By Henry McRandall
WRISEUP.COM
There is perhaps no worse testament to the inherent evil of corporate capitalism than the North American welfare trap. And that applies as well to the meagre pensions afforded to disabled persons in Canada and the U.S.
These various social assistance payments – originally intended as a “social safety net” – have been allowed to deteriorate to the point where they are now nothing more than a “corporate capitalism safety net.”
They do very little for their recipients but they still serve to keep the lid on what otherwise might become a widespread uprising against the chain of deprivation visited upon so many by the captains of corporate capitalism.
A century ago, men – and also women – in Canada and the U.S. were dying for the right of a dignified level of survival.
The sacrifices that were made in the long, hard struggle for some kind of social safety net gradually won enormous gains for the masses – the poor and the middle class, culminating – circa 1974 – in the most progressive distribution of wealth in the history of either country.
But for the last 35 years we have witnessed an even greater pushback by the corporate capitalist powers-that-be. read more »