It seems to me that the successful deindustrialization of the US economy and the related undermining and weakening of industrial unionism, there remains little power in the working class to compel a change for the better in the lives of the American middle class or the lives of the poor. There isn't even a militant movement for fixing Social Security. Instead we get endless warnings that Social Security is facing a crisis in 2034, and then the pathetic suggestion offered as a comfort to the masses, to the effect that "there's no need to worry about Social Security going bankrupt -- there will still be enough FICA payroll tax money coming to fund 79% of promised benefits into the next century." And people seem to just nod their heads and say, "Oh, well that's lucky."
There should be marches by millions of people demanding a fix that takes the needed funds from the rich. Given the massive shift in wealth to the upper 10% and upper 1% of the country, and the price gouging and excessive profits of corporations, what should change should be and to the sanctified 50/50 split in FICA taxes between workers and employers, with employers paying a higher percentage of payrolls -- something a number of European countries have long-since done to make their pension systems better able to support their elder populations over the long term and at a much more generous level than the US Social Security system does. On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 10:59 AM Michael Meeropol via groups.io <mameerop= [email protected]> wrote: > According to some versions of SSA theory, the period beginning with the > New Deal (especially finalized after WW II) involved a ::"Capital-Labor > Accord" whereupon the biggest capitalists acquiesced in union > representation and rising real wages IN RETURN For unions recognizing > "management prerogatives" which basically meant Management controlled the > pace and intensity of work and "paid for it" with higher wages --- THen > there was a "capital-citizen accord" which created the welfare-warfare > state (with the expansion of social security and the culmination of the > expansion of the social safety net with Medicare and Medicaid ---- > > THis "worked" --- income inequality lessened --- a very significant > percentage of the population moved out of poverty. > > NOW --- could something similar happen with "GREEN" technology --- I think > it could but of course the current beneficiaries of the fossil-fuel based > economy have a lot of power to thwart those changes --- > > > > On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 9:16 AM Mark Baugher via groups.io <mark= > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> > On May 14, 2024, at 3:13 PM, Michael Meeropol via groups.io <mameerop= >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > >> > Could a new version of the post WW II SSA (which even Baran and Sweezy >> admit [temporarily] banished the stagnation wolf from the door) arise that >> would do al the great things that Siglitz wants --- >> >> I don't know how SSA compares with Mandel's Long Waves, or if either >> improve on Kondratiev. But I think the answer to your question is "no" to >> the extent that the post WW II boom depended on WW II destruction of the >> infrastructure of much of Europe, Eurasia, and Asia along with the >> repression or destruction of working class organizations. >> >> And what would a new version of WWII and the post WW II economic boom do >> to the planet's ecosystems? >> >> Mark >> >> >> > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#30343): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/30343 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/106071997/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
