Cohousing-L Mailing List: Financial innovation

[Brian Bartholomew (bb]

> the same call for financial innovation was made in the 19th century,
> in the hay-day of the Associationist movement.  People like Albert
> Brisbane and Horace Greeley tried to set up lending programs that
> would operate within the "phalanxes" (what we call "cohousing") and
> thus avoid the perils of conventional banking.  The Mormons tried
> something similar in the 1830's in Ohio with the "Kirtland Savings
> Association."  Unfortunately, their efforts did not bear fruit --
> the Kirtland Bank exploded quite spectacularly -- and the
> cohousing-like phalanxes all collapsed, one by one, leaving
> mountains of debt in their wake.

Were the bank failures different, or did they fail for similar reasons?


                                                        Brian