Monday, February 15, 2010
Marx in the News
Greg Burns from the Chicago Tribune posted an article today entitled Security Blanket Fraying Quickly. This article talks about how social security will begin running in the red this year. Burns addresses that fact that everyone knew this day would come, but did not expect it to come this quickly. The reason it has come quicker than expected is partly due to the recession. About 2.7 million people entered into the social security program last year. Burns predicts that Congress will not do anything about this issue, at least not until the 2012 election where it could become a big issue. Burns says that the longer Congress waits the more expense the fix for social security will be. The solution to this issue would be to increase taxes on people who are working and to cut back on benefits in the future.The problem here is that the government is going to be taxing the younger people more and more to support the increasing amount of older people who begin taking part in social security. The government is depreciating the value of our labor in a different way than Marx originally explained. The government is depreciating our labor by taking away a disproportionate amount of taxes from our income and because there will be no money around by the time we get to the age of receiving social security. They are telling us that our labor value is not worth as much as previous generations because they are taxing us more to pay for the previous generations’ social security. They are completely deprecating our labor value because the likelihood of us every receiving social security is very small.
This estranges us from our labor because not only are we not getting paid by the labor value we add to the product but we are also paying a disproportionate amount in taxes. We are paying to take care of the previous generations but we will not be taken care of because social security is already close to running in the red and will be running in the red this year. We may not have the ability to spend like other generations have because part of our income is being diverted to take care of the previous generations. Our economy will be worse because will be wearing the burden of previous generations on our shoulder.
I understand that the solution to solving the problem with social security is not to stop the tax all together and let people who thought social security would be there retirement to fend for themselves. But at the same time should our generation be burdened with the responsibility of taking care of them when we know that we will also have to save for ourselves because social security will not be around for us? Overall, the value of our labor does not seem as valuable as previous generations because we are receiving less money because the government will begin taking out more in taxes.
The problem here is that the government is going to be taxing the younger people more and more to support the increasing amount of older people who begin taking part in social security. The government is depreciating the value of our labor in a different way than Marx originally explained. The government is depreciating our labor by taking away a disproportionate amount of taxes from our income and because there will be no money around by the time we get to the age of receiving social security. They are telling us that our labor value is not worth as much as previous generations because they are taxing us more to pay for the previous generations’ social security. They are completely deprecating our labor value because the likelihood of us every receiving social security is very small.
This estranges us from our labor because not only are we not getting paid by the labor value we add to the product but we are also paying a disproportionate amount in taxes. We are paying to take care of the previous generations but we will not be taken care of because social security is already close to running in the red and will be running in the red this year. We may not have the ability to spend like other generations have because part of our income is being diverted to take care of the previous generations. Our economy will be worse because will be wearing the burden of previous generations on our shoulder.
I understand that the solution to solving the problem with social security is not to stop the tax all together and let people who thought social security would be there retirement to fend for themselves. But at the same time should our generation be burdened with the responsibility of taking care of them when we know that we will also have to save for ourselves because social security will not be around for us? Overall, the value of our labor does not seem as valuable as previous generations because we are receiving less money because the government will begin taking out more in taxes.
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Josh,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great article, and it is so scary that so many people our age are not aware of this. By the time we are in our fifties or sixties there will no social security available to us! The generation below us are the ones who are really going to suffer.
I'm not sure what else the solution could be, but higher taxes on our income is a great source unfortunately. We may be the generation who has to pay first for this. The reality is that we are slowly increasing the likelihood of an insecure future. I in particular do not know how to address this issue, but I do hope that the baby-boom generation and our generation get it right!
I completely agree with you that the country is mortgaging our generation’s future in order to pay for the present, and I think the connection you made with Marx is really interesting and one I never would have thought of. In a sense the government is estranging our labor from us, perhaps more so than they did to previous generations. It seems that in this case these politicians are also interested in profit for themselves; profit in this case being job security and more terms in office. It seems like Congress is always failing to do anything worthwhile and, as a result, important issues like this are pushed to the back burner. In my opinion it is a microcosm of the whole system. The minute these people get into office, the only thing they are interested in is the present, and what will affect their ability to retain their office at the end of 2, 4, or 6 years. Everything they do and every action they take is viewed in terms of political strategy rather than what should be done; just this week a Democrat from Indiana resigned because he was sick of the partisanship and Congress’ inability and unwillingness to do anything to fix the country’s problems. The funny thing is, their job security is the last thing they should worry about, because every election seems to have two equally reprehensible choices: the morally corrupt republican or the completely incompetent democrat and vice versa. These people are supposed to be representing us, but all too often they seem to only be concerned with their jobs and how they are going to politicize their actions with a façade of “I truly am representing you guys”. This too is analogous to Marx’s philosophy that the whole system of Capitalism is broken and needs to be fixed, but the same question persists…Where do you even begin to fix something that is so completely screwed up?
ReplyDeleteJosh, you make some really important points in this article. I think you are right, there is no easy solution to this issue, nevertheless, one is necessary. I think a bitter taste is left in our mouths knowing that we are supporting people when we will not have the same privilege.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of our labor becoming less valuable, I could not agree more. As jobs decrease and expectations increase we find ourselves working our fingers to the bone for mediocre pay and benefits. I don't know that these things will change soon either, but we can only hope that in the future our economy will provide us with the money that we deserve for our hard work.