On Sat, 31 Dec 1994, Jim Devine wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Dec 1994 09:18:13 -0800 Doug Henwood said:
> >Jim Devine notes that the Orange County mess is to be "solved" by cutting
> >public sector wages and services for the poor. These are the uses of
> >crisis.
>
> This sounds a bit too conspiratorial to me, Doug. It's qut quite
> possible that the O.C. fatdogs will cut services to the poor too much
> -- even from their own point of view. It's already turned out that
> if they cut legal services as planned (i.e., cutting the alternative
> legal aid that substitutes for the public defenders), they'll be
> not only violating the law, but putting a severe burden on the
> public defenders (in a legal system already bollixed up by 3-strikes
> and-you're out and similar nonsense). Cutting on other services
> to the poor might result in riots or intensification of blue-collar
> crime. Sure, there's going to be a lot of profiteering from the
> crisis ("profiteering" being OC's middle name). But it may not
> be good even from the elite's point of view.
What's conspiratorial about it? The elite didn't create the crisis as a
ploy for hacking services, but once confronted with the problem, they
know exactly where to aim the knife.
As for the burden on legal services - so what? Make them work harder.
Screw the constitution. Riots? There's always the national guard if the
men and women in blue can't handle them. A society that can manage a
20-year decline in real wages has marvellous powers of adaptation -
especially when the most visible political reaction to the trend is a
further rightward turn.
Doug
Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
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