According to the times, cultures, civilisations and the socialeconomic situation, the "problem" that old people entail is "solved" in different ways. Some nomadic people left the old people at the edge of the road and certain sedentary people took them away from the village and abandoned them with some food and water. But also in all ages, different peoples, recognising the virtues of old age, such as experience and wisdom, have cared for and respected the old.

Modern societies invented retirement, with diverse systems that range from providing a few crumbs of bread to the old when they can no longer work and are at the cemetery doors (if they did not die before in their jobs) to provide them with a relatively comfortable remuneration when they can still enjoy life a little, resting and / or taking care of the things that interest them.

Monopoly Capital

But for a few years there has been a widespread offensive against social security. The explanation is that as a result of the concentration and accumulation of capital, large oligopolies and monopolies were formed whose financial base was consolidated from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century with the merger of industrial capital and financial capital.

The current hegemony of financial capital is the result of a profound change in the world economy from the 1970s onwards, a moment that marks the end of the Welfare State, characterised by mass production and mass consumption, driven by the increase in real wages, and by the generalisation of social security and other social benefits. It is what economists call the "Fordist" model, of Keynesian inspiration, characterised in production by chain work (Taylorism), initiated in the United States and extended to Europe especially after World War II.

The Jus Semper Global Alliance

TJSGA/TLWNSI Brief/SD (B027) March 2020/Alejandro Teitelbaum 1