>> Financing is a big barricade for creating a worker owned enterprise in the US. I'd argue that even allowing for the VC approach, financing is a big barricad

>> Financing is a big barricade for creating a worker owned enterprise in the US. I'd argue that even allowing for the VC approach, financing is a big barricade for creating any business. >> Banks in the US currently frown on this type of lending. Given that 90% oc businesses will fail in the first 5 years, its not surprising that lending money to a new business is considered, well, risky. But both these points return us to the same starting point - which is the value of providing capital, and the value of taking risk. Since an investor has a choice, we attract these investors by making them "owners", with the promise of future profit. A government funded model, which provides "collective capital" for no equity sounds like a good plan, that can work well when applied to the right people. Unfortunately it's likely that 90% of the money will be spent for no permanent job return, and that seems like it will become an issue once it spans multiple election periods. Most successful small businesses are started with little capital, but a fair amount of time. I was fortunate that my wife's salary supported me in the years it took for mine to make money.