On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 3:55 PM, Doug Henwood <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jan 22, 2010, at 4:43 PM, raghu wrote: > >> A welfare state is in the >> long-term interests of the elites. > > It is? What in god's name do you base this on?
Of course it is. A government health plan for e.g., will hurt the insurance industry, but it will dramatically reduce labor costs for every other employer, produce a healthier and less stressed workforce etc all of which have to be good for productivity and profits. Think of GM - it may have avoided bankruptcy if there was national health-care. The same argument applies generally. Up to a point, what is good for a worker is good for his/her employer. The dumb capitalist works his employees to death, leaves nothing for public infrastructure, education, health etc, and pays just enough to keep workers from starving. A dumb capitalist practices "slash and burn" production. The far-sighted capitalist works his employees moderately to maximize their lifetime productivity, invests on R&D, infrastructure etc to sustain profitability and pays his employees enough to keep consumption levels high (but not enough to start accumulating) and his workforce contented. Financiers are always dumb capitalists, it is in the nature of finance. They are also the most destructive. Nothing good ever comes out of financialization. A far-sighted capitalist is in a sense an oxymoron. A very, very far-sighted capitalist would be essentially indistinguishable from a socialist, because making capitalism sustainable over the long-term requires restraining all its natural tendencies. -raghu. -- I like to leave messages *before* the beep. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
