World economy is facing the worst time since the great depression of 1930. This recession started with the reduction of Business and Banks having the credit crisis for conducting their further business in December 2007. Banks either started defaulting or getting acquired by other bigger banks. This resulted in huge job loss across the world. US have seen that largest bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers which owed as much as USD 613 billion when it collapsed. The economic turmoil didn’t stop here itself. As the time progressed the manufacturing industry and retail industries also started showing the worst sign. They started filing bankruptcy. Another biggest bankruptcy was in the form of GM defaults. The unemployment rate in US soared from 4.6% to 9.5% within a year. The foreclosures increased all across the US. Consumer habits started changing due to the ailing economy and start impacting the retail sectors heavily.

The US S&P 500 figures have seen a drop of 41 percent in stock market just in 2008 which is huge and definitely one of the worst considering that the biggest yearly drop ever was in 1931 during the Great Depression when the S&P dropped by 47.1 percent. In 2008 US equity performance has seen a USD 7.3 trillion of stock market value vanishes.

To counter the effect of downtrodden economy the US Govt and even all the Govts of the world had only one plan to pump trillions of dollars of artificial money in the economic system. Govt started bailing out the banks with the logic that the current forms of banks are the savior of economy of the world. US itself pumped USD 700 billion in 2008 which was increased further by additional USD 150 billion. These money was definitely a savior for these banks for not to file bankruptcy. But the market was not getting stabilized and was witnessing continuous fall. Banks were still facing the credit crisis to operate and continue their business smoothly.
US got a new and dynamic president in the form of Mr Obama in 2009. He looked very promising leader and claimed to bring a change. After getting into the office he had the toughest task in the US history to rescue US economy to crumble completely. He also used the similar weapon like the previous administration to rescue economy. In Feb 2009 US administration officials committed to flood the financial system with as much as $2.5 trillion — $350 billion of that coming from the bailout fund and the rest from private investors and the Federal Reserve, making use of its ability to print money.

Starting with the monthly view of the S&P 500 trend chart, the bull market of the last five years turned down, as the index fell below the 24-month exponential moving average. The Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) is below 50, indicating a downtrend is in place. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) fell below zero, a sign stock market trend has reversed and we have entered a bear market. Finally, the Slow Stochastic fell through zero, another sign of a bear market.

US Market Trend for last 10 years

With the advent of the huge artificial money market started showing the sign of the progress. Banks hands again started getting little free to operate and provide market credits. The stock market started showing an early sign of improvement. Slowly consumer behaviors have also started showing the sign of improvement with increase in their expenditure. The consumer behavior researchers started commenting it to be stabilizing. We have to keep in mind that 71% of US GDP of around USD 10 trillion is generated by consuming habits. The current results of stabilization can be considered as a very significant sign of market stabilization.

The trend for the US Consumer behavior for last 2 years is as follows:

US Consumer Behavior

The overall Consumer Mood Index (which is based on a combination of current economic conditions and economic outlook measures), now at -98, improved by 15% from February to March, and has essentially returned to its level of a year ago (-94).

The market signs are looking very good that we will be out of recession very soon and again the economy will be very strong and free from any fear. The investment tendency of the common man will improve and will provide an additional strength to the US economy.

My perspective differs here. In my perspective the current sign of improvement of economy is artificial and will stay only for short time. The current visible improvement of economy is just due to the extra credit available in the market due to the artificial money pumped by the US Govt. Consumer habits seemed to improved as US citizens are thinking that their Govt has nailed down the problem and now they have the safe gateway. I will go back to the basics of economics to support my theory. The economy can become stronger if there is balance between demand and supply. The demand is nothing but the purchasing power capacity and supply is in the form of production.

The rate of increase in unemployment rate has definitely reduced compared to last year but still there is no significant sign of improving job market. Until the jobs will start creating we can’t say that we are over with the recession. The improvement can be a short term effect and the condition can become worst due to the negligence.

The unemployment forecast for US is as follows:
U.S. Civilian Unemployment Rate
Past Trend Present Value & Future Projection
Percent Unemployed Seasonally Adjusted.

US Unemployment Rate

The average consumer spending seems to be improved but it’s among the Americans who were able to afford and already possessed surplus and were reluctant to spend because economy was continuously going down. The data to support my logic is in terms of average consumer expenditure per day is as follows:

US Consumer Spending 2008 - 2009

Upper Class Income US Spending 2008 - 2009

From the above data we can easily analyze that there is significant improvement in the upper income Americans which is the main reason of improvement of average consumer spending. In reality the average American household income has not stabilized as the job condition for them has not improved and neither there is any visible sign for the same. Still the job loss is continued and the rate decrease in job loss seems to be promising but most likely that seems to be temporary to me due to the huge amount of artificial paper money pumped into the market. Sooner the artificial money in the market will be exhausted and we’ll be again back to the same condition which we witnessed in 2008. This time the effect will be much grave then 2008 as it’ll be proved that artificial pumping of money will not help in stabilizing the economy. All the Govts of the world is going to be clueless for the action of economic reforms. This will result into the longer period of economic chaos. Everyone will start realizing that there are very big flaws in the current system of economics and it requires a radical change to build economic strength.

The efforts are required to strengthen the economic strength of common man by decentralization of economic development rather than giving power only to big giants who commits all sorts of mistakes in the greed of accumulation and maximization of personal profit. The concept of profit maximization of the firm should be changed to the increase in purchasing power capacity of larger group so that there would increase in consumption which will balance the increase in production due to technological progress. The concept of empowering every producer who physically and intellectually directly participates in the increase in the production should be implemented by allowing them as the share holders and profit sharers of any economic organization. This will help in increasing the purchasing power capacity of larger population of the world; which will result into larger consumption of the available production. The ratio of conversion of need into demand will be increased which is going to build economic strength of any economic zone.

One precaution will also require to be implemented is to restrict the pressure from the production from external economic system. In true sense the free trade has to be balanced with local production strength and capacity. Regular endeavor is required to build the strength for local production for local needs. This will result in making every individual economic zone stronger to support them and do the economic development planning. Another best practice to implement would be providing more control to the individual economic for local economic planning and decision making process. The locals understand best of the local problems hence they should be allowed to take the decision for local progress. The administrative system and economic system should be separated so that the economic corruption due to the result of central administrative system can be avoided. This type of radical change in the system is not going to come until the locals are better educated with the economic system and start participating in building the economic system. It’s like when more hands will join to build the economy the stronger will be the effort and there would be multiple gateway of control which will result into the better quality of the economy. It’s my vision but you are the one who can implement it for your own progress.

Little remains of the numerous conflicts between these two camps owing to the collapse of Communism beginning about ten years ago. The victory of private enterprise, with its claim of being based in the cherished reality of human freedom, covered the victory with a moral and humanistic cast. “The End of History”, as Francis Fukuyama entitled his 1992 book, does appear to be here—and just in time for the 21st century.

Others would say that the history of human freedom has only started—and that there are alternatives to the behemoths of both largescale enterprises like corporations, the type of private enterprise at issue here, and government authority over society as dominant motifs. One such alternative was advertised on television throughout much of 1999. The ad promoted something called “Florida’s Natural” orange juice as a product of a “co-op of Florida growers whose only business is making juice. They own the land, they own the trees, they own the company.” This co-op message, plainly and clearly delivered, stuck out from the usual glut of slick and clever corporate self-promotion as immaculately as a white gown amongst dark business suits for those as accustomed as most Americans are to a steady (albeit forced) diet of corporate messages only.

Further checking revealed that the co-op, called CitrusWorld, Inc., based in Lake Wales, Florida, comprises 12 grower organisations owning close to 60,000 acres of citrus groves, with a 540-acre citrus fruit processing center capable of extracting juice from over 10 million pounds of oranges every 24 hours. The juice is sold in liquid and frozen forms as a broad variety of juice products. The co-op also has a processing plant in Fullerton, California, and has recently planted over 15,000 acres of new groves in South Florida.

Cooperatives in this country have existed since its founding. President Washington’s cabinet contained a
co-op advocate. Subjecting co-ops to damnation by faint praise as just another way to do business
(something implied by President Reagan, for example) misses the point, however. Co-ops are not just
another way to do business. They are the next step forward in human freedom and democracy. A step that
will take us beyond the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and all other efforts aimed at
lifting people out of the socially repressive aspects of monarchies and the Middle Ages.

 Who Own Americans?
In the typical corporation, whether employing a few dozen or a few hundred thousand people, control is
centralized at the top in the hands of a small number of relatively wealthy shareholders and high-level
executives. All others are, to use a Prout term, “subordinated” to their desires and decisions. The vast
majority of people working in these structures, including mid- and lower-level managers, are under their
control either directly or indirectly. To use the language of government, they lack the freedom to govern
themselves within the corporate structure. True freedom to decide is reserved for a few. This consolidation
of authority makes corporations “private” in spite of the fact that the buying and selling of shares on
the open market makes them seem to be “public” entities.

Thus, though ideologues of the modern system of thought called Liberalism like Francis Fukuyama, Milton Friedman (who wrote Capitalism and Freedom), and a multitude of others claim that we live in the freest of conditions, reality is something else when we look at how the private sector is set up along lines that could be called more fettering and authoritarian than free or democratic. It is more accurate to say that we lose our freedom—and democratic rights—when we go to work, and that private enterprise is a mechanism that institutionalizes this loss. On the door to every corporation should read the inscription, “Democracy not allowed. Leave your rights at the door.”

The New Synthesis
Co-ops resist the deprivation of freedom inherent in corporate enterprise. Rather than centralize decision-making, they decentralize it so that all members partake in key decisions, either directly or through a board of directors that they themselves elect. It is like the difference between being told by your parents what to do (even at age 50 or 60)
and being able to decide for yourself. Or between being told how to vote by party apparatchiks and weighing the virtues of various candidates and voting for yourself.

In dialectical terms, co-ops transcend the mediation and alienation inherent in both the large-scale private
enterprise of Capitalism and the centralized government control of the economy of Communism. The former
interpose a relatively small number of powerful corporate shareholders between employees (including most
managers) on the one hand and significant decision-making power and other legal benefits like rights to
profits on the other. The latter interposed the state, party apparatchiks and bureaucrats. Even trade unions,
said to be the most advanced form of labor organization in modern industrial societies, fail in this regard
They maintain the mediation between employer and employee rather than unify employer and employee in
worker/manager ownership, as co-ops do. The welfare state, the ambition of the modern Liberal Left, especially
on the federal level, also fails to overcome this mediation.

Both unions and the welfare state also have to contend with the caprices of political democracy, which has no
principled commitment to improving prevalent economic conditions. Often-lost battles for better income, better
working conditions, a shorter work week, mandatory health insurance and the like will continue until this
mediation is overcome, as will, most likely, extreme economic disparity.

Psychological Deprivation
Cooperatives overcome the contradiction between the promise of freedom and its extensive denial in the
economy. They also advance humanity psychologically and socially. Insofar as they extend decisionmaking
and other benefits beyond a small circle of key share-owners and executives to working members as a matter
of right, based on recognition of human freedom and rationality, they are psychosociologically embodiments
of a more mature condition of humanity.

Corporate enterprise, to compare, is a system that prolongs childhood and adolescence for the majority
since it reserves substantial freedoms and rationality for a few key players. By consolidating
organizational power and subordinating others beneath them in employee status, these few potentates
also instill a psychological condition of subservience in those beneath them, a condition broken only
at the risk of being fired. In the sense of being autocratic-dictatorial, large-scale private
enterprise, like that in large corporations governing many people, resembles the Communism it reviles
and the monarchies it overthrew. Its whole structure contains an intrinsic, fundamental social
inequality, not simply differences in opportunities to accumulate wealth. This social inequality is not
remedied by either equal civil or political rights since it is an essential part of modern economic
dynamics and the civil rights system. In Freudian terms, employee status resembles the infantile oral
receptive stage of character development.

“By the oral-receptive character Freud means the person who expects to be fed, materially, emotionally and intellectually. He is the person with the ‘open mouth,’ basically passive and dependent, who expects that what he needs will be given to him, either because he or she deserves it for being so good, or so obedient, or because of a highly developed narcissism that makes a person feel he is so wonderful that he can claim to be taken care of by others” (Fromm).

Employees of course work for a living, but they are essentially passive recipients of the orders of executives and owners. As a result of their work and status they expect to be taken care of via paychecks and benefits and to be relieved of the responsibility for decision-making characteristic of the mature personality. Many people operate from the oral-receptive stage of existence; many others who are mature and capable however are forced into this state by anti-democratic, authoritarian economic structures.

This category of character applies even more to the consumer mode of existence, by which people select from among the products and services offered them by others. Consumption of course is to a large degree oral-receptive by nature, but it can be more pro-active if organized cooperatively. In consumer co-ops consumers decide for themselves which products should be sold in their stores and have active, direct relations with manufacturers rather than submit to the tender mercies of middlemen. Large-scale private enterprise utilizes both socio-economic roles—the employee and the consumer—to impose or reinforce the psychological condition of dependence. Psychologically more mature conditions—independence, pride, and greater self-repect—are systematically stunted.

The main structural difference between corporate and communist enterprise is that in the former a relatively
small number of business owners and managers, instead of the monolithic state and its agents, accumulate
economic decision-making powers and rights over the majority of society. In both cases, however, working
people are administered like cattle or machines, not full-fledged participants in company policy-setting
procedures. Compare Bill Gates giving orders down the ranks to tens of thousands of employees with yourself
discussing freely and deciding democratically in a cooperative you own jointly with other working members, and
you will begin to get the idea about what is at stake.

Cooperatives are not just another business option—they are another species of economy altogether because of the way they affect and embody freedom. To the extent that freedom is a part of our humanity, co-ops reflect our humanity far better than either large private enterprises controlled by a few key players or Communism. And since, according to some philosophers, deliberative freedom, and not blind obedience or deference, is an element of morality, co-ops can better embody morality, too. This makes them a moral imperative, not just a business or political choice of convenience. The moral, humanistic economy of choice is mainly cooperative.

The moral and humanistic superiority of cooperatives is currently no shield against private enterprise,
however. Dan McSpadden of the marketing department at CitrusWorld declined to answer questions about the
co-op in large part because of the possibility that corporate juice manufacturers would use the information
against the company. A very real possibility considering the competitive—or, in less polite terms,
carnivorous—ethic of the private sector.

How Americans Lost Economic Freedom
The stage for the subservient position of most Americans in the economic structure was set at the nation’s founding. Then the economy was largely agrarian. Self-employment was the norm.

According to historian Joyce Appleby, the ideological ambience of the young economy was strikingly characterized by “the association of America’s prosperity with free labor —the free and independent labor of farmer-owners and their families” (italics added). Family farms were the expected norm—not employeeship, which to Americans of that time may have appeared closer to plantation slavery or European serfdom than independence.

Nevertheless, there was no prohibition or restriction on the exchange or accumulation of property. It is the
right of exchange and accumulation, otherwise known as the free market, that led to the accumulation of
productive property in fewer and fewer hands and the consequent demotion of free and economically independent
Americans to dependent hired-hand status. Most modern Americans have lost a freedom and independence that
earlier Americans once had. Rather than making people free, the “free” market, for most people, removes it.

Modern politics by both Left and Right is a continuation of what Prout terms the “subordination” inherent in employeeship.

The Left, after promoting the welfare state, government regulation and strong unions for several decades last century, has now widened and significantly shifted its focus to promote environmental protection, civil and cultural rights for racial and ethnic minorities, and gay agendas, using the free market as its economic engine.

The Right of course still promotes private enterprise and bitterly opposes any infringement on it. Entrepreneurial ventures and small family enterprises may receive support, but not in principle at the expense of corporations and shareholders. The freedoms the Right promises via the economy are radically curtailed when they concern
employees, which most Americans are. A large number of supporters of the Right are thus under an illusion about their own politics, and myopically assume only government can be the enemy of liberty. Neither Left nor Right promotes as a matter of principle the “insubordinate” kinds of economy embodied in small entrepreneurial
ventures, small family enterprises and cooperatives.

The current stage was set for the Left, or New Left, during the 1960s, when it made its fateful break from the communist-influenced economic thinking of the Old Left. The African-American civil rights movement came to serve as a paradigm for other social groups who in turn adopted the garb of the oppressed, including women, gays, and other racial and ethnic groups.

In opting for civil rights like desegregated schools and social venues as well as, later on, other rights against civil discrimination, the New Left effectively abandoned the Old Left’s goal of dictatorial control of the economy. As a result the condition of employeeship continues, though it would have anyway and in more extreme form under governmentcontrolled enterprise favored by communists had they come to power. In other words, the subordinated socioeconomic status of most Americans continues with the acquiescence of the main trends of the New Left. Unions, for all their value to working people, also perpetuate this subordination.

What Is to Be Done
Cooperatives like CitrusWorld stand as a repudiation by example to both the corporate private enterprise politics of the Right and the welfare state/minority civil rights focus of the New Left. Though no political, educational, social or religious leaders are taking up liberation economics via the cooperative cause at the moment, this is what is to be done if the majority of Americans, including minorities, are to taste true freedom, and greater dignity, in the economic sphere. According to Prout, to free the maximum number of working citizens from subordination the cooperative movement should include the manufacturing, service and finance sectors, not only agriculture. An
economic result of this step upward in dignity will be reduced economic inequity, another goal of Prout. Since co-ops greatly widen the population of owners, they will decentralize wealth into the hands of tens of millions more Americans—and not by taxation, which is unreliable for this purpose and is highly vulnerable to special interest
lobbying and the political centralization of power over society in the federal government.

CitrusWorld sells their fine-tasting orange juice and other products around the country and overseas under the brand names of Florida’s Natural (orange, grapefruit, apple, orange-pineapple and others), Bluebird, Texsun, Adams and Vintage, and are licensees of other brands. You can find their website at http//www.floridasnatural.com.

References
Appleby, Joyce. Capitalism and a New Social Order The Republican Vision of the 1790s, New York University
Press, New York, 1984, p. 42. Fromm, Erich. Greatness and Limitations of Freud’s Thought, Mentor,
New York, 1981, p. 53. Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan. Proutist Economics Discourses on Economic Liberation.
Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha, Calcutta, 1992, pp.128-45.