Where Are All the Worker Cooperatives?

A while back, a friend sent me a post that was doing numbers in the tech startup and economics corners of social media that I generally steer clear of these days. I don't like embedding those things so here's the initial question, paraphrasing a screenshot of an economic study:

Why are worker cooperatives so rare? This is not a trivial question — because they can pay “dividends” in the form of wages, they can entirely avoid corporate income tax. They must be so inefficient by nature of their structure to outweigh their advantages.

And a follow-up with another screenshot from the study:

The key is that, since wages are set by vote, those workers who are below average are able to redistribute from the most productive to the least. Because you have to make a [tax] contribution, it is more expensive to leave — and so incentives are distorted

I've been thinking about it ever since and wanted to take a crack at dispelling this set of views. The short answer to the question: because worker co-ops genuinely run counter to the hegemonic power structure of the US. While you can at least argue that this country's governance model is intended to be democratic, the governance of our corporations— the driving force of our economic power, and often the most influential governing organization in most citizens' lives— is undeniably undemocratic.Closer to aristocratic or plutocratic. Co-ops, especially worker co-ops, change this.

Simply by attempting to create a company that distributes power democratically within a company, worker co-ops are operating in a hostile environment The US economy not only structurally favors corporations with pyramid-shaped power structures, but is overrun with backdealing and monopoly tactics that buy politicians and regulators to ensure their continued success.. The reasons for this can be tracked to ideological and cultural hostility. Posts like the one above are frequent and represent a majority view from those with money and power in the US. I can think of a number of overlapping reasons that account for the lack of worker co-ops:

• Being a lesser-traveled road, worker co-ops are more difficult to start and run
  • There are fewer examples to point to and learn from
  • Less knowledge to reference
  • Fewer businessy resources like helpful orgs, classes, incubators, etc.
  • There is less awareness that worker co-ops are even an option for doing businessI can't think of one movie or TV show that involves a worker co-op
• US culture's fervent individualism blinds us to the benefits of cooperative work.
  • We're still somehow holding onto meritocratic ideas of the American Dream
  • Great Man theory and Bad Apple theoryTwo sides of the same individualist view of change. While individuals are important 🌀you should start a worker co-op right now🌀, these theories take the extreme position and often entirely replace discussion of systemic influence. have a very strong presence in our views of human ability and progress, while there are few stories of collective struggle and success
  • Mainstream political views on both sides hold entrepeneurialism as virtuous without acknowledging the role of generational wealth and power
  • Cold War echos color co-ops as scary reds
• US business and economics have a vested interest to scuttle worker co-ops.
  • They are inclined to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest— the cynicism runs deep.
  • A viable, redistributive alternative is a threat to corporate hegemony.
  • Monopolists play dirty to crush small business, including co-ops
• Funding is difficult.
  • Investors aren't attracted to worker co-ops because the ownership structure doesn't allow for selling off big chunks
  • Investors also tend to want bigger investment returns than a worker co-op can promise
  • Banks sometimes offer loans but they tend to be smaller, that is if the bank doesn't hold the business cultural bias against worker co-ops
  • There are a few non-extractive funding options, but they are limited.