Age Shock and Financialization: The Crisis in Pensions

Robin Blackburn, Department of Historical Studies, New School for Social Research, talked about the current crisis of the American pension system. He cited “vulture capitalism” as a major cause of private pension deficits. He proposed redistribution of capital as a partial solution to the problem. His proposal requires large corporations to annually issue shares equivalent to their profits to a network of social funds. These trust funds cannot sell their shares which will be kept to generate future income for retired workers. The accompanying audio file provides the complete recording and audience discussion of the talk given by the author. Those who download the audio file must have their own software for playing and listening.