How We’re Using Their Own Loopholes for Good
The wealthy have used Delaware corporate law for decades to avoid taxes, limit liability, and concentrate power.
Now we’re using the same laws to build cooperative ownership.
The Delaware Advantage They Don’t Want You to Know About
Delaware isn’t just about helping corporations dodge responsibility. Hidden in that same legal framework are tools specifically designed to create member-owned enterprises that can’t be bought out or destroyed by investors.
Public Benefit Corporation status gives us legal protection to prioritize member benefit over profit maximization.
Dual-class share structure lets us separate democratic voting (Class M shares) from economic returns (Class R shares).
Cooperative bylaws encode member ownership directly into corporate law.
Federal tax advantages provide cooperative tax treatment for member-owned enterprises.
What This Means in Practice
Member Democracy Is Legally Protected
Traditional companies must maximize shareholder value. Period. That’s legally required.
As a Delaware PBC, we’re legally required to consider member benefit alongside financial returns. If someone tries to buy us out and turn us into a traditional debt settlement company, Delaware law protects our right to refuse.
One Member, One Vote
Our Class M shares ensure democratic control. It doesn’t matter if you contribute $25 or $2,500 per month - you get exactly one vote on major cooperative decisions.
Class R shares provide economic returns for those who want them, but they carry no voting rights. Money doesn’t buy democratic control.
Transparent Governance
Delaware law requires us to report annually on our public benefit purpose. Every member can see exactly how we’re advancing “economic justice through cooperative debt relief.”
The Strategy They Never Saw Coming
Step 1: Legal Infrastructure
✅ Delaware PBC incorporation (completed August 7, 2025)
✅ EIN registration (39-3659966)
✅ Dual-class share structure designed
Step 2: Payment Infrastructure
🚧 Direct ACH processing (bypassing credit card gatekeepers)
🚧 Cryptocurrency payment options
🚧 Member-controlled banking relationships
Step 3: Debt Relief Operations
📋 Portfolio acquisition strategy
📋 Member-democratic debt selection process
📋 Transparent forgiveness protocols
Why This Legal Structure Matters
Traditional debt relief companies are designed to extract maximum fees from desperate people. They’re accountable to investors who demand profit growth.
We’re accountable to members who demand debt relief.
When we buy debt portfolios at 5 cents on the dollar, we’re not trying to collect 100%. We’re trying to forgive 100% for our member-owners.
That fundamental difference is now encoded in Delaware law.
The Regulatory Arbitrage
The system’s complexity creates opportunities for those who understand how to navigate it:
State-by-state strategy: Different rules in different states create openings
Federal preemption gaps: Areas where federal and state law conflict
Cooperative exemptions: Legal structures designed for member benefit, not profit extraction
Public benefit designations: Legal standing to advocate for systemic change
What They Can’t Touch
Once we’re established under Delaware PBC law:
- Investors can’t force us to extract maximum fees (we’re legally required to consider member benefit)
- Competitors can’t buy us out to shut us down (democratic member control prevents hostile takeovers)
- Regulators can’t force us to act like traditional debt collectors (our legal purpose is debt forgiveness, not debt collection)
- Politicians can’t easily attack us (we’re using their own corporate law framework)
The Long-Term Game
Year 1: Prove cooperative debt relief works at small scale
Year 2-3: Scale to 100,000+ members with documented success
Year 4-5: Legal precedent established, political influence grows
Year 5+: Model replicable in other industries and states
Why This Generation Can Actually Win
Millennials and Gen Z inherited the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, but they also have advantages no previous generation had:
Digital coordination: We can organize millions of people without traditional institutional gatekeepers.
Distrust of authority: We’ve seen every major institution fail us, so we’re ready to build alternatives.
Educational debt: We’re overeducated for the jobs available, which means we understand complex systems well enough to game them.
Nothing left to lose: When the “normal” path leads to permanent debt slavery, radical alternatives start looking reasonable.
Network effects: We understand how technology can create exponential growth in cooperative movements.
The Real Competition Is Despair
Our biggest enemy isn’t debt settlement companies or credit card companies. It’s the feeling that nothing can ever change.
The system wants you to believe that:
- Debt is a personal moral failing
- Individual responsibility will solve systemic problems
- Collective action is impossible or naive
- The current system is natural and inevitable
- Fighting back will just make things worse
That’s all propaganda designed to keep you isolated and powerless.
The truth is that 5 million people pooling $50/month has more financial power than most banks. Cooperative economics works - that’s why they’ve spent decades convincing you it doesn’t.
What Happens Next
If you join our email list, you’re not just getting updates - you’re becoming part of economic warfare against the debt industrial complex.
If you can’t afford membership when we launch, the sliding scale and scholarship programs are designed specifically for people the system has already crushed.
If you think this sounds too radical, remember that the current system is radical. Permanent debt slavery for medical emergencies is radical. 29% interest rates on necessities is radical. We’re just fighting back.
Ready to own part of the solution?
Join our email list → to be notified when member-ownership becomes available.
Questions? Email us at founders@citizens-reunited.com. We respond personally to every message.
Next in this series: “The Founding 50 Strategy: Building War Chest for Economic Justice”