The financial demands of unfunded pension promises come as state and local governments grapple with years of falling tax revenue related to the recession.
One of the advantages to being a socialist is that you can look at a statement like this and say: "When wealth is generated first for private-profit, all other considerations become secondary!" You don't have to ask Paul Krugman about it; the diagnosis is always sound.
When the wealth-generating portion of the economy is privately controlled, the need for profit comes first. Profit is the sole basis by which anything else can even be discussed.
In politics, the language of profit does not announce itself as such, but instead appears in its ancillary forms; e.g. as "jobs," "taxes," and "entitlements." Because all of these things are derived from profits, they are commonly set against each other: if you propose taxes, you kill jobs, etc. Everything depends on the rich getting richer, because everyone is dependent on the good fortunes of our private administrators of the collective wealth.
There is a metaphor I like to use for capitalism: When the rich are doing very well, others have a chance to tread water; when the rich are treading water, all bets are off!
1 comment:
Short, and therefore all the more brilliant.
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