But many Japanese financial institutions, especially regional banks and credit cooperatives, would be unable to keep such large holdings of government bonds if the value of those bonds drops too far, Allen said.

NPR: Japan Gyrations Underline Economy's Vulnerability

This is the basis of the sharing, networking, open-source, peer-to-peer economies now emerging in crowd-funding, such as by MOSAIC, community currencies, credit unions and cooperatives (which employ more people worldwide than all global corporations combined).

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Habibie administration, former cooperatives and small business minister Adi Sasono launched 17 separate credit schemes for the benefit of cooperatives, small businesses and farmers, funded largely by central bank credits.

CNN: Big Little Problems

Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives that are prohibited from selling stock or taking on debt.

WSJ: Customers to Banks: It's You, Not Me

The Visa and Mastercard networks were essentially huge cooperatives that gave all banks a piece of the lucrative consumer credit industry on an equal footing.

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