> A generous welfare state would be financially viable of course. The
> threat that a generous welfare state poses to profits is not the
> financial cost, in fact the alternative, policing and jails are far
> more expensive. The expense of imprisoning someone dwarfs the cost of
> paying them welfare.
> 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.
This should be applicable to all capitalist societies and not specifically to the US.
Ulhas