[lbo-talk] corps & single-payer

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Sep 29 13:12:09 PDT 2005


Michael Hirsch wrote:


>I'm not persuaded--his places too much emphasis on consciousness and
>not enough on real history and real class struggles

I'd say that fear of creating a new "entitlement" is all about class struggle: universal health insurance would increase the power of the working class - to paraphrase Kalecki, fear of the sack would lose some of its sting, since workers wouldn't be dependent on employers for health insurance. And it might embolden the working class to ask for more. The low level of expectations among American workers is one of the great victories of the bourgeoisie - it took more than a century to get here, and they're not going to risk any retreat.

Doug



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