would expand a government matching program for states that provide abortion and contraceptive funding through Medicaid. A Democratic official told CNN the House Democratic leaders are planning to remove the provision.

Medicaid: $87 billion. Increase Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage so states do not have to cut eligibility for Medicaid due to budget shortfalls.

Law enforcement: $4 billion for states and municipality funding for law enforcement.

Safety Net

The case for: Obama proposed temporary programs to protect those most vulnerable to the effects of the recession.

The case against: As with state budget relief, opponents say the bill is too big and should simply aim to create new jobs. Some lawmakers have said some of the "safety net" spending provisions are wasteful, and many have called the bill unfocused.

Unemployment benefits: $43 billion. Extend through December 2009 emergency unemployment insurance assistance to states. Increase weekly unemployment benefits by $25, and provide incentives for states to expand unemployment coverage.

Cobra: $39 billion. Tax credit for recently laid-off employees to help pay for discounted health care. Obama estimates the plan will help 8.5 million people who recently lost their jobs.

Feeding the hungry: $20 billion. Increase food stamp benefits by 13%, and provide support for food banks, school lunch programs and WIC.

Tax Cuts for Individuals

The case for: The president proposed the so-called "Make Work Pay Credit" as part of an effort to spend at least 75% of the package in the first 18 months after its passage. Obama hopes that fast-spending provisions like tax cuts will quickly help low- and middle-income workers in need of spending money.

The case against: Opponents say the size tax cuts do not go far enough and on the whole don't make up a big enough portion of the entire package. Furthermore, they oppose giving tax breaks to people who do not pay taxes.

Middle-class tax cut: $145 billion. Tax cut amounting to $500 a year for individuals and $1,000 for couples. The full credit would be limited to those making $75,000 or less ($150,000 or less for workers filing joint returns).

Low-income tax cut: $5 billion. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is a refundable credit for low-income workers. Furthermore, the Make Work Pay Credit would be refundable, meaning that even tax filers without any tax liability -- typically very low-income workers -- would receive one.

Child tax credit: $18 billion. Temporary increase in the amount of the child tax credit that would be refundable.

Financial, tech stocks lead Wall Street higher

2009-01-22T06:53:00.001+07:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors acted Wednesday as if they had overdone it a day earlier.

Wall Street snapped back from a steep sell-off with a rebound in the same financial stocks that were pummeled Tuesday. Upbeat comments from banks, stronger-than-expected results from IBM Corp. and hopes that Washington will offer more help to the economy powered a rally that recovered most of the previous session's losses.

The Dow Jones industrials surged nearly 280 points and all the major indexes rose more than 3.5 percent. Some bounce would have been expected after the Dow tumbled 332 points Tuesday but forecasts from PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon eased concerns that the troubles at financial giants like Citigroup Inc. were hitting all banks.

Many banks reversed double-digit drops from Tuesday with double-digit gains. PNC, which acquired National City Corp. on Dec. 31, jumped 37 percent after saying it would turn in a profit for 2008. And Bank of New York Mellon Corp. rose 23 percent after reporting that it managed to eke out a profit for the fourth quarter.

Citigroup Inc. surged 31 percent after falling 20 percent Tuesday. Bank of America jumped 31 percent a day after falling 29 percent. Chief Executive Ken Lewis' report Wednesday that he bought 200,000 shares of common stock during the rout a day earlier encouraged investors.

And JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 25 percent. Its CEO, Jamie Dimon, said he bought 500,000 shares of his bank's stock on Friday.

IBM surprised investors late Tuesday with a forecast for the year that was well above what analysts expected. It reported a 12 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit that easily beat analysts' estimates. And Swedish wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson also reported earnings that topped predictions.

It's too early to say whether Tuesday's plunge and Wednesday's surge were overdone, said John Lynch, chief market analyst at Evergreen Investments in Charlotte, N.C. He contends the volatility will continue until investors gain more confidence. He predicts stocks will test the weakest levels of late November, when the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at an 11-year low.

"This is part of the painful bottoming process," he said.

But Kevin Gaughan, equity strategist at Strong Financial Corp. in Milwaukee, said investors are slowly starting to look more at stocks on their merits rather than just engaging in the wholesale buying or selling seen last fall, when hundred-point swings in the Dow became commonplace.

"We're shifting away from sort of painting the waterfront with broad brushes to more individual company and industry assessments" he said.

Investors looked again for insights into what steps the new administration will take to lift the economy. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee that passing President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan was essential. He also said the Senate's move last week to release the second half of the government's $700 billion financial industry rescue fund "will enable us to take the steps necessary to help get credit flowing."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 279.01, or 3.51 percent, to 8,228.10.

Broader stock indicators also gained. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 35.02, or 4.35 percent, to 840.24, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 66.21, or 4.60 percent, to 1,507.07.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 14.69, or 3.39 percent, to 448.34. Investors often turn to smallcap stocks when placing bets on a market recovery.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.33 billion shares compared with 6.23 billion shares traded Tuesday.

Bond prices slumped as stocks rebounded and investors shifted money away from the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.55 percent from 2.37 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, in demand because it is considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.12 percent from 0.10 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose $2.71 to settle at $43.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, said the comments from PNC and other banks and results from IBM made clear that while it's a difficult time for businesses, not all are struggling as much as some financial companies.

"It was a great reminder that businesses still have their lights on, their doors open and that they're making money," she said.

Stocks fell sharply Tuesday on worries governments would be forced to take over wobbly banks to avoid their collapse. The Dow dropped lost 332 points, or 4 percent. It was the first time the blue chips closed below 8,000 since November.

The Royal Bank of Scotland alarmed investors around the world this week with the warning its 2008 loss might top $41 billion. That spurred the British government to announce a fresh banking bailout. In the U.S., State Street Corp. -- seen as one of the safer financial firms during the current turmoil because it is a custodial bank -- lost more than half its value Tuesday after reporting its profits plunged and issuing a bleak forecast for 2009.

Among bank stocks, PNC jumped $8.16, or 37 percent, Wednesday to $30.16, while Bank of New York Mellon rose $4.24, or 23 percent, to $23.

Citigroup rose 87 cents, or 31 percent, to $3.67, and Bank of America rose $1.58, or 31 percent, to $6.68. Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 14 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $3.47, and State Street rose $2.18, or 15 percent, to $17.07.

JPMorgan rose $4.54, or 25 percent, to $22.63, and Wells Fargo advanced $2.42, or 17 percent, to $16.65.

Tech shares energized by IBM's forecast outpaced much of the broader market Wednesday. IBM jumped $9.44, or 12 percent, to $91.42. Apple rose $4.63, or 5.9 percent, to $82.83 before reporting better-than-expected results after the closing bell Wednesday.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.77 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.50 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.67 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.04 percent.

New York Stock Exchange
Nasdaq Stock Market

Banking Collapse Announces the Beginning of the Golden Age

2009-01-16T05:35:00.000+07:00

PETER SCHIFF FAST MONEY

2009-01-15T20:48:00.001+07:00

PETER SCHIFF COLLAPSE ADVICE

2009-01-15T20:45:00.001+07:00

China raises '07 economic growth, passing Germany

2009-01-14T17:54:00.000+07:00

BEIJING (AP) -- China surpassed Germany to become the world's third-largest economy behind the United States and Japan after Beijing on Wednesday raised its estimate of economic growth in 2007.

The status is symbolic -- China's 1.3 billion people are, on average, among the world's poorest -- but reflects the country's explosive growth as it became the world's factory and a trading power over 30 years of economic reform.

The government revised its estimate of 2007 economic growth from an already high 11.9 percent to an eye-popping 13 percent, the fastest rate since 1994.

That raised China's gross domestic product to 25.7 trillion yuan, or $3.5 trillion at 2007 exchange rates, the national statistics agency said. That would be ahead of Germany's 2007 GDP of 2.4 trillion euros, or $3.3 trillion at an exchange rate produced by averaging rates on the 15th of each month during that year. Based on only Dec. 31, 2007, exchange rates, China was slightly behind Germany but would have passed it early last year.

"Today's numbers definitely raise the weight of China in the world economy," said Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu, who said his own calculations showed China passed Germany in 2007. "I think it will take only three to four years for China to overtake Japan as the second-largest economy in the world."

The revision comes at a time when Beijing is struggling to reverse a sharp slowdown in growth caused by global economic turmoil. The government is launching a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package and has promised measures to help struggling exporters and producers of autos and steel.

"The change in GDP estimates for two years ago will not alter the economy's near-term outlook. The only effect is perhaps negative, as a stronger 2007 would make the 2008 slowdown more upsetting," said Sherman Chan, a Moody's Economy.com analyst.

The United States is the world's biggest economy at $13.8 trillion in 2007, followed by Japan at $4.4 trillion.

Germany's 85 million people also were still far ahead of China in GDP per person in 2007 at 28,200 euros ($38,800).

China's GDP per person was 19,800 yuan ($2,800) in 2007, but the country has wide disparities of wealth and poverty, and many live on far less than that. Chinese officials say more than 100 other countries have a higher income per person.

China began shifting from communist central planning to a market-style economy in 1979 under then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping. GDP that year was the equivalent of just $300 billion -- one-tenth of the 2007 level -- according to the International Monetary Fund.

Deng's reforms would allow hundreds of millions of people to lift themselves out of poverty over the next three decades and transform major cities into forests of skyscrapers and modern apartment blocks, their streets jammed with private cars.

China routinely revises past economic data as it gathers new information on the fast-changing economy, and already had raised 2007 growth once last spring, from 11.3 percent to 11.9 percent. The statistics bureau's two-sentence statement Wednesday did not explain the factors behind the latest change.

Independent economists say China's economy is believed to have grown by another 9 percent in 2008 despite the global downturn.

But they have slashed 2009 forecasts to as low as 6 percent. That would be the highest for any major economy but is worrisome for communist leaders who need to satisfy a public that expects steadily rising incomes.

Lu said it will be decades before China can match U.S. output, if it ever can.

"Even if growth in the U.S. is zero, China still would have to double and double again to overtake the U.S.," he said. "It would be more than 20 years, and that is so far out it is very hard to forecast what will happen."

Obama says his plan with tax cuts to get quick OK

2009-01-09T00:19:00.001+07:00

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama plunged into rare pre-inaugural crisis talks with congressional leaders Monday, declaring the national economy was "bad and getting worse" and embracing tax cuts now expected to reach $300 billion. He predicted lawmakers would approve a mammoth revitalization package within two weeks of his taking office.

If the two-year plan is enacted, workers would see larger paychecks almost immediately because taxes withheld by the government would drop. The break would be retroactive to Jan. 1, and couples receiving a $1,000 tax cut would begin receiving an extra $40 in twice-monthly paychecks as the government tries to spark more consumer spending.

"The economy is very sick," said Obama, who met privately with leaders of both parties at the Capitol. "The situation is getting worse. ... We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession."

Obama, who takes office two weeks from Tuesday, has said there can be only one president at a time — and he repeated that principle Monday "when it comes to foreign affairs." But when it comes to the

floundering economy, he clearly feels he cannot sit by until the swearing-in.

"The reason we are here today is because the people's business cannot wait," Obama said as he arrived on Capitol Hill.

"I expect to be able to sign a bill shortly after taking office," he said. Pressed on the timing, he said, "By the end of January or the first of February."

Obama's proposal to stimulate the economy includes tax cuts of up to $300 billion — including $500 for most individuals and $1,000 for couples if one spouse is employed — as well as more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

New federal spending, also aimed at boosting the moribund economy, could push the overall package to the range of $800 billion or so. Some $77 billion would be used to extend unemployment benefits and to subsidize health care for people who have lost their jobs.

The rest would go toward job-creation projects such as roads and bridges and toward long-term goals such as alternative energy programs.

Meeting with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Obama set a tone of urgency for dealing with a financial situation that he described as "precarious."

He said, "The speaker and her staff have been extraordinarily helpful in working with our team so we can shape an economic recovery plan and start putting people back to work."

But he also met with Republicans in an effort to build broad support for quick action.

"This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage," he said. "It is an American problem and we're going to all have to chip in and do what the American people expect."

At his meeting with bipartisan leaders of Congress, Obama said he would make his stimulus proposal available on the Internet, with a Google-like search function to show each proposed project or program, by congressional district, according to three people who attended.

After meeting with Obama, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he was concerned about the plan's cost.

"This is not a package that's ever going to be paid for by the current generation," Boehner said. "It's being paid for by our kids and grandkids."

Republican lawmakers want more details, Boehner said, but he replied "yes" when asked if he expected a stimulus plan to be enacted within six weeks.

Said Pelosi: "It is a great honor and personal privilege to welcome you to this office. Tomorrow we will swear in a new Congress and we will hit the ground running on the initiatives ... to ease the pain being felt by the American people."

The Obama plan's tax cuts for individuals and couples would be a bit different from the rebate checks sent out last year by the Bush administration and Congress in a bid to boost the slowing economy. The relief this time around would be awarded by withholding less from worker paychecks. That provision would cost about $140-150 billion over two years.

For businesses, the plan would allow firms incurring losses last year to take a credit against profits dating back five years instead of the two years currently allowed.

Another provision brought to the negotiations by the Obama team would award a one-year tax credit costing $40-50 billion to companies that hire new workers, and would provide other incentives for business investment in new equipment.

"We've got an extraordinary economic challenge ahead of us," Obama said, and he predicted a jobs report at the end of the week would show new declines.

He had meetings with a broad array of House and Senate Democratic leaders and with a bipartisan group of key lawmakers. He had hoped to have Congress enact the recovery plan in time for him to sign when he takes office Jan. 20, but no one thinks that will happen now.

Obama has insisted that bold and quick action is necessary if the nation is to rebound from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. He has said repeatedly he wants a plan that will create 3 million new jobs.

The economic teams of new presidents often work behind the scenes with congressional leaders before their administrations move in, but Obama's direct and public involvement is highly unusual.

He arrived Sunday night in Washington and spent all of Monday at the Capitol before returning to the hotel where he has set up shop for the two weeks before his inauguration.

Later Obama attended a party at Bobby Van's restaurant, thrown by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the body's second ranking Democrat, for new members of the House and Senate and the Chicago press corps. About 300 guests packed the restaurant's 13-story atrium, jockeying for pictures with the president-elect and holding their cell phones aloft as he tried to walk into the room. He made about 25 feet in 30 minutes, then returned to the hotel.

Aides have said the package Obama has dubbed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan could cost as much as $775 billion. The president-elect has refused to put a price tag on the plan, and some members of Congress expect it to go higher.

Teach Your Children the Value of Money

2009-01-06T19:36:00.003+07:00

1.Teach Your Children the Value of Money
"Reading, writing, arithmetic" -- too bad that list doesn't include personal finance. Most kids learn the basics of money and making change in grammar school, but probably won't learn how to manage money unless they choose finance as a career path. That means it is up to all of us to see that our children reach adulthood prepared to face life's fiscal challenges.

2.Earlier Is Better
The benefits of teaching your children about money early on are both immediate and long term. In the short term, they may develop strong saving habits, learn how to make smart purchases, begin to understand the true meaning of "investment," and perhaps even learn why they can't immediately get everything they want. In the long term, you can help them avoid accumulating debt. And by teaching the value of saving for the future, you can help them plan for financial security.

As you think about how, what, and when to teach your children, consider letting them direct you by using their natural inquisitiveness. (But remember, it's never too late to start teaching -- even adults can be taught the basics of personal finance

3.Where Does Money Come From?
An ideal time to begin teaching your children about the basics of money is when they first begin to notice it. In a child's world, money comes from Mom and Dad's pockets. And when Mom and Dad are tapped, a machine magically spouts dollars after merely pushing a few buttons. It's natural for them to assume that money is readily available whenever it's needed.

When they can't understand why you can't meet their every demand -- and you're about to use a standby response such as, "Money doesn't grow on trees" -- remember that a more constructive explanation may serve both of you better.

Even very young children can begin to understand the concept of earning money. Explain to your children that money is earned by working, and that you can only spend what you earn. To help them understand what it's like to get paid on a schedule, begin paying an allowance. Then help them set goals for how they spend and save their allowance. It's important, however, to make sure that you stick to the payment schedule; otherwise the lesson may be lost.

4.Your Child Could Become a Millionaire

This chart shows the growth, compounded at 8% monthly, of an investment of $100 per month beginning at age 4 and ending at age 18, assuming that the investment remains untouched until age 62. This example is hypothetical and does not represent the performance of any actual investment.

Children and Allowances
Experts differ on whether or not allowances should be tied to household chores. Although many people say children will learn more about personal responsibility if they are NOT paid for pitching in around the home, others feel it teaches them valuable lessons about working and earning. You might consider paying your children for chores outside of daily duties, such as helping to garden or wash the family car.

5.Make Saving Interesting
You hear it every time you walk by a toy store: "I want...Buy me this... !" Again, pause and take a moment before responding. This situation presents a great opportunity to teach another important lesson about personal finance: savings and interest. Explain that people often save their money for items they want to buy.

A simple savings lesson involves using a piggy bank, shoe box, or empty peanut butter jar. Make the lesson fun by having your children decorate the "bank," while explaining to them how you also use a real bank to save your money. Encourage your children to save a portion of their allowance for a special goal. As they save money, you might reward them with a small additional amount, just like a bank pays interest. At the end of each month, calculate how much they have saved and then chip in a certain percentage as interest.

Last, to further encourage the learning process, you might consider plotting a visual chart of their savings (include the goal) so they can easily see their savings grow. Remember to keep it as simple as possible, geared toward each child's level of understanding.

6.Banking and Investing
Once your children have been saving enough to accumulate $10 or $20, take them to the bank to open their first savings account. Most community banks will allow children to open first accounts with low minimum deposits. Some even have accounts especially marketed to kids to make the learning process fun. Make sure that your children receive a passbook so they can see the progress of their savings efforts, as well as the interest that accrues.

Once your children have mastered banking with an institution, you can begin to teach them about investing. When your children want something that they can't quite afford, discuss the value of saving versus borrowing. If you do extend credit, use a written IOU, establish a repayment schedule, and charge interest. By doing this, you establish the framework for teaching your children that bonds and certificates of deposit are IOUs representing loans from investors to institutions.

7.Compounding
As your children get older and perhaps take on part-time jobs to earn more money, their savings will likely amass at a quicker rate. Now is the time to review the lesson of compounding, or the ability of earnings to build upon themselves. Explain how compounding can be more dramatic over time; the longer money is left alone, the greater the effect. This can lead into a discussion about investing and how certain investments can have a greater ability to compound over time.

Giving a gift of stocks of well-established or kid-oriented companies can be ideal ways to teach your children about investing. Most children would love to think of themselves as owners of Ben & Jerry's, Disney, or Toys "R" Us. Some companies even have shareholder meetings directed to children.

Mutual funds may be good vehicles as well. Like banks, some fund companies have specific programs to teach children about investing. Often such funds have low initial investments, as well as marketing materials designed to make the investing process fun.

8.A Little Learning Can Pay Off
Teaching your children about our complex financial system may seem daunting, but you can help put your child on the right track by encouraging smart habits now.

Is it worth your time and effort to help your children learn about money? As Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." Answering your children's questions honestly and in terms they'll understand can help them begin life on sound financial footing.

gordon-brown-save-the-world.flv

2009-01-04T08:17:00.000+07:00

NCB Releases NCB Co-op 100 With Revenues Totaling Over $173 Billion

2008-12-29T16:41:00.000+07:00

Washington, DC (October 28, 2008) — Today, NCB, a leading financial services company, released its annual NCB Co-op 100, listing the nation’s 100 highest revenue-earning cooperative businesses, totaling more than $173 billion in 2007. The NCB Co-op 100 debuted in 1991, and for the past 17 years, has been the only yearly report of its kind to track cooperative revenues and success of these vital businesses in the United States.

When the first report was released, America’s top 100 cooperatives had generated $81.4 billion in revenues and now less than two decades later, revenues have more than doubled to over $173 billion, a remarkable increase since its inception. Although there have been changes to the companies appearing on the list, the growth of cooperative sector has remained constant, indicating of the influential role these businesses play in the marketplace.

“During 2007, the nation’s top 100 cooperatives increased revenues substantially, by over $24 billion dollars from the same time last year, setting a new record for the highest-ever yearly revenue,” stated Charles E. Snyder, President and CEO of NCB. “During this challenging economic time, the strength of the cooperative structure is even more evident for large and small businesses, in urban and rural settings. NCB is proud to be an leading advocate for cooperatives for the past 30 years, and remains dedicated to promoting these progressive and dynamic businesses for many years to come.”

As the numbers indicate, cooperatives are a driving force in today’s economy, generating nearly $250 billion in annual revenue, and with total assets of cooperatives nationwide surpassing $1 trillion. One example of this success is Farmers Cooperative Company, an agricultural cooperative that increased its revenues to $592 million during 2007, from the $384 million reported a year before, and earning the organization its first ranking on the NCB Co-op 100 list at number 81. This year’s list saw both new and established cooperatives in the top 100. Below are the top revenue producers in each of the main sectors tracked by the Co-op 100 include:

Saving and Credit Cooperative

2008-12-24T21:14:00.000+07:00

Saving and Credit Cooperatives are those whose members are people having the same occupation or living in the same community. Its main purpose is to promote savings among members and provide loans for productive investment.

Backgound
The consistently increasing living cost has brought a big burden to the low-income people. Because they never seem to earn enough to cover their daily needs. They tend to deal with this problem through the moneylenders who charge them very high interest rates. By so doing their indebtedness is increased even more and the situation becomes more serious to them.

However, this money problem is lessening when they join together under the cooperative principles of self-help and mutual help. The first cooperative in this regard was formed among officials of the Cooperative Promotion Department and employees of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). It was registered on 28 September 1949 as the Cooperative Officials' Cooperative Limited, which is presently named the Cooperative of Cooperative Officials, Ltd. On the other hand, the Soon Klang Thewa Credit Union Cooperative was established as the first community savings cooperative in the slum area of Huay Kwang and Din Daeng districts, Bangkok on 17 July 1965.

Objective
Being as financial institution, the specific objectives of Saving and Credit Cooperatives are aimed to:

1. Encourage thrift among members. To encourage saving habit, the cooperative currently offers two types of savings:-

1.1) Shares: All members are required to pay monthly shares at rates agreed by both the members and their cooperatives. The shares may be deducted directly from monthly salaries. Dividends can be paid to members at rates specified by without tax deductions. When resigning form a cooperative, the member can withdraw his/her shares.

1.2) Deposits: Both current and fixed deposits are generally offered to cooperative members. Interests on these deposits may be equal to, or higher than commercial bank rates depending on the financial status of each cooperative.

2. Provide loan services to members. Members' shares and deposits comprise significant part the loan funds made available to members with interest charged usually at rates lower than that of the prevailing market rates. The general three types of loans provided by this cooperative type are:

2.1) Emergency loans: In crisis or emergency cases, a member may borrow up to half of his/her monthly income, depending on the cooperative financial status, without collateral. Repayment is normally made in two installments.

2.2) Ordinary loans: The cooperative can provide an ordinary loan, again, depending on its financial status. This can be between 4 to 15 times, of member monthly incomes or within the range of baht 40,000 to 300,000 with one other member acting as guarantor. Normal repayment in this regard is ranged from 24 to 72 installments. The maximum amounts allowed for emergency and ordinary loans are based on the average amount of members' incomes.

2.3) Special loans: When the cooperative extends its services to housing and investment purposes, a member may borrow the actual amount required for constructing or purchasing houses, land and other permanent investments, generally, not exceeding the ceiling amount of between baht 400,000 to 1,000,000. Repayment period is between 10 to 15 years, using real property as collateral.

Cooperative Operations
After a Saving and Credit Cooperative is formed, the members will elect their representatives at the annual general assembly as board of director to administer cooperative businesses. The Board meets at least once a month to determine operational policies to be implemented by the cooperative staff. The staff normally includes a manager, an assistant manager, accountants, bookkeepers, etc., depending on the cooperative size and financial situation.
Saving and Credit Cooperatives raise capital funds through shares, deposits, reserve funds, loan funds, and support fund or donations.

Rights and responsibilites
In its essence, a cooperative belongs to its members. Effective and efficient management of the cooperative is ensured when members exercise their rights and responsibilities properly. The most important responsibility of the individual member is attendance at the annual general assembly (AGA). The AGA gives him/her the opportunity to protect membership rights, a fair sharing of benefits and monitor cooperative operations. It provides also a forum to determine general policies, elect committee members and assign tasks to further benefit all the members. Within the framework of cooperative principles, laws and regulations and procedures, members must discuss problems together, share ideas and exercise the right to vote on committees and meeting resolutions.

Hamburger and 'New Politics': the end of liberal democracy

2008-12-18T18:52:00.001+07:00

Korn Chatikavanij

Talk of the reformation of our political system is all the rage at the moment. After all, can any of us seriously, hand on heart, say that we are happy with the result of democracy and what it has achieved for Thailand?

It is easy to conclude that a system that gave us Samak as Prime Minister, Chalerm as Interior Minister and Chai Chidchob as House Speaker must be fatally flawed. The democratic system is meant to provide us with, at worst, political leaders of average competence. What we got, however, was the most toxic combination of leaders that we could possibly imagine. Is the logical conclusion, therefore, that the system itself is flawed?

One argument I could immediately make to refute this line of thought is that at least the system was good enough to allow them a very limited term of only seven months. In other, non-democratic systems, populations are forced to live with toxic leaders for years, if not for a whole generation; think Stalin and think of Kim Jong-Il. In the end, recent change for us came through a combination of the rule of law, exercised through an independent judicial process, combined with the need to acknowledge public opinion. Perhaps thus we can conclude that even if our flawed democracy means we can get the worst possible leaders, it also at least allows for their prompt removal.Read more

What Makes Cooperative Groups Work

2008-12-11T19:02:00.001+07:00

Educators fool themselves if they think well-meaning directives to "work together," "cooperate," and "be a team," will be enough to create cooperative efforts among group members. Placing students in groups and telling them to work together does not in and of itself result in cooperation. Not all groups are cooperative. Sitting in groups, for example, can result in competition at close quarters or individualistic effort with talking. To structure lessons so students do in fact work cooperatively with each other requires an understanding of the components that make cooperation work. Mastering the essential components of cooperation allows teachers to:

Take existing lessons, curricula, and courses and structure them cooperatively.
Tailor cooperative learning lessons to meet the unique instructional circumstances and needs of the curricula, subject areas, and students.
Diagnose the problems some students may have in working together and intervene to increase the effectiveness of the student learning groups.
The essential components of cooperation are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993). Systematically structuring those basic elements into group learning situations helps ensure cooperative efforts and enables the disciplined implementation of cooperative learning for long-term success.

The first and most important element in structuring cooperative learning is positive interdependence. Positive interdependence is successfully structured when group members perceive that they are linked with each other in a way that one cannot succeed unless everyone succeeds. Group goals and tasks, therefore, must be designed and communicated to students in ways that make them believe they sink or swim together. When positive interdependence is solidly structured, it highlights that (a) each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success and (b) each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities. Doing so creates a commitment to the success of group members as well as one's own and is the heart of cooperative learning. If there is no positive interdependence, there is no cooperation.

The second basic element of cooperative learning is promotive interaction, preferably face-to-face. Students need to do real work together in which they promote each other's success by sharing resources and helping, supporting, encouraging, and applauding each other's efforts to achieve. There are important cognitive activities and interpersonal dynamics that can only occur when students promote each other's learning. This includes orally explaining how to solve problems, teaching one's knowledge to others, checking for understanding, discussing concepts being learned, and connecting present with past learning. Each of those activities can be structured into group task directions and procedures. Doing so helps ensure that cooperative learning groups are both an academic support system (every student has someone who is committed to helping him or her learn) and a personal support system (every student has someone who is committed to him or her as a person). It is through promoting each other's learning face-to-face that members become personally committed to each other as well as to their mutual goals.

The third basic element of cooperative learning is individual and group accountability. Two levels of accountability must be structured into cooperative lessons. The group must be accountable for achieving its goals and each member must be accountable for contributing his or her share of the work. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the individual in order to ascertain who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in learning. The purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her right. Students learn together so that they subsequently can gain greater individual competency.

The fourth basic element of cooperative learning is teaching students the required interpersonal and small group skills. Cooperative learning is inherently more complex than competitive or individualistic learning because students have to engage simultaneously in taskwork (learning academic subject matter) and teamwork (functioning effectively as a group). Social skills for effective cooperative work do not magically appear when cooperative lessons are employed. Instead, social skills must be taught to students just as purposefully and precisely as academic skills. Leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills empower students to manage both teamwork and taskwork successfully. Since cooperation and conflict are inherently related (see Johnson & Johnson, 1995), the procedures and skills for managing conflicts constructively are especially important for the long-term success of learning groups. Procedures and strategies for teaching students social skills may be found in Johnson (1991, 1993) and Johnson and F. Johnson (1994).

The fifth basic element of cooperative learning is group processing. Group processing exists when group members discuss how well hey are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships. Groups need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change. Continuous improvement of the processes of learning results from the careful analysis of how members are working together and determining how group effectiveness can be enhanced.

Why Use Cooperative Learning

2008-12-11T18:56:00.000+07:00

Students' learning goals may be structured to promote cooperative, competitive, or individualistic efforts. In contrast to cooperative situations, competitive situations are ones in which students work against each other to achieve a goal that only one or a few can attain. In competition there is a negative interdependence among goal achievements; students perceive that they can obtain their goals if and only if the other students in the class fail to obtain their goals (Deutsch, 1962; Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Norm-referenced evaluation of achievement occurs. The result is that students either work hard to do better than their classmates, or they take it easy because they do not believe they have a chance to win. In individualistic learning situations students work alone to accomplish goals unrelated to those of classmates and are evaluated on a criterion-referenced basis. Students' goal achievements are independent; students perceive that the achievement of their learning goals is unrelated to what other students do (Deutsch, 1962, Johnson & Johnson, 1989). The result is to focus on self-interest and personal success and ignore as irrelevant the successes and failures of others.

There is a long history of research on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. Since the first research study in 1898, nearly 600 experimental studies and over 100 correlational studies have been conducted (see Johnson & Johnson, 1989 for a complete review of these studies). The multiple outcomes studied can be classified into three major categories: achievement/productivity, positive relationships, and psychological health. The research clearly indicates that cooperation, compared with competitive and individualistic efforts, typically results in (a) higher achievement and greater productivity, (b) more caring, supportive, and committed relationships, and (c) greater psychological health, social competence, and self-esteem. The positive effects that cooperation has on so many important outcomes makes cooperative learning one of the most valuable tools educators have.

What Is Cooperative Learning

2008-12-11T18:54:00.000+07:00

Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals. Within cooperative activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The idea is simple. Class members are organized into small groups after receiving instruction from the teacher. They then work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members gain from each other's efforts (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you), recognizing that all group members share a common fate (We all sink or swim together here), knowing that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's colleagues (We can not do it without you), and feeling proud and jointly celebrating when a group member is recognized for achievement (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment!). In cooperative learning situations there is a positive interdependence among students' goal attainments; students perceive that they can reach their learning goals if and only if the other students in the learning group also reach their goals (Deutsch, 1962; Johnson & Johnson, 1989). A team member's success in creating a multi-media presentation on saving the environment, for example, depends on both individual effort and the efforts of other group members who contribute needed knowledge, skills, and resources. No one group member will possess all of the information, skills, or resources necessary for the highest possible quality presentation.

Cooperative online education

2008-12-03T21:34:00.000+07:00

Inland Empire Organic Produce Co-op

2008-11-28T07:39:00.001+07:00

Microfinance in Honhoué, Benin

2008-11-22T00:59:00.000+07:00

Advice:PSU Saving and Credit Co-operative Limited

2008-11-19T00:35:00.000+07:00

PSU Saving and Credit Co-operative Limited was established in 1974 with 169 foundation members, and initial share capital of 8,440 Baht. The first chair man of the cooperative administrative board was Prof. Sawas Sakulthai, the fourth president of Prince of Songkla University. The primary aims of the cooperative are;
1. Encourage its members to save by holding its share and deposit money with the cooperative.
2. Lend money to its members for use in necessary or useful activities.

At the present, PSU Saving and Credit Co-operative Limited has 4 service offices:

1. Head Office, situated at the Sawas Sakulthai Building (opposite the computer center building), Hat Yai Campus, Prince of Songkla University,
2. Faculty of Medicine Branch Office, situated on the ground floor of the main building of Songklanagarind Hospital,
3. Pattani Campus Branch Office,
4. Phuket Campus Branch Office, located on the first floor of the Academic Service Building, Phuket Campus.

PSU Saving and Credit Co-operative Limited has opened special counter service at its Head Office for personal tax payment, every working day, from 08.30 – 15.30, with a nominal service charged of 15.- Baht per transaction.

For further information or inquiry, contact 0-7421-2812, 0-7421-1811, 0-7428-6930 –
website http://psucoop.psu.ac.th/

สหกรณ์เครดิตยูเนี่ยนน้ำอ้อมถนอมทรัพย์

2008-11-11T21:36:00.000+07:00

Save money on groceries by joining a food cooperative

2008-11-06T07:18:00.001+07:00

Credit Union Co-Op

2008-11-01T21:38:00.000+07:00

2008-08-12T16:14:00.001+07:00

Technorati Profile

Housing cooperative

2008-06-03T08:14:00.001+07:00

A housing cooperative is a legal entity - usually a corporation - that owns real estate; one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. The occupancy agreement specifies the co-op's rules. Cooperative is also used to describe a non-share capital co-op model in which fee-paying members obtain the right to occupy a bedroom and share the communal resources of a house that is owned by a cooperative organization. Such is the case with student cooperatives in some college neighborhoods in the United States.

Legal status
As a legal entity, a co-op can contract with other companies or hire individuals to provide it with services, such as a maintenance contractor or a building manager. It can also hire employees, such as a manager or a caretaker, to deal with specific things that volunteers may prefer not to do or may not be good at doing, such as electrical maintenance. However, as many housing cooperatives strive to run self-sufficiently, as much work as possible is completed by its members.

A shareholder in a co-op does not own real estate, but a share of the legal entity that does own real estate.[1] Co-operative ownership is quite distinct from condominiums where people "own" individual units and have little say in who moves into the other units.[2] Because of this, most jurisdictions have developed separate legislation, similar to laws that regulate companies, to regulate how co-ops are operated and the rights and obligations of shareholders.

Ownership
Each resident or resident household has membership in the co-operative association. Members have occupancy rights to a specific suite within the housing co-operative as outlined in their "occupancy agreement", or "proprietary lease" which is essentially a lease.

In some cases, the co-op follows Rochdale Principles where each shareholder has only one vote. Most cooperatives are incorporated as limited stock companies where the number of votes an owner has is tied to the number of shares owned by the person. Whichever form of voting is employed it is necessary to conduct an election among shareholders to determine who will represent them on the board of directors (if one exists), the governing body of the co-operative. The board of directors is generally responsible for the business decisions including the financial requirements and sustainability of the co-operative. Although politics vary from co-op to co-op and depend largely on the wishes of its members, it is a general rule that a majority vote of the board is necessary to make business decisions

Management
In larger co-ops, members of a co-op typically elect a board of directors from amongst the shareholders at a general meeting, usually the annual general meeting. In smaller co-ops, all members sit on the board.

The board typically elects its own officers, such as a president, vice-president and so on. Usually, the directors are volunteers, or are paid an honorarium. The board may then establish standing committees from among the shareholders, who usually also volunteer their time, to either handle the business affairs of the co-op or make recommendations to the full board on such issues as its finance, membership and maintenance of its housing units.

Finance
A housing cooperative is normally de facto non-profit, since usually most of its income comes from the rents paid by its residents, who are invariably its members. There is no point in creating a deliberate surplus—except for operational requirements such as setting aside funds for replacement of assets—since that simply means that the rents paid by members are set higher than the expenses. (Note, however, that it's quite possible for a housing co-op to own other revenue-generating assets, such as a subsidiary business which could produce surplus income to offset the cost of the housing, but in those cases the housing rents are usually reduced to compensate for the additional revenue.)

It is relatively difficult to start a housing co-op because if the idea is, for instance, to build a building or group of buildings to house the members, this usually takes a significant mortgage loan for which a financial institution will want assurances of responsibility. It may also take a year or more for the members to organize the design and construction, as well as time and foresight to establish even basic organizational policies. It is rare that these kinds of skills of organization are available in a random group of people who often have pressures on their existing housing. It may be somewhat easier to organize a group of closely related housing units. This opportunity may arise, for example, if an existing apartment building's owner is thinking about selling it.

There are housing co-ops of the rich and famous: John Lennon, for instance, lived in a housing co-operative, and most apartments in New York City that are owned rather than rented are held through a co-operative rather than via a condominium arrangement.

There are two main types of housing co-operative financing methods, market rate and limited equity. With market rate, the share price is allowed to rise on the open market and shareholders may sell at whatever price the market will bear when they want to move out. In many ways market rate is thus similar financially to owning a condominium, with the difference being that often the co-op carries a mortgage, resulting in a much higher monthly fee paid to the co-op than would be so in a condominium. The purchase price of a comparable unit in the co-op is typically much lower, however.

With limited equity, the co-op has rules regarding pricing of shares when sold. The idea behind limited equity is to maintain affordable housing. A sub-set of the limited equity model is the no-equity model, which looks very much like renting, with a very low purchase price (comparable to a rental security deposit) and a monthly fee in lieu of rent. When selling, all that is re-couped is that very low purchase price.

ICA Housing
ICA Housing is a sectoral organization of the International Co-operative Alliance. It was established to promote the development of co-operative housing in all countries, and in particular developing countries, as an economic and social contribution to the problem of providing shelter.

ICA Housing is one of the nine sectors of the International Co-operative Alliance. They are the apex body of the worldwide co‑operative housing movement. Their mission is to 'unite, represent and serve the international movement for co‑operative and mutual self-help housing'. Their website details profiles of different countries housing cooperative frameworks and also distributes resources to promote best practices amongst housing cooperatives throughout the world.

In the USA
In the United States, housing co-ops are usually categorized as corporations or LLCs and are found in abundance in the Greater New York metropolitan area, and more precisely within New York City itself, Westchester County, New York (which borders the city to the north) and towns in New Jersey that are immediately across the Hudson River from Manhattan, such as Fort Lee, Edgewater, or Weehawken. Unlike in other parts of the world, most of these housing co-ops did not develop as a result of social engineering. Apartment buildings and multiple-family housing simply make up a more significant share of the housing stock in the New York City area than in most other US cities, and the cooperative form of ownership has dominated over the condominium form. Reasons suggested to explain why cooperatives are relatively more common than condominiums in the New York City area are[3]:

Inspired by Abraham Kazan, Cooperatives appeared at least as far back as the 1920's while a legal basis for condominium form of ownership was not available in New York State until 1964.[4] (Passage of the Condominium Act then opened a wave of construction of condominium buildings.[5]
The cooperative form can be advantageous as a building mortgage can be carried by the cooperative corporation, leaving less financing to be obtained by each co-op owner. Under condominium ownership only the separate condo owners provide financing. Particularly when interest rates are high, a conversion sponsor may find unit buyers more easily under the cooperative arrangement as buyers will have less financing to arrange on their own; the apparent purchase price of a unit in a cooperative building holding an underlying mortgage is lower than a condo purchase. Cooperative unit buyers may not accurately weigh their share of the building's mortgage.[4]
Also, later in a building's life after conversion, major new investments required to repair or replace building systems can be raised by a new central mortgage in a cooperative, while in a condominium funds could only be raised by onerous assessments being required of each individual unit owner. However, the New York State's condominium law was amended in 1997 to allow condominium associations to carry building mortgages.[6]
A co-op building's board can exercise its own business discretion to impose restrictions on shareholders, and reject prospective purchases without explanation, as long as it does not violate federal and state housing or civil rights laws.[4]
In New York City, another significant factor in the rise of co-op and condominium ownership is strict and complicated rent control laws that have made many landlords want to get out of the rental property market.

Most of the housing cooperatives in the Greater New York area were converted to that status during the 1980s; generally they were large buildings built between the 1920s and 1950s that a single landlord or corporation owned and rented out that became unprofitable as rental properties. To encourage individual ownership of units, the initial buyers of units (buying from the owner of the entire building) did not have to be approved by a board. Also, the rental tenants living in the building at the time of the conversion were usually given an option to buy at a discount. Many of these buildings, especially in Manhattan, are actually quite luxurious and exclusive; many celebrities live in them and some famous people are even rejected by the board. In the 1990s and 2000s some rental buildings in the Chicago, Washington, DC, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach areas went through a similar conversion process, though not to the degree of New York.

Many of the cooperatives originally built as co-ops were sponsored by trade unions, such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. One of the largest projects was Cooperative Village in Lower East Side of Manhattan. The United Housing Foundation was set up in 1951 and built the Co-op City in Bronx, and were built by architect Herman Jessor.

Student housing cooperatives
However, multiple person cooperative models exist all over the country. Artist, student and community co-operatives are common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of these housing co-operatives are members of organizations such as NASCO. Unlike a resident who acquires shares at market rates to earn the right to occupy a specific apartment on a permanent basis (share capital co-op model), a resident of a student co-op acquires membership and occupancy rights by paying subscription fees or by paying rent (non-share capital co-op model). In the case of student housing co-operatives, members typically share a house and are communally responsible for its associated housekeeping duties.

Student-owned and -operated housing co-operatives were formed primarily for economic reasons to provide low-cost housing to university students. Secondarily, they generally provide experience in self-governance and social cooperation. The earliest examples began in the Depression years. Two of the first on record were founded in 1932, Michigan Socialist House at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Collegiate Living Organization (University of Florida) in Gainesville, Florida.

Currently, the biggest student co-op is the University Students' Cooperative Association in Berkeley, CA with 1300 students living in 17 houses and 3 apartment complexes.

Examples of such cooperatives are the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association at Oberlin College, University Students' Cooperative Association in Berkeley, California, Santa Cruz Student Housing Co-ops in Santa Cruz, California, Qumbya in Chicago, Illinois, University of Minnesota Students Co-op in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Student Housing Cooperative at Michigan State University, Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan, Brown Association for Cooperative Housing in Providence, Rhode Island and Two Dickinson Street Co-op in Princeton, New Jersey, as well as frat houses

Social cooperative

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An Italian social cooperative is a particularly successful form of multi-stakeholder cooperative, of which some 7,000 exist. A "type A" social cooperative brings together providers and beneficiaries of a social service as members. A "type B" social cooperative brings together permanent workers and previously unemployed people who wish to integrate into the labour market.

Social co-operatives are legally defined as follows:

the objective is the general benefit of the community and the social integration of citizens
type A co-operatives provide health, social or educational services
those of type B integrate disadvantaged people into the labour market. The categories of disadvantage they target may include physical and mental disability, drug and alcohol addiction, developmental disorders and problems with the law. They do not include other factors of disadvantage such as race, sexual orientation or abuse
various categories of stakeholder may become members, including paid employees, beneficiaries, volunteers (up to 50% of members), financial investors and public institutions. In type B co-operatives at least 30% of the members must be from the disadvantaged target groups
the co-operative has legal personality and limited liability
voting is one person, one vote
no more than 80% of profits may be distributed, interest is limited to the bond rate and dissolution is altruistic (assets may not be distributed)
A good estimate of the current size of the social co-operative sector in Italy is given by updating the official ISTAT figures from the end of 2001 by an annual growth rate of 10% (assumed by the Direzione Generale per gli Ente Cooperativi). This gives totals of 7,100 social co-operatives, with 267,000 members, 223,000 paid employees, 31,000 volunteers and 24,000 disadvantaged people undergoing integration. Combined turnover is around 5 billion euro. The co-operatives break into three types: 59% type A (social and health services), 33% type B (work integration) and 8% mixed. The average size is 30 workers.

Understanding Interdependence

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Cooperative learning simultaneously models interdependence and provides students with the experiences they need to understand the nature of cooperation (Johnson-& Johnson, 1989a). The future of the world depends on the constructive and competent management of world interdependence as well as interdependence in family, work, community, and societal environments. Students who have had 12-20 years of cooperative learning and who have had opportunities to work cooperatively with students who vary in ability, ethnicity, gender, and so forth will be better able to build positively interdependent relationships than will students who have had 12-20 years of competitive and individualistic learning.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG OUTCOMES

There are bi-directional relationships, as shown in Figure 1, among achievement, quality of interpersonal relationships, and psychological health (Johnson & Johnson, 1989b). Each influences the others. Caring and committed friendships come from a sense of mutual accomplishment, mutual pride in joint work, and the bonding that results from joint efforts.

The more students care about each other, the harder they will work to achieve mutual learning goals. Long-term and persistent efforts to achieve do not come from the head; they come from the heart (Johnson & Johnson, 1989b). Individuals seek out opportunities to work with those they care about. As caring increases, so do feelings of personal responsibility to do one's share of the work, a willingness to take on difficult tasks, motivation and persistence in working toward goal achievement, and a willing-ness to endure pain and frustration on behalf of the group. All these contribute to group productivity.

In addition, the joint success experienced in working together to get the job done enhances social competencies, self-esteem, and general psychological health. The more psychologically healthy individuals are, the better able they are to work with others to achieve mutual goals. Joint efforts require coordination, effective communication, leadership, and conflict management. States of depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and anger decrease the energy available to contribute to a cooperative effort.

Finally, the more positive interpersonal relationships are, the greater the psychological health of the individuals involved- Through the internalization of positive relationships, direct social support, shared intimacy, and expressions of caring, psychological health and the ability to cope with stress are built. Destructive relationships and the absence of caring and committed relationships tend to increase psychological pathology, Moreover, depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and anger decrease an individual’s ability to build and maintain caring and committed relationships. The more psychologically healthy individuals are, the more they can build and maintain meaningful and caring relationships.

With the amount of research evidence available, it is surprising that classroom practice is so oriented toward individualistic and competitive learning and schools are so dominated by a competitive/individualistic structure. It is time for the discrepancy to be reduced between what research indicates is effective in teaching and what teachers actually do.

BACK TO THE BASICS

Our research and the research of many others dating back to the late 1800s has established that having students work together cooperatively is a powerful way for them to learn and has positive effects on the classroom and school climate This has been verified by teachers in classrooms from preschool through graduate school. However, the importance of emphasizing cooperative learning in classrooms goes beyond just achievement, positive relationships, and psychological health.

The ability of all students to learn to work cooperatively with others is the keystone to building and maintaining stable marriages, families, careers, and friendships. Being able to perform technical skills, such as reading, speaking, listening, writing, computing, and problem solving, are valuable but of little use if the person cannot apply those skills in cooperative interaction with other people in career, family, and community environments. The most logical way to emphasize the use of students' knowledge and skills within a cooperative framework, such as they will meet as members of society, is to spend much of the time learning those skills in cooperative relationships with each other. We need to get back to the basics, reconcile school practices with current research, and encourage that a healthy portion of instruction is cooperative.

Accuracy of Perspective Taking

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Social perspective taking is the ability to understand how a situation appears to another person and how that person is reacting cognitively and emotionally to the situation. The opposite of perspective taking is egocentrism, the embedded ness in one’s own viewpoint to the extent that one is unaware of other points of view and of the limitations of one's perspectives. Cooperative learning experiences tend to promote greater cognitive and affective perspective taking than do competitive or individualistic learning experiences (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1989a).

Creativity

Cooperative learning promotes creative thinking by increasing the number of ideas, quality of ideas, feelings of stimulation and enjoyment, and originality of expression in creative problem solving (Bahn, 1964; Bolen & ‘Thrrance, 1976; Dunnette, Campbell, & Jaastad, 1963; Ehlk & Johnson, 1977; Peters & ‘Ibrrance, 1972; Thrrance, 1970, 1971, 1973; Triandis, Bass, Ewen, & Mikesell, 1963). It is not surprising that students are "triggered" by the ideas of others and that different perspectives cause group members to consider a larger number of alternatives. The cooperative relationship also provides a context to consider and appreciate other group members’ ideas instead of ignoring (individualistic) or trying to come up with a better one (competition).

Self-Esteem

The data in Table 1 indicate that cooperation produced higher levels of self-esteem than did competitive and individualistic efforts (effect sizes of 0.58 and 0.44 respectively) with regard to self-esteem. Individuals with low self-esteem tend to (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1989a):

Have low productivity due to setting low goals for themselves, lacking confidence in their ability, and assuming that they will fail no matter how hard they try.
Are critical of others as well as themselves by looking for flaws in others and trying to "tear them down."
Withdraw socially due to feeling awkward, self-conscious, and vulnerable to rejection.
Are conforming, agreeable, highly persuadable, and highly influenced by criticism.
Develop psychological problems such as anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, depression, and psychosomatic symptoms.
Within competitive situations, self-esteem tends to be based on the contingent view of one’s competence that, "If I win, then I have worth as a person, but if I lose, then I have no worth." Winners attribute their success to superior ability and attribute the failure of others to lack of ability, both of which contribute to self-aggrandizement. Losers, who are the vast majority, defensively tend to be self-disparaging, apprehensive about evaluation, and tend to withdraw psychologically and physically. Within individualistic situations, students are isolated from one another, receive little direct comparison with or feedback from peers, and perceive evaluations as inaccurate and unrealistic. A defensive avoidance, evaluation apprehension, and distrust of peers results. Within cooperative situations, individuals tend to interact, promote each other’s success, form multidimensional and realistic impressions of each other’s competencies, and give accurate feedback. Such interaction tends to promote a basic acceptance of oneself as a competent person.

Interpersonal Relationships and Acceptance of Differences

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One of the most important and long-standing goals of American education is to promote constructive relationships and positive attitudes among heterogeneous students. Almost every school district has acceptance of differences as one of their stated goals for students. Legislation exists that proclaims it is unlawful to segregate any student for educational purposes unless it is absolutely necessary. Ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, non—English-speaking students, and even females interested in science and math are examples of areas of students who need to be integrated with a wide variety of peers. Acceptance of differences is a central issue for all students.

Cooperative learning experiences, compared with competitive, individualistic, and "traditional" instruction, promote considerably more liking among students (effect sizes = 0.65 and 0.62 respectively) (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1989a; Johnson et al., 1983). This is true regardless of differences in ability level, sex, disability, ethnic membership, social class differences, or task orientation, Students who collaborate on their studies develop considerable commitment and caring for each other no matter what their initial impressions of and attitudes toward each other were when they started. They also like the teacher more and perceive the teacher as being more supportive and accepting academically and personally.

It is when students with disabilities are liked, accepted, and chosen as friends that inclusion becomes a positive influence on the lives of students with and without disabilities. Thus, any definition of inclusion that does not recognize the importance of relationships among students with and without disabilities is incomplete. It is peers without disabilities who provide students with disabilities entry into the typical life experiences of their age groups, such as going to dances, taking buses, going to movies, shopping, knowing what is "cool" and what is not, and dating. Constructive peer relationships are not only an absolute necessity for maximal achievement and healthy social and cognitive development, they may be the primary relationship within which development and socialization take place. Students with disabilities especially need access to peers who are highly motivated and behave appropriately. Placing students with disabilities in the corner of a classroom and providing individualistic learning experiences is not effective inclusion.

Inclusion is not something teachers do for a few students. It is something teachers do for every student in their class. The instructional procedures needed for the constructive inclusion of students with disabilities also benefit the shy student sitting over by the window, the over-aggressive student who seeks acceptance through negative behaviors, the bright but stereotyped student sitting in the front row, and the average student in the center of the classroom who needs very little help and is often neglected. All students need to be accepted and benefit from a classroom where it is acceptable to be different. We have also found in our research that when students without disabilities collaborate with their peers with disabilities on instructional tasks, the result is increased empathy, altruism, and an ability to view situations from a variety of perspectives. Even the most well-adjusted and hard-working students benefit from the instructional techniques associated with inclusion when it is structured effectively.

RESEARCH RATIONALE

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Working together to get the job done can have profound effects on students and staff members. A great son & It. Johnson, 1974, 1978, 1983, 1989a; Johnson, Johnson, & Maruyama, 1983; Johnson, Maruyama, Johnson, Nelson, & Skon, 1981; Pepitone, 1980; Sharan, 1980; Slavin, 1983). These research studies began in the late 1890s when Triplett (1898) in the United States and Mayer (1903) in Germany conducted a series on the factors associated with competitive performance. The amount of research that has been conducted since then is staggering. During the past 90 years, more than 600 studies have been conducted by a wide variety of researchers in different decades with different age subjects, in different subject areas, and in different environments. We know far more about the efficacy of cooperative learning than we know about lecturing, age grouping, beginning reading instruction at age 6, departmentalization, or almost any other facet of education.

Building on the theorizing of Kurt Lewin (1935) and Morton Deutsch (1949), the premise may be made that the type of interdependence structured among students determines how they interact with each other, which in turn largely determines instructional outcomes. The quality of peer relationships, furthermore, has widespread and powerful impact on individuals' cognitive and social development.

Cooperative Efforts and Achievement/Productivity

The highest and best form of efficiency is the spontaneous cooperation of a free people.

(Woodrow Wilson)

How successful competitive, individualistic, and cooperative efforts are in promoting productivity and achievement is the first question pragmatists ask about social interdependence. More than 875 studies have been conducted during the past 90 years to give an answer (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1989a). When all of the studies were included in the analysis, the average cooperator performed at about two thirds a standard deviation above average student learning within a competitive (effect size = 0.66) or individualistic situation (effect size 0.63). When only the high-quality studies were included in the analysis, the effect sizes are 0.86 and 0.59 respectively. Cooperative learning, furthermore, resulted in more higher level reasoning, more frequent generation of new ideas and solutions (i.e., process gain), and greater transfer of what is learned within one situation to another (i.e., group-to-individual transfer) than did competitive or individualistic learning.

The fad that working together to achieve a common goal produces higher achievement and greater productivity than does working alone is so well confirmed by so much research that it stands as one of the strongest principles of social and organizational psychology. Cooperative learning is indicated whenever learning goals are highly important, mastery and retention are important, a task is complex or conceptual, problem solving is desired, divergent thinking or creativity is desired, quality of performance is expected, and higher-level reasoning strategies and critical thinking are needed.

Participants in the research have varied widely as to economic class, age, sex, and cultural background. A variety of tasks and measures of the dependent variables have been studied. Studies have been conducted by many different researchers with markedly different orientations working in different environments and in different decades. This means that the overall body of research on social interdependence has considerable generalizability.

Individual Accountability/Personal Responsibility

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What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow.

(Let Vygotsky, 1962)

Among the early settlers of Massachusetts there was a saying, "If you do not work, you do not eat." Everyone had to do their fair share of the work. The third essential element of cooperative learning is individual accountability, which exists when the performance of individual students is assessed, the results are given back to the individual and the group, and the student is held responsible by group mates for contributing his or her fair share to the group’s success. It is important that the group-knows who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in completing the assignment. It is also important that group members know they cannot "hitchhike" on the work of others. When it is difficult to identify members' contributions, when members' contributions are redundant, and when members are not responsible for the final group outcome, they may be seeking a free ride (Harkins & Petty, 1982; Ingham, Levinger, Graves, & Peckham, 1974; Kerr & Bruun, 1981; Latane, Williams, & Harkins, 1979; Moede, 1927; Petty, 1-larkins, Williams, & Latane, 1977; Williams, 1981; Williams, Harkins, & Latane, 1981). This is called social loafing.

The purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her own right. Individual accountability is the key to ensuring that all group members are, in fact, strengthened by learning cooperatively. After participating in a cooperative lesson, group members should be better prepared to complete similar tasks by themselves.

To ensure that each student is individually accountable to do his or her fair share of the group’s work, teachers need to assess how much effort each member is contributing to the group’s work, provide feedback to groups and individual students, help groups avoid redundant efforts by members, and ensure that every member is responsible for the final outcome. Common ways to structure individual accountability include:

Keeping the size of the group small. The smaller the size of the group, the greater the individual accountability may be.
Giving an individual test to each student.
Randomly examining students orally by calling on one student to present his or her group's work to the teacher (in the presence of the group) or to the entire class.
Observing each group and recording the frequency with which each member-contributes to the group's work.
Assigning one student in each group the role of checker. The checker asks other group members to explain the reasoning and rationale underlying group answers.
Having students teach what they learned to someone else. When all students do this, it is called simultaneous explaining.
There is a pattern to classroom learning. First, students learn knowledge, skills, strategies, or procedures in a cooperative group. Second, students apply the knowledge or perform the skill, strategy, or procedure alone to demonstrate their personal mastery of the material. Students learn it together and then perform it alone.

Interpersonal and Small-Group Skills

I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.

(John D. Rockefeller)

The fourth essential element of cooperative learning is the appropriate use of interpersonal and small-group skills. In order to coordinate efforts to achieve mutual goals, students must: 1) get to know and trust each other, 2) communicate accurately and unambiguously, 3) accept and support each other, and 4) resolve conflict constructively (Johnson, 1990, 1991; Johnson & F. Johnson, 1991). Placing socially unskilled students in a group and telling them to cooperate does not guarantee that they have the ability to do so effectively. We are not born instinctively knowing how to interact effectively with others. Interpersonal and small-group skills do not magically appear when they are needed. Students must be taught the social skills required for high quality collaboration and be motivated to use them if cooperative groups are to be productive. The whole field of group dynamics is based on the premise that social skills are the key to group productivity (Johnson & F. Johnson, 1991).

The more socially skillful students are and the more attention teachers pay-to teaching and rewarding the use of social skills, the higher the achievement that can be expected within cooperative learning groups. In their studies on the long-term implementation of cooperative learning, Lew and Mesch (Lew et al., 1986a, 1986b; Mesch et al., 1988; Mesch et al., 1986) investigated the impact of a reward contingency for using social skills as well as positive interdependence and a contingency for academic achievement on performance within cooperative learning groups. In the cooperative skills conditions, students were trained weekly in four social skills and each member of a cooperative group was given two bonus points toward the quiz grade if all group members were observed by the teacher to demonstrate three out of four cooperative skills. The results indicated that the combination of positive interdependence, an academic contingency for high performance by all group members, and a social skills contingency promoted the highest achievement.

Group Processing

Take care of each other. Share your energies with the group. No one must feel alone, cut off, for that is when you do not make it.

(Willi Unsoeld, Renowned Mountain Climber)

The fifth essential component of cooperative learning is group processing. Effective group work is influenced by whether or not groups reflect on (i.e., process) how well they are functioning. A process is an identifiable sequence of events taking place over time, and process goals refer to the sequence of events instrumental in achieving outcome goals (Johnson & F. Johnson, 1991). Group processing may be defined as reflecting on a group session to: 1) describe what member actions were helpful and unhelpful, and 2) make decisions about what actions to continue or change. The purpose of group processing is to clarify and improve the effectiveness of the members in contributing to the collaborative efforts to achieve the group’s goals.

While the teacher systematically observes the cooperative learning groups, he or she attains a "window" into what students do and do not understand as they explain to each other how to complete the assignment. Listening in on the students' explanations provides valuable information about bow well the students understand the instructions, the major concepts and strategies being learned, and the basic elements of cooperative learning.

There are two levels of processing -- small group and whole class. In order to ensure that small-group processing takes place, teachers allocate some time at the end of each class session for each cooperative group to process how effectively members worked together. Groups need to describe what member actions were helpful and not helpful in completing the group's work and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change. Such processing: 1) enables learning groups to focus on maintaining good working relationships among members, 2) facilitates the learning of cooperative skills, 3) ensures that members receive feedback on their participation, 4) ensures that students think on the metacognitive as well as the cognitive level, and 5) provides the means to celebrate the success of the group and reinforce the positive behaviors of group members. Some of the keys to successful small-group processing are allowing sufficient time for it to take place, providing a structure for processing (e.g., "List three things your group is doing well today and one thing you could improve."), emphasizing positive feedback, making the processing specific rather than general, maintaining student involvement in processing, reminding students to use their cooperative skills while they process, and communicating clear expectations as to the purpose of processing.

In addition to small-group processing, the teacher should periodically engage in whole-class processing. When cooperative learning groups are used, the teacher observes the groups, analyzes the problems they have working together, and gives feedback to each group on how well they are working together. The teacher systematically moves from group to group and observes them at work. A formal observation sheet may be used to gather specific data on each group. At the end of the class period the teacher can then conduct a whole-class processing session by sharing with the class the results of his or her observations. If each group has a peer observer, the results of their observations may be added together to get overall class data.

An important aspect of both small-group and whole-class processing is group and class celebrations. It is feeling successful, appreciated, and respected that builds commitment to learning, enthusiasm about working in cooperative groups, and a sense of self-efficacy in terms of subject-matter mastery and working cooperatively with classmates

Face-to-Face Promotive Interaction

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In an industrial organization, it's the group effort that counts. There's really no room for stars in an industrial organization. You need talented people, but they can't do it alone. They have to have help.

(John F. Donnelly, President, Donnelly Mirrors)

Positive interdependence results in promotive interaction. Promotive interaction may be defined as individuals encouraging and facilitating each other's efforts to achieve, complete tasks, and produce in order to reach the group's goals. Although positive interdependence in and of itself may have some effect on outcomes, it is the face-to-face promotive interaction among individuals fostered by the positive inter-relationships, and psychological adjustment and social competence. Promotive interaction is characterized by individuals providing each other with efficient and effective help and assistance; exchanging needed resources, such as information and materials, and processing information more efficiently and effectively; providing each other with feedback in order to improve their subsequent performance; challenging each other's conclusions and reasoning in order to promote higher quality decision making and greater insight into the problems being considered; advocating the exertion of effort to achieve mutual goals; influencing each other’s efforts to achieve the group's goals; acting in trusting and trustworthy ways; being motivated to strive for mutual benefit; and maintaining a moderate level of arousal characterized by low anxiety and stress.

ELEMENTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING

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It is only under certain conditions that cooperative efforts may be expected to be more productive than competitive and individualistic efforts. Those conditions are:

Clearly perceived positive interdependence
Considerable promotive (face-to-face) interaction
Clearly perceived individual accountability and personal responsibility to achieve the group’s goals
Frequent use of the relevant interpersonal and small-group skills
Frequent and regular group processing of current functioning to improve the group’s future effectiveness
All healthy cooperative relationships have these five basic elements present. This is true of peer tutoring, partner learning, peer mediation, adult work groups, families, and other cooperative relationships. This conceptual "yardstick" should define any cooperative relationship.

Positive Interdependence

The first requirement for an effectively structured cooperative lesson is that students believe that they "sink or swim together." Within cooperative learning situations, students have two responsibilities: 1) learn the assigned material, and 2) ensure that all members of the group learn the assigned material. The technical term for that dual responsibility is positive interdependence. Positive interdependence exists when students perceive that they are linked with group mates in such a way that they cannot succeed unless their group mates do (and vice versa) and/or that they must coordinate their efforts with the efforts of their group mates to complete a task. Positive interdependence promotes a situation in which students: 1) see that their work benefits group mates and their group mates' work benefits them, and 2) work together in small groups to maximize the learning of all members by sharing their resources to provide mutual support and encouragement and to celebrate their joint success. When positive interdependence is clearly understood, it establishes that:

Each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success (i.e., there can be no "free-riders").
Each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities.
There are a number of ways of structuring positive interdependence within a learning group.

Positive Goal Interdependence Students perceive that they can achieve their learning goals if’ and only if all the members of their group also attain their goals. The group is united around a common goal -- a concrete reason for being. To ensure that students believe they "sink or swim together" and care about how much each other learns, the teacher has to structure a clear group or mutual goal, such as "learn the assigned material and make sure that all members of the group learn the assigned material." The group goal always has to be a part of the lesson.

Positive Reward -- Celebrate Interdependence Each group member receives the same reward when the group achieves its goals. To supplement goal interdependence, teachers may wish to add joint rewards (e.g., if all members of the group score 90% correct or better on the test, each receives 5 bonus points). Sometimes teachers give students: 1) a group grade for the overall production of their group, 2) an individual grade resulting from tests, and 3) bonus points if all members of the group achieve the criterion on tests. Regular celebrations of group efforts and success enhance the quality of cooperation.

Positive Resource Interdependence Each group member has only a portion of the resources, information, or materials necessary for the task to be completed; the members’ resources have to be combined for the group to achieve its goals. Teachers may wish to highlight the cooperative relationships by giving students limited resources that must be shared (one copy of the problem or task per group) or giving each student part of the required resources that the group must then fit together (the Jigsaw procedure).

Positive Role Interdependence Each member is assigned complementary and interconnected roles that specify responsibilities that the group needs in order to complete the joint task. Teachers create role interdependence among students when they assign them complementary roles such as reader, recorder, checker of understanding, encourager of participation, and elaborator of knowledge. Such roles are vital to high-quality learning. The role of checker, for example, focuses on periodically asking each group mate to explain what is being learned. Rosenshine and Stevens (1986) reviewed a large body of well-controlled research on teaching effectiveness at the pre-collegiate level and found "checking for comprehension" to be one specific teaching behavior that was significantly associated with higher levels of student learning and achievement. Although the teacher cannot continually check the understanding of every student, the teacher can engineer such checking by having students work in cooperative groups and assigning one member the role of checker.

There are other types of positive interdependence. Positive task interdependence exists when a division of labor is created so that the actions of one group member have to be completed if the next member is to complete his or her responsibility. Positive identity interdependence exists when a mutual identity is established through a name or motto. Outside threat interdependence exists when groups are placed in competition with each other. Fantasy interdependence exists when a task is given that requires group members to imagine that they are in a hypothetical situation.

We have conducted a series of studies investigating the nature of positive interdependence and the relative power of the different types of positive interdependence (Hwong, Caswell, Johnson, & Johnson, 1993; Johnson, Johnson, Ortiz, & Starme, 1991; Johnson, Johnson, Stanne, & Garibaldi, 1990; Low, Mesch, Johnson, & Johnson, 1986a, 1986b; Mesch, Johnson, & Johnson, 1988; Mesch, Lew, Johnson, & Johnson, 1986). Our research indicates that positive interdependence provides the context within which promotive interaction takes place. Group membership and interpersonal interaction among students do not produce higher achievement unless positive interdependence is clearly structured. The combination of goal and reward interdependence increases achievement over goal interdependence alone and resource interdependence does not increase achievement unless goal interdependence is present also.

AN OVERVIEW OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING

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Roger T. and David W. Johnson

Originally published in:
J. Thousand, A. Villa and A. Nevin (Eds), Creativity and Collaborative Learning; Brookes Press, Baltimore, 1994.

Without the cooperation of its members society cannot survive, and the society of man has survived because the cooperativeness of its members made survival possible.... It was not an advantageous individual here and there who did so, but the group. In human societies the individuals who are most likely to survive are those who are best enabled to do so by their group.

(Ashley Montagu, 1965)

How students perceive each other and interact with one another is a neglected aspect of instruction. Much training time is devoted to helping teachers arrange appropriate interactions between students and materials (i.e., textbooks, curriculum programs) and some time is spent on how teachers should interact with students, but how students should interact with one another is relatively ignored. It should not be. How teachers structure student-student interaction patterns has a lot to say about how well students learn, how they feel about school and the teacher, how they feel about each other, and how much self-esteem they have.

There are three basic ways students can interact with each other as they learn. They can compete to see who is "best," they can work individualistically toward a goal without paying attention to other students, or they can work cooperatively with a vested interest in each other's learning as well as their own. Of the three interaction patterns, competition is presently the most dominant. Research indicates that a vast majority of students in the United States view school as a competitive enterprise where one tries to do better than other students. This competitive expectation is already widespread when students enter school and grows stronger as they progress through school (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1991). Cooperation among students-who celebrate each other’s successes, encourage each other to do homework, and learn to work together regardless of ethnic backgrounds or whether they are male or female, bright or struggling, disabled or not, is still rare.

BASIC DEFINITIONS

Even though these three interaction patterns are not equally effective in helping students learn concepts and skills, it is important that students learn to interact effectively in each of these ways. Students will face situations in which all three interaction patterns are operating and they will need to be able to be effective in each. They also should be able to select the appropriate interaction pattern suited to the situation. An interpersonal, competitive situation is characterized by negative goal interdependence where, when one person wins, the others lose; for example, spelling bees or races against other students to get the correct answers to a math problem on the blackboard. In individualistic learning situations, students are independent of one another and are working toward a set criteria where their success depends on their own performance in relation to an established criteria. The success or failure of other students does not affect their score. For example, in spelling, with all students working on their own, any student who correctly spells 90% or more words passes. In a cooperative learning situation, interaction is characterized by positive goal interdependence with individual accountability. Positive goal interdependence requires acceptance by a group that they "sink or swim together." A cooperative spelling class is one where students are working together in small groups to help each other learn the words in order to take the spelling test individually on another day. Each student’s score on the test is increased by bonus points if the group is successful (i.e., the group totals meet specified criteria). In a cooperative learning situation, a student needs to be concerned with how he or she spells and how well the other students in his or her group spell. This cooperative umbrella can also be extended over the entire class if bonus points are awarded to each student when the class can spell more words than a reasonable, but demanding, criteria set by the teacher.

There is a difference between simply having students work in a group and structuring groups of students to work cooperatively. A group of students sitting at the same table doing their own work, but free to talk with each other as they work, is not structured to be a cooperative group, as there is no positive interdependence. Perhaps it could be called individualistic learning with talking. For this to be a cooperative learning situation, there needs to be an accepted common goal on which the group is rewarded for its efforts. If a group of students has been assigned to do a report, but only one student does all the work and the others go along for a free ride, it is not a cooperative group. A cooperative group has a sense of individual accountability that means that all students need to know the material or spell well for the whole group to be successful. Putting students into groups does not necessarily gain a cooperative relationship; it has to be structured and managed by the teacher or professor.

Village Cooperatives In Thailand: Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty Among Rice Farmers

2008-06-01T22:14:00.000+07:00

Thai farmers produce approximately 19-20 million tons of rice annually. Two-thirds is consumed by farmers themselves, used as seed, or sold for domestic consumption. The remaining one-third is sold abroad, gaining for Thailand a world-wide reputat ion. While the country is not the world's leading rice producer, it has been the number one exporter for the past 20 years.

It might seem strange, therefore, to learn that a significant number of Thai rice farmers lack an adequate supply of rice to eat and that their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews suffer from malnutrition. Many families are burdened by massive debts and are forced to send their children of working age to seek employment away from their homes. Their income is needed to cover family expenses during the year and to repay loans that their parents have had to take from both formal and informal sourc es. This cycle of poverty and debt arose when rice became a cash export crop similar to tapioca, corn, jute and other crops.

The unpredictability of the weather, droughts and floods, epidemics and pest infestations are all risks which farmers must face. Sixty percent of Thai farmers sell their rice on the spot immediately after threshing; twenty percent sell to middlemen, an d twenty percent sell their rice at the local central market. Farmers have to sell their rice quickly in order to repay the loans that they owe to the very same merchants, middlemen and millers who are buying their rice. Clearly, this arrangement gives th e farmers no bargaining power, and the luxury to hoard rice and wait until market prices rise belongs solely to the merchants, middlemen and millers. There are still many steps before the rice reaches the consumers: first brokers, then wholesalers and fin ally retailers. Farmers who are forced to sell at low prices must later buy rice for their own consumption at prices twice as high. A considerable number of farmers have to borrow rice from merchants or wealthy farmers at an interest rate of 50% per growi ng season.

Even so, most farmers will likely continue to be farmers. Rice farming is an occupation which has been passed down to them by their ancestors for centuries and at which they are highly skilled. Though attempts have been made to improve production throu gh the use of modern technology in the form of fertilizers, new rice strains and pesticides, incomes have failed to keep pace with the increased expenses which these new methods incur.

An examination of the entire process, from production to delivery, to both domestic and foreign consumers reveals that the cost increases which double the price of rice after it leaves the hands of the farmers, enrich only the merchants, middlemen, mil lers, buyers, exporters, retailers and wholesalers. The steps in the process have become fixed and offer obvious benefits to all but the farmers. Changes at one end of the process will have an impact on the entire system.

Some farmers in the Northeast, therefore, have begun to seek an alternative which will give them greater security and allow them to continue farming.

There are several basic village self-help models that have become popular in rural communities to alleviate common problems. Rice Banks, Buffalo Banks, Saving Groups and Cooperative Stores are all based on the principle of sharing and cooperation for m utual benefit. Each is designed to reduce exploitative practices, meet specific basic needs and promote collective decision-making.

Community rice banks are a means of addressing the problem of seasonal shortages of rice for consumption for some households, through simple sharing among those who have more than needed and those who have less. They also serve as a way to protect the poor from exploitation in the form of exorbitant interest rates on rice loans - as high as 150-200% in some places - charged by the merchants and middlemen.

A communal rice storage barn is constructed by the villagers who contribute labour, using locally available materials supplemented usually by outside contributions such as roofing, nails, etc. Deposits of rice paddy in the bank are collected through se veral means; individual donations based on the villagers' own capacities; a traditional "merit-making" ceremony; or a sharing of labour in a collective rice field in order to contribute the harvest to the bank. Most Thai's are Buddhist, and daily make mer it by providing food and other necessities for the monks in their local temple. A special merit-making ceremony each harvest is adapted so that host villagers, neighbours and guests can donate rice paddy to the local Buddhist temple instead of the usual c ontributions to the monks. The temple can inturn, contribute the paddy to the community rice bank.

A rice committee is then formed to manage the rice bank by drawing up loan regulations, setting the rate of interest and loan schedules. Once a year, the committee members meet to review loan applications and allocate loans, normally on the basis of wh o has the most need. They are also responsible for collecting repayments after the harvest.

A rice bank is also a form of pooling together resources on reserve for collective use. If there are deposits left over after loan distribution, the community may decide to sell the paddy for cash and use it for other needs such as fertilizer on credit to members. Members however, always pay back the loans with rice paddy.

The objectives of the rice bank can be extended to include rice trading. In order to help villagers who are forced to sell immediately after harvest when the price is at the lowest, the rice bank can purchase paddy at a price closer to the normal and s tore it until it can make some profit. Conducting business according to collective principles, they then speculate on the open market. However, this usually means the bank has to have access to outside credit sources to engage in such trading.

Village collective rice mills provide an added opportunity for rice farmers to control prices, and realize profits from their efforts. Members, who are also the mill owners, determine their own policies and receive milling services at prices lower than those charged by most private rice mills. With initial support from private development organizations, these cooperative mills have spread quickly since 1987, and in 1991, the government's village jobs creation program included rice mills as an alternati ve under its policies.

In addition to the profits earned from the rice banks and collective rice mills, both of which required participants to pool their resources, farmers had an opportunity to gain valuable lessons concerning management and administration. In addition, som e groups are able to sell rice to members at bargain prices, and directly to merchants in town. Clearly, this arrangement presents an attractive alternative.

Another experience pertaining to rice processing and trade is that of the network of villages called the Committee to Support Cooperation Among Northeastern Rice Farmers. Comprising of farmers in Khao Wong district of Kalasin province, Phonsai district of Roe Et and from Sa Kaew in Nong Hong district of Buriram province, the Committee set up a medium-sized rice mill and began purchasing paddy from farmers. After milling, their rice is then sold to non-rice growing farmers and to slum residents in Bangk ok who are in direct contact with the mill. This arrangement benefits both villagers who grow the rice and those who later consume it.

A 1991 examination of the trading arrangements between the Sa Kaew cooperative rice mill in Buriram and non-rice growing farmers in Nong Sai, shows that the rice mill could still make a profit with this arrangement that allowed the villagers of Nong Sa i to save 183 baht (approx. $9) /100 kilograms of rice. Given that the 207 families of Nong Sai consume a total of 144.9 tons of rice annually, they save as much as 1,281 baht ($64) per family per year. If these families were to act as a group and pool th ese savings, they could carry out a number of projects which would be of benefit to the entire village.

Saving groups are another form of community mobilization of funds developed in order to solve the common problems of lack of reserves to meet emergency needs such as illness in the family, or seasonal needs such as schooling, or food costs during planting seasons. Normally, villagers borrow from money lenders within or outside the community at a very high interest rate of 5-10% per month to me et such needs.

With a savings group, villagers deposit savings monthly on a designated day; usually the rates are quite low, a minimum of 10 baht per month. Loans are also given out monthly for short loan periods, mostly 3 months, at a maximum interest rate of 3% per month. Once a year, dividends are paid out to members.

Individual loans made by the savings groups are usually small, limited by the size of total savings. They are mainly for emergency food purchases and family illnesses, but are also used for small productive activities such as chicken or pig raising, or buying silk thread for weaving. Some groups decide to use the entire savings for some collective activity, such as communal rice-farming, or setting up a cooperative store.

Savings groups are a type of "pre-cooperative" organization that provide the basis for the establishment of credit unions. With the cooperation of the Credit Union League of Thailand, many savings groups have adopted standard regulations and accounting practices and have become fully pledged credit unions, long-term financial institutions that can service individual and group credit and savings needs.

The industrial-commercial system of Thailand's rice trade is very firmly established, and although government policy is unable to have a major impact on changing the system to better benefit the village rice farmers, there are opportunities for support . Farmers groups have proposed that the government provide support by directly offering them low-interest loans which they could use to purchase rice from farmers. However, the government provides such assistance only to legally-registered farmers groups, of which there are very few, principally because villagers lack the resources to organize and manage such organizations.

Since the isolated successes villagers have experienced selling rice directly to consumers have escaped the attention of the government, they are now working to make the authorities aware of the impact of policies that affect them. Based on their own success, they have become convinced that the financial support the government presently supplies to merchants should instead be given directly to the farmers so that they may set up their own rice mills and granaries. They also feel that the government sh ould provide funds for improving the management skills of villagers.

The importance of these efforts is that they provide a means of achieving self-reliance, to develop villagers' own management skills, to boost production and thereby assure their families a more stable income. They also work to establish a firm and fai r system of safeguards for the rights of farmers, the largest percentage of the Thailand's population.

From the "How to Live in the Real World" education kit, created by the Nova Scotia Environment & Development Coalition.

Others-Criticism

2008-05-27T06:20:00.000+07:00

Others
The more recent phenomena of Microcredit and microfinance are often based on a cooperative model and were first developed in third world countries, but are quickly spreading to the rest of the world. They focus on small business lending. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh won the Nobel Peace Prize for his development and pursuit of the microcredit concept.

Criticism
Cooperative banks are often criticised for dilution of cooperative principles. Principles 2-4 of the Statement on the Co-operative Identity assert that members must control both the governance systems and capital of their cooperatives. A cooperative bank that raises capital on public stock markets creates a second class of shareholders who compete with the members for control. In some circumstances, the members may lose control. This effectively means that the bank ceases to be a cooperative. Accepting deposits from non-members can also lead to a dilution of member control.

In Asia and other continents

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India
The origins of the cooperative banking movement in India can be traced to the close of nineteenth century when, inspired by the success of the experiments related to the cooperative movement in Britain and the cooperative credit movement in Germany, such societies were set up in India. Co-operative banks are an important constituent of the Indian Financial System.

In the Indian Banking System, Co-operative banks in India are known for its rural reach and form the primary financiers of agricultural based activities including farming, cattle, milk, hatchery, personal finance etc. along with some small scale industries and self-employment driven activities.

Co operative Banks in India are registered under the Co-operative Societies Act. The cooperative bank is also regulated by the RBI. They are governed by the Banking Regulations Act 1949 and Banking Laws (Co-operative Societies) Act, 1965.

The Anyonya Co-operative Bank in India is considered to be the first cooperative bank in Asia.

In Europe

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UK
British Building Societies developed into general-purpose savings & banking institutions with "one member, one vote" ownership and can be seen as a form of financial cooperative (although many 'de-mutualised' into conventionally-owned banks in the 1980s & 1990s). The UK Co-operative Group includes both an insurance provider CIS and the Co-operative Bank, both noted for promoting ethical investment.

Continental Europe
Other important European cooperative banking systems include the Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, Banque Populaire and Caisse d'épargne in France, Rabobank in the Netherlands, BVR/DZ Bank in Germany, Federcasse and Banca Popolare di Milano in Italy, Migros and Coop Bank in Switzerland and the Raiffeisen system in many Central and Eastern European countries. Spain, Austria, Poland and other European countries also have strong cooperative banks. They play an important role in providing mortgage and business credit. The cooperative banks that are members of the European Association of Co-operative Banks have 130 million customers, $4 trillion euros in assets, and 17% of Europe's deposits.

Cooperative banking networks, which were nationalized in Eastern Europe, work now as real cooperative institutions. The 584 cooperative banks in Poland have more than 9% share of Polish banking system. They have nearly 14 billion dollars in assets and have nearly 3,700 outlets.

In Scandinavia, there is a clear distinction between mutual savings banks (Sparbank) and true credit unions (Andelsbank).

In North America

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In North America, the caisse populaire movement started by Alphonse Desjardins in Quebec, Canada pioneered credit unions. Desjardins wanted to bring desperately needed financial protection to working people. In 1900, from his home in Lévis, Quebec, he opened North America's first credit union, marking the beginning of the Mouvement Desjardins.

Cooperative banking

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Cooperative banks, also called mutual savings and loans, exist in most parts of the world. They offer financial services on a cooperative basis.

Like credit unions, cooperative banks are owned by their customers and follow the cooperative principle of one person, one vote. Unlike credit unions however, cooperative banks are often regulated under both banking and cooperative legislation. They provide services such as savings and loans to non-members as well as to members. Many cooperative banks are traded on public stock markets, meaning that they are partially owned by non-members.

Cooperative banking systems are also usually more integrated than credit union systems. Local branches of cooperative banks elect their own boards of directors and manage their own operations, but most strategic decisions require approval from the central office. Credit unions usually retain strategic decision-making at a local level, though they share 'back-office' functions like access to the global payments system by federating.

Status of Agricultural Cooperativism in Asia

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The role of cooperatives amid the new global environment must be assessed as a critical dimension of the market structure in agriculture, in order to determine their future viability in enhancing rural economies in Asia. However, it must be noted that some Asian countries have yet to have an efficient agricultural cooperative system to attain such basic goals as food self-sufficiency and the economic well-being of small-scale farmers.

There is no unique system or model of agricultural cooperative applicable to all countries in Asia, as each country's cooperative mission, structure and practices very much depend on the social, economic, and political condition and realities, as well as on the needs and requirements of the agricultural farming sector, the dynamic environment influencing changes in agricultural production and marketing trends, and the existing public policies.

In some developing countries, there is a strong government-cooperative relationship. This cooperative type is expected to serve as a tool for improving the economic well-being of the farming community and help boost the rural quality of life. Also, the main goal of cooperatives here is poverty alleviation, where the organization is seen as a means to protect the economically weak, resource-poor farmers. However, the strong government presence sometimes translates to political interference and government misuse, impeding the growth of cooperativism.

In more developed countries, a cooperative is a business operation owned and controlled by the people who use its services, such as credit and banking, marketing, processing, and welfare, and whose benefits are shared by the users whose memberships are voluntary. These cooperatives are user-driven businesses that have contributed greatly to the development of productive and scientific-based agricultural systems.

Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia: Innovations and Opportunities for the 21ST Century

2008-05-26T20:31:00.000+07:00

Agricultural cooperatives have played an important role in the Asian rural landscape for decades, and has become an integral part of its social structure. Cooperatives have contributed greatly to the development of modern national and systematized agricultural production-base, helped enhance self-sufficiency of major staple foods, and strengthened farmers' household economy by facilitating market access and competitiveness, adapting their operations to agricultural technological innovations and encouraging democratic decision-making processes, leadership development and education.
However, at the dawn of the 21st century, new issues and forces have been influencing the external and internal environment of agricultural cooperatives worldwide. Some of these forces include: the restructuring of the agricultural sector such as demographic changes and diversification of member-farmers; highly-advanced technological innovations; large-scale marketing and changing consumer preferences; shifting international agricultural trade regime; and globalization of the financial market. All these factors have left many agricultural cooperatives, particularly in the Asian region, groping to find more efficient business models in an increasingly harsh economy, and leaving resource-poor small-scale farmers with no option but to realign their economic activities and meager resources to external signals.

Specifically, the emergence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other regional trade organizations has defined the areas and rules of the game for trade in agricultural commodities and processed produce, which are simply not easy to follow by developing countries. The agriculture and rural development in Asian countries, in which a large majority of the total population live in rural areas and depend upon agriculture for their livelihood, is far from being viable and sustainable. In this sense, the rules of trade liberalization are aggravating the adverse livelihood conditions of the rural poor who are mostly small and medium producers, without much market-oriented organizational and management capacities.

The primary goal of the international seminar on Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia: Innovations and Opportunities in the 21st Century, was to serve as a venue to promote the exchange of knowledge and information on successful innovative cooperative practices in view of this critical transition period. Issues and lessons specific to Asian rural farmers and based on the experiences of cooperative practitioners and policy makers were shared and discussed.

Historical Background of Agricultural Cooperatives

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The history of agricultural cooperatives in Thailand can be traced back to 1914, when the Thai economy opened to international trade during the reign of King Rama V. Rice production was becoming commercialized, but farmers could not benefit from the situation. Moreover, national disasters such as drought and flood forced farmers into chronic and severe indebtedness due to their inability to repay their loans. Consequently, they were losing their farmlands, turned into hired laborers, and thus left their debts unpaid. Based on the recommendation of Sir Bernard Hunter, the head of the Madras Bank of India, the concept of cooperatives was introduced to Thailand through a special assistance program. It was believed that this would help the farmers to pay their debts and improve their livelihood.

In 1916, the Thai government created the first cooperative society, as a trial, among small paddy farmers named "Wat Chan Cooperative" in Phitsanulok Province. It was known as a "village credit cooperative" with unlimited liability, following the Raiffesen credit cooperative type with a single purpose of providing farm credit to help the severely indebted farmers. Sixteen most indebted farmers in the province were chosen as the founding members. Although with a start up capital of only 3,000 baht, the cooperatives operated very successfully. Within the first 13 months, its members were able to repay 50% of their debts. The success of this cooperative led to the increase of small village credit cooperatives all over the country. The small credit cooperatives prevailed in the country until 1983. After that, other types of cooperatives were established in response to the people's need.

With a view to facilitate financing support to cooperatives and their members, the government set up the "Bank for Cooperative" in 1947. Credit cooperatives were urged to hold share capital in the bank with the hope that they would, in the future, be owners of the bank which would be their own financing center. In 1952 and 1953, two provincial cooperative banks were established in Chiangmai and Uttaradit provinces, respectively. Unfortunately, the enactment of a new "Commercial Bank Law" in 1962 limited the services on deposit on current accounts to be provided only by commercial banks. The two existing provincial cooperative banks were reorganized as credit cooperative federations and a program to set up new cooperative banks was dropped. In 1966, the "Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperative (BAAC)", a state enterprise, was established to be a financial center for agricultural cooperatives as well as individual farmers.

In 1968, the government enacted the "Cooperative Act B.E.2511" to facilitate the expansion and improvement of the cooperatives. This legislation embodied two important features, the amalgamation of credit cooperatives at village level to district level and the establishment of the Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT) to function as the apex organization of the cooperative movement. The amalgamation was the most important one, as it enhanced the economies of scale of the business operation. The credit cooperatives were officially categorized as "agricultural cooperatives". In 1969, the government changed the status of agricultural cooperatives from unlimited societies to limited ones. This year, the Agricultural Cooperative Federation of Thailand was also established as the apex agricultural cooperative of the country.

At present, the cooperatives in Thailand are officially categorized into seven types namely:

1) Agricultural Cooperative
2) Land Settlement Cooperative
3) Fisheries Cooperative
4) Consumer Cooperative
5) Thrift and Credit Cooperative
6) Service Cooperative
7) Credit Union Cooperative

Roles of Agriculture Cooperatives in the Thai Economy

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Agricultural Structure and Its Development

Thailand is regarded as an agricultural country. The agricultural sector has played an important role in contributing to the economy of Thailand throughout history. However, as the nonagricultural sector has been growing at a rapid rate during the past decade, agriculture has gradually declined in importance in terms of its share in economic growth. Table 1 shows that the share of the agricultural sector to GDP has declined steadily from 25% in 1972-1976 to less than 10% in 2002-2005.

Within the agricultural sector itself, there has been no significant change in structure. The Agriculture, Livestock, and Forestry sub-sector is the largest component of GDP. During 2001-2004, the value-added generated from this sub-sector was about 84% while that from the Fisheries sub-sector was only about 16%. Considering the composition of the Agriculture, Livestock, and Forestry sub-sector, cereals and field crops is the most important group. This group's share to GDP was about 53%

Although the contribution of the agricultural sector to the Thai economy is decreasing, agriculture is still important, with 41% of the total land area or 21 million hectares devoted to agriculture. Agriculture is the main occupation of the Thai people employing about one-third of the labor force.

Agricultural Cooperatives in Thailand: Innovations and Opportunities in the 21ST Century

2008-05-26T20:20:00.000+07:00

Agriculture has long been an important sector to Thailand's economy and will continue to be in the near future. Agricultural cooperatives, with the concept of self reliance and cooperation, have played an important role in raising the socioeconomic status of their farmer members. At present, the agricultural cooperative movement of Thailand is facing challenges from changes in various external and internal environment. To survive in such an evolving situation, the agricultural cooperative movement has adjusted its structure and business approach to sustain its operation and business growth. These changes could be observed at the agricultural cooperatives as well as policy levels. The Tha-Yang Agricultural Cooperatives is a good example of the successful adaptation to such changing environment.

Organizational Structure of Cooperative in Thailand

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Cooperatives in Thailand are vertically organized in a three - tiered system; primary cooperative at district level and federation at provincial and national level. The primary cooperative consists of individual members while members of provincial and national federations are cooperatives. The members will elect the board of directors (BOD) through the general assembly with maximum number is not greater than 15 persons for cooperative development policies formulation. The BOD, then, appoints a manager and staff to run the cooperative business.

Five or more cooperatives at primary or provincial level can together form a provincial or national federation to undertake joint activities on behalf of their primary affiliated such as processing and trading of agricultural produces.

At national level, there is the Agricultural Cooperative Federation of Thailand of which all 76 provincial agricultural cooperative federations are affiliates. There are also Sugarcane Growers Cooperative Federation of Thailand, Swine Raisers Cooperative Federation of Thailand, Dairy Cooperative Federation of Thailand and Onion Growers Cooperative Federation of Thailand. Land Settlement Cooperatives , however, has only a regional federation in the Central Region whereas Thrift and Credit Cooperatives, and Consumer Cooperatives are affiliated in a national federation of their own.

All types of cooperatives at all levels, according to the Cooperative Act, B.E.2511, have implicitly to be the affiliates of the Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT). The CLT is functioning as an apex body of the whole cooperative movement. It does not run as business enterprise, but acts as a facilitator, coordinator and being as educational supporters for promotion of all cooperative progress.

Legal Considerations When Forming a Cooperative

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Do I need to incorporate the business as a cooperative?
No. Many states have cooperative incorporation laws that may or may not be appropriate for the cooperative you are forming. Cooperatives can also be incorporated as nonprofit corporations or general business corporations under the laws of many states (including ever-popular Delaware). Some cooperatives even operate informally without being incorporated at all.

If I incorporate a cooperative as a nonprofit corporation or a general business corporation, how is it still a cooperative?
State or federal government can confer some benefits, or impose some restrictions, on your business depending on how you incorporate, but only the members of your cooperative determine whether your business is operating as a cooperative or not. This depends on how your bylaws are written and how the members govern and operate the business, not on how it is incorporated.

OK, then how do I ensure that our business is a cooperative?
When your cooperative is forming, the prospective members of the cooperative need to discuss how the business will be governed and run. The group will need to draft bylaws and/or other governing documents (e.g. articles of incorporation, membership agreements - see link to "Things to Know about the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation") that state how the business is structured. The business should be operated according to the seven universally agreed-upon cooperative principles (see link to ICA Principles) in order to operate as a cooperative. The business must be owned and democratically controlled by its members with the members receiving benefits in proportion to their patronage of the business.

Are there any tax advantages to operating as a cooperative?
Yes. In general, the federal government and state governments recognize the way that cooperative operate and tax them accordingly. Cooperatives generally do not pay income tax on surplus earnings that are refunded to members. Under Subchapter T of the federal tax code, these distributions are called "patronage dividends". The members, however, must include these refunds in their taxable income.

When a business is "operating on a cooperative basis", according to federal rules, the cooperative may deduct "patronage dividends" from its taxable income. Patronage dividends are the refunds "paid to a patron 1) on the basis of quantity or value of business done with or for such patron, 2) under an obligation of such organization to pay such amount, which obligation existed before the organization received the amount so paid, and 3) which is determined by reference to the net earnings of the organization from business done with or for its patrons." The "preexisting legal obligation" rule requires that some formal obligation exist in writing to pay out patronage dividends. This obligation can be found in the cooperative's bylaws or the membership agreement.

Because of the way some cooperatives operate, they are tax-exempt under federal and state law. These include credit unions and rural utility cooperatives. Credit unions operate under tight restrictions imposed by federal and state law and put all earnings made by their businesses back into the business to deliver more benefits for their members. Rural utility cooperatives also operate under tight restrictions that federal and state governments impose in order for them to claim tax-exempt status. Rural utility cooperatives may distribute "capital credits" to their members when surplus earnings are made.

How can cooperatives raise equity capital from its members?
Subchapter T allows cooperatives to retain patronage dividends and allocate them to the patrons' equity accounts with the cooperative through "written notices of allocation." If the equity is qualified as defined in the code, the cooperative can deduct the amount of allocations from its taxable income in that same year. Patrons include the amount allocated in their taxable income in the year they receive the qualified written notices of allocation. Subchapter T requires that at least 20 percent of the patrons' patronage dividends be paid out in cash in order for the allocation to be qualified. The cooperative can retain up to 80 percent as equity investments without owing tax on those investments.

Cooperatives can choose to delay the pass-through by retaining patronage dividends as nonqualified investments. The cooperative can retain any amount of the patronage dividends and take the amount into its taxable income for the year. When the patronage dividends are later redeemed in cash by the patrons, the cooperative can deduct the amount from its taxable income for the year of redemption.

Legal Advice
People seriously considering a cooperative venture should seek the advice of an attorney familiar with cooperatives. The articles of incorporation and bylaws should be specific to the new cooperative and not be merely copied from a model provided by another cooperative. An attorney can also provide advice on the particular requirements of the state in which the cooperative plans to incorporate

Articles from National Cooperative Bissiness Association

Significant Dates in Co-op History

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1752 - The first successful cooperative was organized in the United States when Benjamin Franklin formed the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire — the oldest continuing cooperative in the U.S.

1844 - The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society was established in Rochdale, England. These pioneers wrote down a set of principles to operate their food cooperative which contributed to their success and spread to other cooperatives around the world. The successful establishment of the cooperative in Rochdale marks the beginning of the modern cooperative era.

1865 - Michigan passed what is believed to be the first law recognizing the cooperative method of buying and selling.

1895 - The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) was established. Today over 200 national cooperative organizations representing 92 nations belong to ICA, the apex organization of all national cooperative movements. The ICA aims to promote cooperative development and trade worldwide and boasts an individual membership of more than 750 million people.

1916 - The first national cooperative association was formed — now known as the National Cooperative Business Association.

1922 - Congress passed the Capper-Volstead Act allowing farmers to act together to market their products without being in violation of antitrust laws.

1920s & 30s - Congress established governmental agencies — the Farm Credit Administration (1929), the National Credit Union Administration (1934) and the Rural Electrification Administration (1936) — to provide loans and assistance to cooperatives.

1978 - Congress passed the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act, establishing the National Cooperative Bank.

2000 - In 2000, NCBA brought co-ops to the cutting edge of technology by successfully lobbying the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to create a new top-level Internet domain—.coop—exclusively for cooperatives. The .coop registry, launched in January 2002

Articles from National Cooperative Bissiness Association

Lessons for Success

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The following tips for cooperative success are adapted from articles printed in the NCBA Cooperative Business Journal and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's magazine for cooperative businesses.

Why Cooperatives Fail

-poor selection of directors, especially those who fail to support their cooperative
members who join but never use their cooperative and bypass it for a small gain elsewhere
-members who use cooperatives but fail to take responsibility. Each member must be ready to accept responsibility when asked, or as the need arises. Every member should have an equal opportunity to be president of the cooperative.
-members who never ask questions and who let a few persons make policy
-members who don't attend annual meetings and directors who fail to attend board meetings
-lack of consistent membership education about the problems cooperatives face and the challenges they must meet
-not supporting the cooperative with enough money (risk capital) to get the job done
-low-cost management - it's the most expensive item for a cooperative. High-priced management is usually the least expensive item.
-not closely watching the formation of cliques and special interest groups within the cooperative
-concealing facts about a cooperative. All facts, both good and bad, should be placed on - not under - the table.
-errors in financial policy, such as over-extension of credit, too little capital, poor accounting records, lack of a financially sound, systematic program for reimbursement of equity
-errors in educational and social work. This begins by failing to teach cooperative ideals to members unfamiliar with how cooperatives function, neglecting general educational programs, failure to develop member loyalty or countering the development of factions within the association.
-management errors, such as inadequate inventory, poor location, improper equipment, neglected appearance of physical facilities, employee dishonesty, ineffective management, incompetent directors, nepotism, poorly conducted meetings, admittance of disloyal and dissatisfied members.

Why Cooperatives Thrive

-providing only the goods and services members use
financed by the members. The greater the financing (risk capital) supplied by the members, the more efficient the cooperative.
-using all major fixed assets at the 75 percent level, or more
members who do the majority of their business with the cooperative
-low administrative and overhead costs
-more individualized and specialized services, particularly in the marketing area
-maintaining an open line of communication with members. Individual members will then become more influential
-selecting and developing a quality management team.
-placing more emphasis on electing business-oriented directors
-developing and implementing a systematic method of cooperative education for members, employees, directors and paid management
-aggressively positioning for changes in operations, markets and member needs.

Articles from National Cooperative Bissiness Association

Co-op Statistics

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-29 cooperatives have annual revenue in excess of $1 billion, including such well-known names as Land O'Lakes, Inc., and ACE Hardware. The top 100 co-ops have a combined $117 billion in revenues.

-Cooperatives range in size from large enterprises, including U.S. Fortune 500 companies, to single, small local storefronts.

-270 telephone cooperatives provide service to two million households.

-Some 250 purchasing cooperatives offer group buying and shared services to more than 50,000 independents businesses.

-Nearly 10,000 U.S. credit unions have 84 million members and assests in excess of $600 billion.

-Cooperatives operate in every industry including agriculture, childcare, energy, financial services, food retailing and distribution, health care, insurance, housing, purchasing and shared services, telecommunications, and others.

-About 30 percent of farmers' products in the U.S. are marketed through more than 3,000 farmer-owned cooperatives.

-Approximately 900 rural electric cooperatives own and maintain nearly half of the electric distribution lines in the U. S., cover 75 percent of the land mass and provide electricity to 37 million people.

-More than 1,000 mutual insurance companies, with more than $80 billion in net written premiums, are owned by their policyholders.

-More than 6,400 housing cooperatives provide homes for 1.5 million households.

U.S. co-ops serve some 120 million members, or 4 in 10 Americans.
— Statistics gathered from various sources as of March 2005.

Articles from National Cooperative Bissiness Association

How to Start a Cooperative

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Follow the sequence of events to start a cooperative in your community:

1.Hold a meeting of leading persons to discuss a need that forming a cooperative might meet.
2.Hold an exploratory meeting of interested persons. Vote whether to continue. If affirmative, select a steering committee.
3.Conduct a survey to determine cooperative feasibility.
4.Hold a second general meeting to discuss the survey results. Vote on whether to proceed.
5.Conduct a market or supply and cost analysis.
6.Hold a third general meeting to discuss the results of the market or supply and cost analysis. Vote by secret ballot on whether to proceed.
7.Conduct a financial analysis and develop a business plan.
8.Hold a fourth general meeting to hear results of the financial analysis. Vote on whether to proceed. If affirmative vote on whether the steering committee should.remain intact or whether changes should be made.
9.Draw up necessary legal papers and incorporate.
10.Call a meeting of all potential charter members to adopt the bylaws. Elect a board of directors.
11.Call the first meeting of the board of directors and elect officers. Assign responsibilities to implement the business plan.
12.Conduct a membership drive.
13.Acquire capital - develop a loan application package.
14.Hire a manager
15.Acquire facilities
16.Start up operations.

The primary organizational documents for cooperatives are the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws. Other legal documents may include the membership application and membership certificate.

The Articles of Incorporation state the kind and scope of the cooperative business. Often broad operating authority is stated even though services may be limited at the beginning. The articles usually contain the following:

1.name of the cooperative
2.principle place of business
3.purposes and powers of the cooperative
4.proposed duration of the cooperative
5.names of the incorporators
6.a provision for redemption of member equity although sometimes this is in the bylaws

The Bylaws state the rights and obligations of the cooperative's board of directors and members and guide the day-to-day operations of the cooperative. The bylaws usually specify the following:

-requirements for membership
-rights and responsibilities of members
-grounds and procedures for member expulsion
-procedures for calling and conducting membership meetings
-voting procedures
-procedures to elect or remove directors and officers
-the number, duties, terms of office, and compensation of directors and officers
-time and place of the directors meetings
-dates of the fiscal year
-information on how the net earnings will be distributed
-other rules for management of the cooperative

Articles from National Cooperative Bissiness Association

Credit unions and banks in the United States

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Tension has always existed between credit unions and banks. When credit unions were first organizing in the United States in the early twentieth century, the banking industry was opposed, remaining so ever since. These tensions have only been exacerbated as many credit unions have grown, expanded their fields of membership to include large communities and whole states, and in the eyes of some, are indistinguishable from banks.

Due to their status as not-for-profit financial institutions, credit unions in the United States are exempt from federal and state income taxes (but, not from employment or property taxes, among others). Additionally, credit union members pay income taxes on dividends earned through financial participation in the credit union; this is similar to the taxation structure enjoyed by many banks incorporated under Chapter S.

Bank holding companies and their affiliates aggressively compete to provide services to credit unions through their ATM networks, corporate checking accounts, and certificate of deposit programs. In 2007, the American Bankers Association barred credit union employees from attending ABA sponsored educational seminars. This includes online classes that require registration. Based upon the pretext that the ABA only wants to serve its members, the American Bankers Association continues to attempt to weaken credit unions and take back the 6% market share that credit unions currently hold.

Credit unions maintain that no matter their size or field of membership, the fact that they are owned by their members and not shareholders makes them fundamentally different from banks

North American statistics

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Canada has the highest per capita use of credit unions in North America, with more than a third of the population enrolled in one. (ref: World Council of Credit Unions) They are concentrated in Quebec, where they are known as caisses populaires (people's banks), and on the Western prairies. As of Dec. 31 2006 there were 549 member caisses and 5.8 million retail members in the Caisses Populaires Desjardins federation. According to data from Credit Union Central of Canada on the same date there were 10.8 million retail members controlling CAD $193 billion in assets across all of Canada. Aside from Desjardins, other major Canadian credit unions include Vancity, Coast Capital Savings, and Credit Union Atlantic.

In the United States, credit unions have 86 million members, which is 43.47% of the economically active population[6]. In the US, federal credit unions may apply to the National Credit Union Administration for Low-Income Credit Union or LICU status. To qualify for LICU status, the majority of the credit union's membership meet specific requirements in order to be considered "low-income". This LICU status allows the credit unions to benefit from certain NCUA programs to enhance its capacity to serve underserved populations who may otherwise lack access to credit or other financial services. In addition, some state regulators also provide for similar low-income designations.

Unlike banks, which were caught redlining underserved areas in the 1970s, credit unions are not subject to federal "community reinvestment" requirements -- essentially because credit unions, by their nature and mission of "people helping people," already meet the financial needs of a broad spectrum of people that fall within their fields of membership, and play an active role in community development and growth. Because of that, credit unions have successfully lobbied to exempt themselves from the (U.S. federal) Community Reinvestment Act, the law that forces banks to provide services in low-income areas.

As of the end of 2005, the National Credit Union Administration insured more than $515 billion in deposits at 8,695 nonprofit cooperative US credit unions. For comparison, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured more than $3,000 billion in deposits at 8,900 banks and thrift institutions. The NCUA and the FDIC are both independent federal agencies backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.

United Kingdom

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In the United Kingdom Credit Unions are regulated by the Financial Services Authority, or FSA. UK credit unions are classified under two types, type 1 are the smaller CUs while type 2 are larger. From November 2006 many type 2 CUs will be offering their members debit card accounts. For the first time this will enable CU members to obtain funds from any Link ATM. UK CUs will not be offering cheques as these are generally being phased out for many UK financial transactions. Many CUs are offering most of the services available from other financial institutions such as direct debits and standing orders.

Credit Unions in the UK now offer a huge range of services to their members. From standing orders to payroll deductions, from being able to send standing orders from their accounts to pay members bills to cheaper insurance facilities.

There are many benefits of joining a Credit Union, and one of these is the life insurance CU's provide their members free of charge. For example, if a member were to die then their loan value is wiped out with no further charge to member or their family and their savings with the CU is doubled and passed to the next of kin. And as recent history shows us, with Farepak, the Christmas savings club going bust and hundreds of their customers losing all their savings, the CU is a real alternative providing cheap and affordable savings and loans, knowing that you are protected if the worst happens.

Currently there is a government financial initiative mainly being operated by Credit Unions to bring financial services to the disadvantaged of society. One aim is to significantly reduce the influence of door step lenders where a £300 loan over 30 weeks involves paying back around £450. A credit union loan would require paying back around £325.

History of credit union

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Modern credit union history dates to 1852, when Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch consolidated the learning from two pilot projects, one in Eilenburg and the other in Delitzsch in Germany into what are generally recognized as the first credit unions in the world. He went on to develop a highly successful urban credit union system.

In 1864 Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen founded the first rural credit union in Heddesdorf (now part of Neuwied) in Germany.Although Schulze-Delitzsch can claim chronological precedence, Raiffeisen is often viewed as more important today. Rural communities in Germany faced a far more severe shortage of financial institutions than the cities. They were viewed as unbankable because of very small, seasonal flows of cash and very limited human resources. The organizational methods Raiffeisen refined there, which levered what is today called social capital, have become a hallmark of the global credit union identity.

By the time of Raiffeisen's death in 1888 credit unions had spread to Italy, France, the Netherlands, England and Austria, among other nations. The Raiffeisen name is still used by Raiffeisenbank, the largest banking group in Austria (with subsidiaries throughout Central and Eastern Europe), Rabobank (Netherlands) and similarly-named agricultural credit unions in Germany.

The first credit union in North America, the Caisse populaire de Lévis in Quebec, Canada, began operations on Jan. 23rd, 1901 with a ten cent deposit. Founder Alphonse Desjardins, a reporter in the Canadian parliament, was moved to take up his mission in 1897 when he learned of a Montrealer who had been ordered by the court to pay nearly $5,000 in interest on a loan of $150 from a moneylender. Drawing extensively on European precedents, Desjardins developed a unique parish-based model for Quebec: the caisse populaire.

In the United States, St. Mary's Bank Credit Union of Manchester, NH holds the distinction as the first credit union. Assisted by a personal visit from Desjardins, St. Mary's was founded by French-speaking immigrants to Manchester from Quebec on November 24, 1908. America's Credit Union Museum now occupies the location of the home from which St. Mary's Bank Credit Union first operated.

Pierre Jay, then Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks and Edward Filene, a Bostonian merchant, were central in establishing enabling legislation in Massachusetts in 1909.

Filene also created the Credit Union National Extension Bureau, the forerunner of the Credit Union National Association, which was formed as a confederation of state leagues at a meeting in Estes Park, Colorado in 1934. Attendees at the meeting included Dora Maxwell who would go on to help establish hundreds of credit unions and programs for the poor and Louise McCarren Herring, whose work to form credit unions and ensure their safe operation earned the title of “Mother of Credit Unions” in the United States.

In the same year, Congress passed the Federal Credit Union Act, which permitted credit unions to be organized anywhere in the United States. The legislation allowed credit unions to incorporate under either state or federal law, a system of dual chartering that persists today.

Corporate credit unions

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The majority of credit unions are known as natural-person credit unions, and provide service to individual consumers. Corporate credit unions (also known as central credit unions in Canada) also exist, but instead serve the needs of credit unions with operational support, funds clearing tasks as well as product and service delivery. In effect, they serve as a credit union's credit union. The largest corporate credit union in the United States is U.S. Central Credit Union of Lenexa, Kansas, which serves as a central clearing house for corporate credit unions. The two largest corporate credit unions that serve only natural-person credit unions are Western Corporate Federal Credit Union (WesCorp) in San Dimas, California and Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union in Plano, Texas.

Credit union leagues and associations

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Credit unions in the United States have traditionally employed a state/national trade association relationship that aligns credit unions with state “Credit Union Leagues” followed by national affiliation with the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) of Madison, Wisconsin. Federal credit unions may also be members of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU).

The biggest UK Credit Union trade association is the Association of British Credit Unions Limited, more commonly known as Association of British Credit Unions, ABCUL. Some Scottish Credit Unions are represented by the much smaller Scottish League of Credit Unions (SLCU) which has headquarters in Glasgow however the overall majority of Credit Unions choose the main British Association.

Credit Union Central of Canada is the trade association for Canada's credit unions outside Quebec. The Desjardins Group represents Quebec's credit unions. Structurally, it blends the functions of a trade association and a more European-style cooperative bank.

Membership restrictions

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Governmental regulatory agencies require that credit unions restrict their membership to defined segments of the population, such as people who live, work, worship, or attend school in a well-defined geographic area; employees of specific companies or trades; members of specific non-profit groups (alumni associations, conservation or other advocacy organizations, lodges, churches, or the like); or a particular occupational group (teachers, doctors, etc.) In the U.S., this is referred to as a credit union's "field of membership." Internationally it is referred to as the 'common bond' or 'bond of association'.

Mergers of smaller credit unions with disparate membership bases often result in a credit union with a wide variety of ways to qualify to join; thus, a credit union may have a much broader "field of membership" than that credit union's name would imply.

Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once a member, always a member," which allows current credit union membership to continue even if the individual would no longer qualify to be a member (such as having changed professions or moved outside the area). However, if the member closes his/her account, they may or may not be eligible to rejoin, depending on the credit union's policies and government regulations.

Credit unions may be chartered to serve a specific employee group (often called a Select Employee Group or SEG), but may, for example in the USA, be allowed to change their charter to a "Community Charter". Such a charter allows them to not only serve the original employee group, but anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school within a geographical field of membership. This can even be further extended to members' families or persons of close relation. In the US, this field of membership can then be expanded with the approval of the National Credit Union Administration or state regulator, and similar options are available in some other countries.

Global dispersion

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Based on data from the World Council of Credit Unions, at the end of 2006 there were 46,377 credit unions in 97 countries around the world. Collectively they served 172 million retail members and controlled US $1.1 trillion in assets. Note that the World Council does not include data from co-operative banks, so that for example some nations generally seen as the pioneers of credit unionism (including Germany, France, Holland and Italy) are not included in their data. The European Association of Co-operative Banks reported 34 million members in these four countries at the end of 2005

The nations with the greatest credit union activity are highly diverse. According to the World Council, nations with the greatest number of credit union members included the United States (87 million), India (20 million), Canada (11 million), South Korea (4.7 million), Japan (3.6 million), Mexico (3.6 million), Australia (3.5 million), Kenya (3.3 million), Ireland (3.0 million), Thailand and Brazil (2.6 million each). Countries with the highest percentage of members in the economically active population were Dominica (147% -- that is, the average person is a member of more than one credit union), Ireland (110%), Barbados (72%), Trinidad & Tobago (57%), Canada (48%), the United States (43%), Benin (27%), Australia (26%), Senegal and Mali (19% each).

Credit union

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A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is privately owned and controlled by its members. Credit unions differ from banks and other financial institutions in that the members who have accounts in the credit union are the owners of the credit union and they elect their board of directors in a democratic one person-one vote system regardless of the amount of money invested in the credit union.

Credit union policies governing interest rates and other matters are set by a volunteer Board of Directors elected by and from the membership itself. Only a member of a credit union may deposit money with the credit union, or borrow money from it. As such, credit unions have historically marketed themselves as providing superior member service and being committed to helping members improve their financial health.

Credit unions may be viewed as non-profit organizations, or alternatively as for-profit enterprises charged with making a profit for their members (who receive any profits earned by the cooperative in the form of reduced interest rates on loans, or as dividends paid on savings, which are taxed as ordinary income).

This debate reflects credit unions' unusual organizational structure, which attempts to solve the principal-agent problem by ensuring the owners and the users of the institution are the same people. In any case, credit unions generally cannot accept donations and must be able to prosper in a competitive market economy.

In the United States, credit unions typically pay higher dividend (interest) rates on shares (deposits) and charge lower interest on loans than banks.Credit union revenues (from loans and investments) do, however, need to exceed operating expenses and dividends (interest paid on deposits) in order to maintain capital and solvency. Often credit unions have a lower cost of funds than typical commercial banks, due to a higher proportion of non/low interest bearing deposits.

Credit unions offer many of the same financial services as banks, often using a different terminology. Common services include: share accounts (savings accounts), share draft (checking) accounts, credit cards, share term certificates (certificates of deposit), and online banking.

Credit unions exist in a wide range of sizes, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with several billion dollars in assets and hundreds of thousands of members.

Autonomy and independence (cooperatives)

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The fourth of the Rochdale Principles states that Co-operative societies must be autonomous and independent. According to the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity, "Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter to agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy."

Member economic participation (cooperatives)

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Member economic participation is one of the defining features of Co-operative Societies, and constitutes the third Rochdale Principle in the ICA's Statement on the Co-operative Identity. According to the ICA, Co-operatives are enterprises in which "Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership."[1] This principle, in turn, can be broken down into a number of constituent parts.

Democratic Control
The first part of this principle states that "Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative."[2] This enshrines democratic control over the co-operative, and how its capital is used.

Limitations on Member Compensation and Appropriate Use of Surpluses
The second part of the principle deals with how members are compensated for funds invested in a Co-operative, and how surpluses should be used. Unlike for profit Corporations, Co-operatives are a form of social enterprise. Given this, there are a three purposes for which surplus funds can be used, or distributed, by a Co-operative.

"Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership."
"Developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible;"in other words, the surplus can be reinvested in the Co-operative.
"Benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative;" for example, a Consumers' Co-operative may decide to pay dividends based on purchases (or a 'divvi').
"Supporting other activities approved by the membership.

Democratic member control (cooperatives)

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The second of the Rochdale Principles states that Co-operative societies must have democratic member control. According to the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity, "Co-operatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are also organised in a democratic manner."

Motivations and Rewards

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Given the voluntary nature of Co-operatives, it requires a motivation to encourage people to participate. Each person's motivations will be unique, and will vary from one co-operative to another, but will often be a combination of the following:

Financial - Some co-operatives are able to provide members with financial benefits.

Quality of life – serving the community through a co-operative because doing service makes ones own life better - is perhaps the most significant motivation for volunteering. It is often mixed with a good dose of altruism. Included here would be the benefits people get from being with other people, staying active, and above all having a sense of the value of ourselves in society that may not be as clear in other areas of life.

Giving Back – many people have in some way benefited from the work of a co-operative, or more generally, and volunteer to give back.

Altruism – volunteering for the benefit of others. Most people argue that there are no purely altruistic volunteers – altruism is a common motivation but never the only motivation for sustained commitment to serve – there is always some aspect of personal gain or satisfaction

A sense of duty – some see participation in community as a responsibility that comes with citizenship – in this case they may not describe themselves as volunteers

Career Experience - Volunteering offers experiences that can add to career prospects.

Anti-Discrimination

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To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit. Examples of social discrimination include racial, religious, sexual, sexual orientation, disability, and ethnic discrimination. To fulfill the first Rochdale Principle, a Co-operative society should not prevent anyone willing to participate from doing so on any of these grounds.

However, this does not prohibit the co-operative from setting ground rules for membership, such as residing in a specific geographic area or payment of a membership fee to join, so long as all persons meeting such criteria are able to participate if they so choose.

Voluntary and open membership (cooperatives)

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The first of the Rochdale Principles states that Co-operative societies must have an open and voluntary membership. According to the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity, "Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination."

The English CWS and Co-operative Group

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The Co-operative Group formed gradually over 140 years from the merger of many independent retail societies, and their wholesale societies and federations. In 1863, twenty years after the Rochdale Pioneers opened their co-operative, the North of England Co-operative Society was launched by 300 individual co-ops across Yorkshire and Lancashire. By 1872, it had become known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS). Through the 20th century, smaller societies merged with CWS, such as the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (1973) and the South Suburban Co-operative Society (1984).

By the 1990s, CWS's share of the market had declined considerably and many came to doubt the viability of co-operative model. CWS sold its factories to Andrew Regan in 1994. Regan returned in 1997 with a £1.2 billion bid for CWS. There were allegations of "carpet-bagging" - new members who joined simply to make money from the sale - and more seriously fraud and commercial leaks. After a lengthy battle, Regan's bid was seen off and two senior CWS executives were dismissed and imprisoned for fraud. Regan was cleared of charges. The episode recharged CWS and its membership base. Tony Blair's Co-operative Commission, chaired by John Monks, made major recommendations for the co-operative movement, including the organisation and marketing of the retail societies. It was in this climate that, in 2000, CWS merged with the UK's second largest society, Co-operative Retail Services.

Its headquarter complex is situated on the north side of Manchester city centre adjacent to the Manchester Victoria railway station. The complex is made up of many different buildings with two notable tower blocks of New Century House and the solar panel-clad CIS tower.

Other independent societies are part owners of the Group. Representatives of the societies that part own the Group are elected to the Group's national board. The Group manages The Co-operative brand and the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG), which sources and promotes goods for food stores. There is a similar purchasing group (CTTG) for co-operative travel agents.

The Rochdale Pioneers

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The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was a group of 28 weavers and other artisans in Rochdale, England, that was formed in 1844. As the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution was forcing more and more skilled workers into poverty, these tradesmen decided to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford. With lessons from prior failed attempts at co-operation in mind, they designed the now famous Rochdale Principles, and over a period of four months they struggled to pool together one pound sterling per person for a total of 28 pounds of capital. On December 21, 1844, they opened their store with a very meager selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles. Within three months, they expanded their selection to include tea and tobacco, and they were soon known for providing high quality, unadulterated goods.

William King

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Although Owen inspired the co-operative movement, others – such as Dr William King (1786–1865) – took his ideas and made them more workable and practical. King believed in starting small, and realized that the working classes would need to set up co-operatives for themselves, so he saw his role as one of instruction. He founded a monthly periodical called The Cooperator, the first edition of which appeared on 1 May 1828. This gave a mixture of co-operative philosophy and practical advice about running a shop using cooperative principles. King advised people not to cut themselves off from society, but rather to form a society within a society, and to start with a shop because, "We must go to a shop every day to buy food and necessaries - why then should we not go to our own shop?" He proposed sensible rules, such as having a weekly account audit, having 3 trustees, and not having meetings in pubs (to avoid the temptation of drinking profits).

Robert Owen

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Robert Owen (1771–1858) is considered the father of the cooperative movement. A Welshman who made his fortune in the cotton trade, Owen believed in putting his workers in a good environment with access to education for themselves and their children. These ideas were put into effect successfully in the cotton mills of New Lanark, Scotland. It was here that the first co-operative store was opened. Spurred on by the success of this, he had the idea of forming "villages of co-operation" where workers would drag themselves out of poverty by growing their own food, making their own clothes and ultimately becoming self-governing. He tried to form such communities in Orbiston in Scotland and in New Harmony, Indiana in the United States of America, but both communities failed.

Beginnings

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The cooperative movement began in Europe in the 19th century, primarily in England and France, although The Shore Porters’ Society claims to be one of the world's first cooperatives, being established in Aberdeen in 1498 (although it has since demutualized to become a private partnership).The industrial revolution and the increasing mechanization of the economy transformed society and threatened the livelihoods of many workers. The concurrent labor and social movements and the issues they attempted to address describe the climate at the time.

The first cooperative may have been founded on March 14, 1761, in a barely-furnished cottage in Fenwick, East Ayrshire, when local weavers manhandled a sack of oatmeal into John Walker's whitewashed front room and began selling the contents at a discount, forming the Fenwick Weavers' Society.

In the decades that followed, several cooperatives or cooperative societies formed including Lennoxtown Friendly Victualling Society, founded in 1812.

The early attempts at forming cooperatives met with varying degrees of success, and it was not until 1844 when the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers established the 'Rochdale Principles' on which they ran their cooperative, that the basis for development and growth of the modern cooperative movement was established.