Everyone interferes with each others lives. The point is respect and mutual responsibility. Then you work out what is the most humane for all. These absolute laws are worse than useless, they are genocidal. Reason is limited by the limits of your argument. Basic rule number one in debate.
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Pollard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 3:18 AM Subject: RE: [Futurework] Fruits of Work. Arthur wrote: >Perhaps they are not paid enough. Then we should ask why. > Perhaps they were "seduced" by the consumer economy and frittered away > their earnings on ephemeralities. One person's ephemerality . . . . . . . You really must stop yourself from interfering with other people's lives. I'm aware you are much better able to decide what is good for others, but please - let them make their own mistakes. More seriously, Douglas Jay was a functionary in the first post WWII Labor government. He made himself somewhat famous (notorious?) by declaring 'We have people in Whitehall who know far better than the British housewife what she should do." (Keith knows about him.) Well, I say to hell with Douglas Jay and all the others in government who arrogantly and coercively want to make us march in lock-step with their certainties. Harry ---------------------------------------------------- >arthur > >-----Original Message----- >From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:43 PM >To: Tor F�rde; Futurework >Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fruits of Work. > > >Tor, > >The article was good. > >The real question is that after 40 or 50 years of work, why cannot people >save enough to provide for their remaining years? > >Harry > >------------------------------------------------------ > >Tor wrote: > > > >From: > >Le Monde diplomatique > > > >Tor F�rde > > > > > > > > > > > >LEADER > > > > > > > > > > > >Death by work > > > > > > > > > > > >By IGNACIO RAMONET > > > > > > > >THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) has just published a report > >(1), largely ignored in the press, claiming that every year 270 million > >employees are injured worldwide in accidents in the workplace and 160 > >million affected by work-related illnesses. The report reveals more than 2 > >million workers die on the job each year - 5,000 people killed by their > >work every day. These statistics, the report makes clear, are an > >underestimate (2). > > > >In France, according to the Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie (CNAM), > >780 workers are killed annually in the workplace (that is more than two a > >day). These figures are also an underestimate; there are around 1,350,000 > >work accidents a year (3) - 3,700 victims every eight-hour day, and eight > >injured every minute. > > > >The defenders of workers' rights used to call this exaction in the name of > >economic growth and competition a blood tax (4). We should remember that > >phrase when we come to look at the current debate about pensions and > >retirement, and consider the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers > >worn out and tossed on the scrap heap when they reach the end of their > >working lives. They are often deprived of the opportunity to enjoy their > >pensions at all because, though life expectancy has increased, there has > >also been (as an outcome of worsening workplace hazards) an explosion in > >illnesses that most afflict older people age: cancers, cardio-vascular > >disease, depression, strokes, loss of sensory perception, arthrosis, > >senile dementia, Alzheimer's. > > > >This makes the present attack on pensions all the worse; the attack has > >been coordinated and driven by forces of globalisation (5), such as the > >G8, the World Bank (6) and the OECD (7), all of which have been attacking > >social security (8) and the welfare state since the 1970s. The policy has > >been picked up by the European Union, where prime ministers and > >governments of both left and right (Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin in > >France) decided, at the Barcelona Summit in March 2002, to push back the > >retirement age by five years. This is a serious step backwards and an > >abandonment of plans to build fairer and more balanced societies. > > > >While employees are getting poorer, wealth is still concentrated at the > >top: 30 years ago an employer received about 40 times the average wage of > >a worker. Today an employer earns a thousand times more (9) and can look > >forward to the day of retirement with equanimity. This is far from being > >the case for ordinary employees, especially teachers. > > > >Hundreds of thousands of teachers in Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, > >Austria and France have been striking to protest against the dismantling > >of the pension system. The system does need reform for at least two > >reasons: the active working population is shrinking while the number of > >retired people is increasing; and the economic weight of pensions, today > >equivalent to 11.5% of GDP in France, will rise to 13.5% in 2020 and 15.5% > >in 2040, to become a major expenditure for the state. > > > >Despite the stock market crash, which has wiped more than 20% off the > >value of pension funds, the option of financing pensions by savings has > >not been ruled out. All the more so because the full cost of reform of the > >contribution-based system will fall on employees, as if it were merely a > >technical problem of no consequence for society as a whole. All the > >variables - the amount and period of contributions, the age of retirement, > >the final amount of a pension - are systematically being changed to the > >detriment of employees and incomes. No alternative solutions have been > >considered, such as calling on society for a contribution, or taxing >profits. > > > >It is considered normal in France that two workers lose their lives at > >work every day, and eight others are injured or fall every minute in the > >cause of private enterprise. But it is not considered "normal" that > >companies and capital should be called upon to put more into the pensions > >of their employees. It is not surprising that workers are angry. > > > >---------- > >(1) > ><http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2003/18.htm#note1>http://w >ww.ilo.org/public/english/b... > > > > > >(2) See report Safety in Numbers: Suggestions for a World Culture of > >Safety at Work, International Labour Organisation, Geneva, 28 April 2003. > > > >(3) Les Echos, 7 November 2002. > > > >(4) See "Les accidents du travail. L'imp�t du sang. 19 d�cembre 1906" in > >La Guerre sociale: Un journal contre, Les Nuits rouges, Paris, 1999. > > > >(5) The relationship between pensions and globalisation is close: in the > >United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and the United > >Kingdom contributory pension schemes feed the giant pension funds that > >have become central players in the new world of finance capital. > > > >(6) See the World Bank report Pension Reform in Europe, > ><http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product?item_id=167631 >0>http://publications.worldbank.org/e.... > >On its offensive against social security see > ><http://forums.transnationale.org/viewtopic.php?t=11>http://forums.transnat >ionale.org/vi.... > > > > > >(7) El Pa�s, Madrid, 20 May 2003. > > > >(8) The Chadelat Report, published in April, promises a radical challenge > >to the sickness benefit system. It aims to dismantle and privatise the > >social security system. See the text of the report at > ><http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/brp/notices/034000159.shtml>http:// >www.ladocumentationfrancaise.... > > > > > >9) Lib�ration, 21 May 2003. > > > > > > > >Translated by Ed Emery > >**************************************************** >Harry Pollard >Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles >Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 >Tel: (818) 352-4141 -- Fax: (818) 353-2242 >http://home.attbi.com/~haledward >**************************************************** > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.486 / Virus Database: 284 - Release Date: 5/29/2003 **************************************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 Tel: (818) 352-4141 -- Fax: (818) 353-2242 http://home.attbi.com/~haledward **************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.486 / Virus Database: 284 - Release Date: 5/29/2003 > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
