Leveraging Capital - How are Super Funds Governed?
The framework established around the purpose and operation of super funds matters simply on the basis of the scale of the funds available for deployment.
Super is a pool of finance capital that presents competition to the private banks.
Inevitably it has become a battleground for ideological contest for those who believe they should determine the nature of the economic system. (You and I are not included in this exclusive club)
At a very basic level, super is an enforced savings mechanism. Income is taken from workers, and stored in growing pools of capital governed
by bodies that are undemocratic. Super account holders have less control over their fund than does a shareholder in a public company.
Account holders have less control over their fund than they do over state or federal governments which hold elections.
As detailed in the article, a significant proportion of super capital is exported. Much of it goes to the US. Increasingly it is going into emerging markets.
The hegemonic affect of creating dependence of Australian workers on liberal capitalist growth deserves analysis but this article highlights
the issue of whether the control of the direction of investment should be influenced by the federal government or whether it should be left to an amorphous profit seeking dynamic
embedded in the nature of the capitalist market system.
Arguably there should be controls over the nature of investment, and what the outcomes might be. A key aspect would be whether this capital should be utilised to
develop productive capacity in Australia to address domestic issues, or should it be used to chase super profits in international markets.
An interesting corollary would be how international investment could be used to influence Australian diplomatic relations.
I expect this question to be an interesting area of political contest in the future.
Member discussion