At 7:42 PM 2/17/96, Robert Peter Burns wrote: >Now, I KNOW it won't turn out this way, but in >principle, couldn't allowing social security >funds to be used to buy up common stocks in U.S. >companies be a way of gradually socializing the >means of production? (I am assuming of course that >the funds would be collectively invested and managed >by the government not by private individuals in >piecemeal fashion). Absolutely, in principle. The fate of the wage-earner funds in Sweden shows that the ruling class, even in a country with a serious & principled a left-wing tradition, just won't let it happen without a fight. In America, putting Soc Sec funds into the stocks will drive the Dow to 15,000 and fatten Wall Street pay checks enormously - a form of corporate welfare that will dwarf all previous forms of subsidy to those that have. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html>