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We hear a lot about \\u201cpolarization\\u201d these days. And for good reason. It impacts all of us.

There are two types of polarization: political and financial. You can probably make a case they\\u2019re related, but we\\u2019re talking about the financial variety.

Most conversations about financial polarization tend to take the same shape.\\xa0They begin with the observation that more wealth is becoming concentrated in fewer hands. Among the reasons, they say, are \\u2013 big companies growing bigger through mergers and acquisitions; and systemic inequalities in the accumulation of personal wealth.\\xa0The conversation typically continues with a description of how things are getting worse over time. As the financial poles move further apart, they\\u2019re pulling most of us toward the direction of declining spending power.\\xa0Conversations about financial polarization tend to end with the same conclusion: there\\u2019s somewhere between \\u201cnot-much\\u201d and \\u201cabsolutely nothing\\u201d we can do about it.

Tamara Prosper and Daniela Rivero-Bryant don\\u2019t buy that conclusion.\\xa0The interesting thing about Tamara and Daniela is, they\\u2019re not making academic observations about economic theory.\\xa0They\\u2019re actually doing things in the real world to spread the wealth.

Tamara is Loan Steward at Cooperation New Orleans.

Cooperation New Orleans is an organization that develops worker-owned cooperatives.

A worker-owned cooperative is a business that is owned by the employees who work there.\\xa0Rather than a single owner or partners reaping the rewards of the company\\u2019s profits - and other advantages of owning a company, like tax breaks \\u2013 those benefits are shared by all of the employee-owners.

According to a 2021 study, at that time there were 612 worker cooperatives in the US. When we get more updated statistics the expectation is that the number of cooperatives will have risen dramatically over the last few years.\\xa0They\\u2019re certainly catching fire in New Orleans.

Daniela Rivero-Bryant is co-founder and COO at Reimagine Development Partners.\\xa0They\\u2019re property developers. And as their name suggests, they\\u2019re reimagining what property development looks like.

Like other developers, Reimagine takes advantage of the Federal Historic Tax Program.\\xa0But, unlike other developers, Reimagine replaces the lender \\u2013 normally an institution like a bank - with a crowdfunding model.\\xa0In this way, members of the local community chip in five to ten thousand dollars and become investors in the kind of property development deal normally reserved for financial institutions or wealthy investors.\\xa0So, regular folks get access to the kind of potential profit, and the immediate real-world tax advantages, normally only available to property developers.

Reimagine Development Partners\\u2019 focus is on smaller projects in rural areas. The kind of developments that are too small for regular investor syndicators, but that have a big impact on a local community.

In any conversation about the direction of the over-all economy, it\\u2019s worth making the point that Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook, and every other CEO with a giant income, live in the same world we do.\\xa0If we\\u2019re not doing well, their businesses are not doing well either.

So, an economy that\\u2019s on a polarizing trend - where more of us have increasingly less wealth and spending power \\u2013 benefits nobody.

You won\\u2019t find an economist in the US who disagrees with the notion that a strong and expanding middle class is better for everybody.\\xa0You\\u2019ll also have difficulty finding an economist who can tell you step-by-step how to actually reverse polarization and expand the middle class.

But thisis exactly what Daniela and Tamara are both in the process of actually doing.\\xa0It\\u2019s remarkable that they\\u2019re both in New Orleans. The work they\\u2019re doing is impressive and potentially has enormous impact.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at\\xa0NOLA Pizza\\xa0in the\\xa0NOLA Brewing Taproom. You can find photos from htis show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworelans.com.

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