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April 14, 2016 Destructive Economic Impact of
Private Interests The Steel Industry Is Public Not Private
Destructive
Economic
Impact
of
Private
Interests in the Steel Industry Destructive Economic Impact of Private Interests in the Steel Industry The Steel Industry Is Public Not PrivateThe steel sector is basic to the modern Canadian economy. The social wealth necessary to build and operate a steel mill can only be mobilized through the collective authority of the people and resources of the economy. The prices of production, supply of raw material, the training of the working class, the provision of the social and material infrastructure, the relation between supply and demand, and other crucial features are social and public. Decisions affecting the steel sector bear heavily on the entire economy and as such are public. Who decides matters affecting the steel and other basic sectors is of public concern and importance, over which the people must have a say and right to decide. This requires additional public measures beyond the operation of the companies themselves, especially in the wholesale market of basic commodities, where public authorities are required to control prices and exports and imports outside of any free trade agreements, otherwise no self-reliant independent stable economy of the basic sectors can be built to serve Canadian nation-building.
Private social wealth in the basic sectors such as the steel industry must not interfere with the right of the people to decide and to have open discussion and authority over their direction. Private social wealth in the basic sectors such as steel does not and should not give any ownership group the right to dismiss and negate the public right to decide on all matters affecting the direction of the industry. A public authority, which has the consent and confidence of the workforce and members of the community, should be organized to decide on the direction of the basic sectors with the full and unobstructed conscious participation of the people without secrecy or hidden agendas of private interests. Private ownership of social wealth should be viewed as only one factor in the social relation making up the sector and private owners should participate in decision-making as members of the public without special influence or clout. Private owners of social wealth in the steel and other basic sectors should be arms length from the operation and only participate in decision-making as members of the public if they reside in Canada. Private owners have a right to an average rate of return on their invested social wealth, which should be decided openly and with scientific precision by accountants who report to the public authority, which regulates payment openly and aboveboard with complete public scrutiny. Problems surrounding the meeting of apparent demand with supply from Canadian mills; problems surrounding the well-being of the workforce, especially after retirement; problems dealing with environmental damage and pollution; problems dealing with market prices and other issues such as imports are social and public in nature and cannot be resolved with private interests in command. The basic sectors of the economy involve immense amounts of social wealth both from direct investment and from borrowing. Individuals owning equity in the basic sectors such as U.S. Steel are most often second or third hand through financial institutions from all over the world. More often than not, moneylenders have even greater social wealth tied up in a monopoly such as the over $3.5 billion debt they own in U.S. Steel. The disparate owners of social wealth often have conflicting interests themselves, not to speak of the contention from owners of social wealth in competing companies. The contention and sometimes corrupt collusion of owners of social wealth to serve their particular private interests cause great crises for the basic sectors, as Canada has experienced not just in steel but in the energy and other sectors. What constitutes private ownership is even under scrutiny and contention. U.S. Steel says it bought Stelco in 2007 but sometime during its tenure as equity owner it gave up its equity ownership and secretly turned it into a debt ownership. This conspiracy began with an eye to putting Stelco into bankruptcy protection and having U.S. Steel declared the primary owner of debt in a company where it no longer owns equity. These fraudulent conspiracies are further proof that ownership of social wealth in the basic sectors should not mean control but simply a right to a certain claim on the added-value workers produce but with no rights to direct the company or authority over its affairs or that of the sector. A public authority in which the people have confidence and can openly and consciously participate in making decisions on the direction of the company and sector and ensure their viability and stability must be formed to take control out of the hands of the owners of social wealth. Pay-the-rich schemes including public-private-partnerships are an admission that the owners of social wealth are incapable of running the socialized economy without public funds and direct government intervention. This admission and the concrete evidence of the recurring crises in the overall economy and in particular sectors, the permanent unemployment of over a million workers and deteriorating social conditions are more than enough to prove that a new direction for the economy is necessary beginning with public control over the basic sectors and the people's conscious participation in the running and decision-making of those sectors. A new direction should begin with the establishment of
a public authority to direct the affairs of the former Stelco, Algoma
Steel and Wabush Mines, all of which are presently under
the fraudulent bankruptcy protection of the Companies' Creditors
Arrangement Act. A public authority with government backing
would
immediately cancel U.S. Steel's fraudulent claim on
Stelco's assets and begin to look for investment either public or
private to refurbish the mills and mines of the three enterprises,
resolve all outstanding issues with the steelworkers, miners
and salaried employees by respecting their rights and previous
collective agreements and pension laws, and begin to address in a
serious manner the environmental issues and the
strengthening of a steel sector that can meet the economy's apparent
demand for steel in a self-reliant manner.
U.S. Steel Canada Economic Impact Study In Sault Ste. Marie, the Algoma Steel complex has an even greater influence in the lives and economy of the people. Reports say that around 70 per cent of the population of the community depends either directly for livelihoods or indirectly in some way on the steelworks. Decisions taken regarding the steel and mining sectors are not private matters; they affect the public in a major way. Decision-making should not be seen as private, which is the narrow corrupt viewpoint of certain individuals who control great social wealth. The interrelated economy cannot be left in the hands of the owners of social wealth and the monopolies they control. Decisions in these sectors affect entire cities, regions and the country. Those decisions need to be in the hands of the public upholding the right of the people to decide in the public interest in opposition to the narrow private interests of owners of social wealth. Members of the Hamilton City Council Steel Committee say that U.S. Steel executives have treated them with disdain refusing to meet with them to discuss the serious problems surrounding the steel sector. This attitude towards city officials reflects an absence of concern for the well-being of the people and their community. The owners of social wealth consider their narrow private interests as more important. The concern and attention of U.S. Steel executives, especially those in Pittsburgh, are centred on their empire-building and private social wealth. Canadians and their nation-building are viewed as obstacles to their empire-building. Active organized resistance to empire-building is necessary in today's Canada, as control from the global owners of social wealth interferes with nation-building and the building of a self-reliant stable diverse economy. Private social wealth should not confer any special rights on its owners. Owners of social wealth have a right to a certain rate of return on their investment but no right to control the economy or political affairs, or to interfere in the people's right to direct their economy and nation-building. For Your Information Report Prepared by the City of Hamilton,
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The controversies
surrounding Stelco and Algoma Steel for the past two decades give ample
proof of the necessity for a new direction for the steel sector free
from the interference of
private interests. A new direction under the control of the public must
be instituted for the sake of the economy and nation-building. Private
owners of social wealth have proven time and
again that their narrow private interests conflict with the public and
social nature of the steel sector and do not allow it to flourish.
These problems arise despite the earnest talk of certain
ownership groups of their intention to serve the public good. Talk is
cheap; Canada needs a new direction with a public authority capable of
putting owners of social wealth in their place as
just one factor in the economy. The people witnessed with horror and
contempt the corrupt behaviour of U.S. Steel in signing and then almost
immediately breaking sworn agreements
under the 
The pay-the-rich schemes
most often called bailouts, subsidies, disguised assistance in such
areas as research and development financed through the public treasury
etc. are now
considered "normal" practice by the ruling imperialist elite. This
acceptance of pay-the-rich schemes is an admission that
privately-controlled social wealth is incapable of directing the
economy and particularly the basic sectors in a stable manner that
allows them to claim a rate of return on their investment satisfactory
to themselves without recurring crises.
The excerpts from the
Hamilton report found below
underscore the fact that the steel sector is a public industry. Stelco
is not a mom and pop store with limited ramifications for the
community. The City report deals mainly with social issues but does
touch on the interconnections with other sectors of the economy such as
the number of companies left with unpaid bills
because Stelco is in bankruptcy protection.
The 2007 acquisition of
Stelco Inc. by USS required the involvement and ultimate approval of
the federal government due to the nature of the acquisition of a
Canadian company by a
foreign company. As part of USS' application to the federal government
for approval of the acquisition, USS made the following commitments,
which were used to build the case for
approval of the sale.
Despite the involvement of
both the provincial and federal government in the early stages of the
acquisition of USSC to facilitate a viable business environment for
USSC through
approvals and financial assistance, and the commitments made by USS
concerning USSC's operations, USSC is currently in a much weaker
position than was likely envisioned by all major
stakeholders in the initial weeks of the acquisition. As of December
2014, the commitments made by USS in both 2007 and 2011, relating to
USSC are far from being realized, and have
been replaced by the reality as outlined in the points below:
Over 7,000 USSC pensioners
from all four USSC pension plans reside in the City of Hamilton,
representing over 60% of the identified USSC pensioners.