[lbo-talk] Re: whose welfare?

[frank scott]

re the difference between theoretical socialism and actual welfare state
capitalism...the welfare state benefits the state, first, and the
citizen , second...we'd be much better off than we are if this were  a
capitalist welfare state, but that's a relative consideration...if we
had cancer, we'd be better off to have polio, but we'd still be
diseased...

the swedish, and other euro welfare states give a much better deal to
workers, but that deal has been and is under assault, and it gets worse,
not better,as the assault continues...

theoretically, at least, a socialist system would not do the same thing,
but again, who the hell knows...first things first...enlightened capital
understood at some point in the recent past that it was better to tax
higher and finance more social service in order to keep people from
wanting something better than what they had...but ultimately, capital
wants more, and so we have "neo" liberalism, which is simply a return to
what went on before our primitive version of a welfare state was
created...

but please, guaranteeing a bureaucracy for serving the poor, is not the
same as making poverty impossible...that second idea calls for a totally
different economic system than the one that could, or would, provide a
welfare state...

fs