At 12:09 PM 10/30/97 -0500, Louis Proyect wrote:
[SNIP]
>One of the things that is bound to take place sooner or later
>is the privatization of social security, just as it did in Chile. The whole
>point of the mutual funds industry is to get people to accept the idea that
>this is the only "realistic" way to prepare for retirement.
It is commonly argued that the only things that are inevitable are death and
taxes. I acknowledge the first but don't accept the second, and for the
same reasons believe you are too quick to predict the inevitable
privatization of social security. Not too long ago a lot of folks would
have believed that Fast Track was nearly unstoppable. If you accept the
notion that there are still some things that can be accomplished through
organization and struggle, then the privatization of social security need
not be so certain as you claim. This is not to underestimate what it will
take to defeat it; only to recall that people can also act consciously as
agents of their own futures.
>Another aspect of this is the need to get a broad section of the population
>to accept the logic of the capitalist system. A small stock-holder who owns
>20 shares of Citibank is likely to go along with the cutback of 5000 jobs
>that is pending. Since this improves corporate profitability, the value of
>the share is increased potentially.
The concept of "people's capitalism" has been around for more than a few
years. Yet even in the instance of worker-buyouts, ESOPs, etc., we have
witnessed cases where worker-"owners" have been willing to strike against
the management of enterprises they are purported to own. The system employs
many ideological tools designed to side-track worker discontent and derail
opposition to profit-maximizing schemes. Some work better than others; some
work in some cases and not in others; none have been found to achieve fully
what they were intended or designed to accomplish -- which is why they keep
cranking out new ones (or guzzying up old techniques). In a period of
growing inequality, declining real incomes, contingency, longer working
hours, outsourcing, etc., it may take a lot more octane than the additive of
a handful of stocks to convince workers their fates are more aligned with
management than with one another.
>This really gets ugly when you think about all the union retirement funds
>that are invested in the exact same companies that are attacking them.
>Frankly, there is no easy solution to this problem. It gets to the heart of
>the way that the capitalist system functions. I suspect that when the time
>comes for the ruling class to privatize social security, socialists will
>really have to come up with some strong arguments.
>
>Louis Proyect
If we wait that long, no argument will suffice. The work of defeating
privatization has already begun. It is our job to extend and expand it.
In solidarity,
Michael E.
