Workers’ Pensions: A Penny Saved is a Penny Robbed

Abstract

AbstractThrough a focus on Chase’s pension management operations, this article will explore the conflict between labor and capital inherent in today’s pension system. First it will examine the widespread poverty of the elderly and how the evolution of the pension system has failed to provide adequate security for this country’s working people. Then, through a detailed look at bank pension fund management operations in general, and Chase’s in particular, this article will show how finance capital, rather than labor, is the real beneficiary of the pension system. Control over pension funds, now the largest pool of investable wealth, has become one of the main areas of competition between major sectors of finance capital. We raise the question of why organized labor has allowed this to happen and conclude by pointing to an analysis which supports the creation of a system which really does serve labor’s interests.