| Control of the economy is related to ownership but reaches beyond this to its aim and outlook. Control of the economy in the present era is divided according to the two main social classes: owners of capital and the working class. The two main types of ownership within the socialized economy, not its peripheral of small family businesses, reflect this class division: private ownership by capital and public ownership through the government as representative of society and the people. The two forms of ownership in the present era and their respective aims and outlooks can be characterized as capital-centred and human-centred. The capital-centred aim and outlook put capital and its well-being, growth and dominance at the centre of all decisions. The human-centred aim and outlook put people, their well-being and the general interests of the economy and society at the centre of all decisions. The clash between forms of ownership and divergent aims and outlooks of the two main social classes permeates the present era. Given the suffocating dominance of owners of capital and their capital-centred aim and outlook through their control of competing parts of the socialized economy, the state machine and mass media and the age-old traditions of class exploitation of former systems of ownership, the human-centred aim and outlook and form of ownership of the working class has to fight to find space for its expression and development, importantly within the thinking of the working class itself and its organizations. The working class movement must resist all penetration of its thinking by the capital-centred aim and outlook. Owners of capital and their representatives use their immense wealth along with the power of the state and mass media to overwhelm the human-centred aim and outlook and banish it to irrelevance. Even in the face of admitted failure and destruction of the economy and the turning of millions of lives upside down, owners of capital refuse any discussion of an alternative to their control of the economy and their capital-centred aim and outlook. Such was the case February 13-16, 2012 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington where owners of capital and their leading representatives -- specifically General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, a political confidant and operative of President Obama -- organized a forum of U.S. captains of industry called "American Competitiveness: What Works." Within the conditions of a continuing economic crisis in various regions of the world, a jobless recovery and general failure of the present direction of the economy, owners of capital still banished any suggestion of a human-centred alternative from the forum and discussion. Instead, the talk centred on the inevitability of what transpired and how to make the best of the changed conditions for the benefit of capital. The headline of the Reuters item summing up the conference, which was reproduced throughout the monopoly-controlled financial media was, "After 'lemming-like' exodus, U.S. manufacturers look home." The Reuters' item writes, "Big U.S. manufacturers moved their production out of the country too quickly over the past decades and now see a competitive advantage in building up their footprints back home, top executives said on [February 13]. The chase for lower-paid workers drove the migration, which resulted in employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector falling by 40 per cent from its 1980 peak... a brutal 2007-2009 downturn and high unemployment.... 'We, lemming-like, over the last 15 years extended our supply chains a little too far globally in the name of low cost,' said Jim McNerney, chief executive officer of world No. 2 plane maker Boeing. 'You are going to see more [manufacturing] come back to the United States'." The capital-centred aim and outlook led to the "'lemming-like' exodus" and anti-social technical productivity to destroy livelihoods yet they want workers to believe that the same aim and outlook can lead to something other than more attacks on the rights of the working class, a decreased standard of living, recurring crises, and war among competing centres of capital for markets, raw material, cheap labour and spheres of influence. They want the working class to accept that a new human-centred direction for the economy is not necessary and that the same owners of capital who put the people and their economy into the present mess can provide a solution. But even they admit their "lemming-like" slavishness to what serves their capital within the moment. Their capital and its well-being, growth and dominance was at the centre of all decisions during their "'lemming-like' exodus" and anti-social drive for productivity and big scores, and they are doing the same now within the conditions of high unemployment, jobless recovery and the "return of manufacturing." Owners of capital are demanding concessions from workers, both those currently employed and others when they return to work, and a destruction of all established social norms. This proves that recovery and a return to manufacturing under the control of owners of capital are based on what serves capital and its well-being, growth and dominance, and not the well-being of the people and the general interests of the economy and society. The people should grasp that the capital-centred aim and outlook is too narrow for the modern economy. The narrow outlook drove owners of capital by their own admission towards a "'lemming-like' exodus," destruction of livelihoods through anti-social productivity, big scores and economic crisis. The same narrow aim and outlook is forcing them to drive down the standard of living of those who do the work and to destroy all social norms of a modern society within a context of "more [manufacturing] coming back to the United States." The working class must reject with contempt the disequilibrium of a "return to work and manufacturing" under the dictate of capital and its demand for concessions, a lower standard of living and destruction of all social norms that defend the well-being of the people. A "return to work and manufacturing" must be based on the recognition of the rights of the working class and established social norms that provide some protection for the people's well-being. The working class must organize itself into powerful collectives that can defend workers' basic interests and fight for the rights of all and for a new human-centred direction for the economy in opposition to the present capital-centred direction. This requires workers to reject the aim and outlook of owners of capital and to put forward forcefully their own human-centred aim and outlook. Workers must uphold in their minds and inscribe on their banners that this modern economy is their economy and they must be in control with their own modern human-centred ownership, aim and outlook that puts people, their well-being and the general interests of the economy and society at the centre of all decisions. |