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From: grunwald@uiuccsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Enforced socialism?!?!?!? - (nf)
Message-ID: <11000097@uiuccsb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Apr-84 12:31:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiuccsb.11000097
Posted: Tue Apr 17 12:31:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Apr-84 03:19:50 EST
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Nf-From: uiuccsb!grunwald    Apr 17 11:31:00 1984

#R:mprvaxa:-51900:uiuccsb:11000097:000:2688
uiuccsb!grunwald    Apr 17 11:31:00 1984

That Newsweek article did not have any historical perspective in its skewed
view of Europe.

  Europe got blasted to kingdom come in WW-II, and thus there was a lot to
rebuild when the war ended. This provided a great boom-time (except that there
were few people around to do any booming) as far as new construction and what
not goes. Now, the "stagnation" is a result of the reconstruction being
completed. You can't maintain growth when there is no need for it.

  As for technical malaise, one need only study the french and german industry
to see that this is false. They produce excellent "high-tech" ware (lab
equipment, switching systems, reactors and unfortunetly, weapons).

  Much of their unemployment stems from the fact that their factories are
"the factories of the future." In the current issue of "In These Times",
the headline article is "German metal workers lead fight for a 35-hour
work week to offset unemployment caused by automation."

  This is the sort of unemployment which our country has not experienced
yet, not because we've got a better economic system than the Germans or
the French, but because our factories do not have the same high levels of
automation. This is a problem our own country and workers must address.
Three routes out of this are socialism,  a return to a more human-powered
work place, or a shift in the job sector away from manufacturing to
services. Our country is shooting for the later.

  Consider the case of german metal workers. There are no un-touched export
markets. The third world is either bankrupt or producing their own metals.
The management of the various steel companies realise this, and have steadly
reduced the investments in industrial expansion. As noted by IGMetall, the
largest single trade union in the western world, the percentage of profits
invested in expansion have dropped from 72% in 1965 to 31% in 1982. At the
same time, a steady an increase in profits has been seen, so the reductions
are not due to a lack of available capital.

   Additionally, 3/4 of the investment capital is spent to decrease costs,
not to increase production. This means fewer jobs. Higher unemployment.
More "stagnation" as Newsweek called it. This is exactly the same thing that
the United States wants to do! If Europe suffers from stagnation, it is
simply walking the path that we also tred -- they're just walking a little
faster.

   Even when the EEC gets around to forming the United States of Europe (which
is a real and viable proposal), with the comensurate reductions in tariffs
and transport costs within Europe, the situation will not improve.

Dirk Grunwald -- University of Illinois -- ihnp4 ! uiucdcs ! grunwald