ABSTRACT
The uncontrolled expansion of monopoly capital production creates another fiscal burden on the state: social expenses of private production—that is, outlays required to repair or prevent damage to the physical environment Automobile transportation is a major source of social expense. Agribusiness generates still more pollution. Non-biodegradable synthetic consumer and capital goods create still more pollution. By and large, private capital refuses to bear the expenses of reducing or eliminating air and water pollution, conserving the soils, preserving forests, wilderness areas, and wildlife sanctuaries, and generally working to maintain ecological balances. More important from the standpoint of the fiscal crisis, the portion of the state budget devoted to reducing pollution has begun to increase at all levels of government. The state has begun to make antipollution subsidies available to private capital, as loans, guarantees, grants, tax-exempt bonds. Like the defense suppliers and the educational-manpower conglomerates, the pollution control industry now enjoys the good fortune of being legislated into success.
