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by liber8
5079 days ago
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If removing the safety net would fix things, why were they ever broken enough for the safety net to be put in place in the first place? You're assuming that's the reason it was put there in the first place. I don't think that's the case. Before modern politics, it was as effective to solicit voters with promises of free goodies as it is now to solicit corporations. I don't particularly want any of that back -- it would limit my mobility and flexibility, and I don't want to stay in one place forever (Not sure I know what you're arguing here, so forgive me if I've misinterpreted your point) You should be allowed to make that choice. Forcing people to "come together and find common solutions that protect us all from risk" (read: implement more taxes, have gov't take care of us) eliminates much of that choice. Not only long term choice, but the sort of short term choice you seem to be talking about (mobility and flexibility). Head over to Europe to see. High taxes, incredible benefits, and a system that makes it nearly impossible to fire workers (even private workers), makes finding work very, very difficult. Unemployment for those under 24 is over 50% in Spain and Greece, and not much better in most other EU countries. |
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I'm not sure how one could read much about what conditions were like in industrialized countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and not think that's the case. Conditions were really shitty for workers and the poor for some decades. People literally used to die in the street due to lack of health care; die on the job due to nothing even approximating a concern for workplace safety; die of cold due to no heating; die of hunger due to not being able to buy or steal enough bread; etc. Much of Manhattan was full of tenement slums with high mortality rates.
Head over to Europe to see. High taxes, incredible benefits, and a system that makes it nearly impossible to fire workers (even private workers), makes finding work very, very difficult.
"Europe" does not really have one system. The best examples of social-democratic European countries are probably the Scandinavian countries, which do not generally make it hard to fire workers. In Denmark, at least, it is exceptionally easy to fire workers. But there is also a strong safety net, which is the tradeoff: it's easy to fire workers, but they won't be on the street if they get fired. A similar pro-market-but-pro-services mindset is seen in other sectors of the economy. For example, the transit system is paid for largely by taxes, but privately run by contractors who bid for the right to operate it, unlike the publicly-run U.S. transit systems.
The basic model is high tax but high flexibility. I think that actually increases freedom and individual choice considerably compared to the American model. For example, in Denmark, people who were born with congenital heart defects have the freedom to start a technology company. In the United States they do not, because employer-tied health insurance means they must work for a large employer with a group health plan (unless they're very wealthy).