[lbo-talk] RE: Activism/Socialism in U.S

[" Chris Doss "]

A generous welfare state threatens profits in an entirely different
and more insidious way, it undermines the capitalist system of
disciplining wage slaves. Workers who can fall back on a generous
welfare safety net tend to become less fearful of their employer,
surly and "inefficient". Fear of the "sack" becomes non-existent,
employers cannot retain control of the production process and the
cost of labour  spirals out of control.

Bill Bartlett
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Behold the reason why the Soviet Union made bad consumer goods and good military hardware. People working in TV manufacturing plants could not get fired no matter how badly they did (I may be exaggerating slightly, but not by much). Slacking off or coming in drunk at a military plant, on the other hand, was considered undermining the interests of the state and treated most harshly. The same goes for construction and aeronautical engineering (any area in which a screw-up would be disastrous).