- 13 Mar 2004 00:37
#124535
No, I really think that the laissez faire economy has actually hurt ppls' ability to provide for themselves here. Dunno how much the dole is now but it's always been prohibitively low. THe problem was that wages at the bottom end of the labour market got so low that work wasn't much more attractive. Many in work had to have wages topped up by welfare, which meant that the tax payer was effectively subsidising the entrepreneur.
You'd probably counter with complete removal of welfare (ppl pulling rickshaws and shining shoes or something?) but we'd have been stuck with Victorian poverty and an uneducated workforce who didn't stand a chance in the knowledge based economy. Plus rocketing crime. Really, there's no reason we couldn't have been more like Norway or the Netherlands where welfare has always been more generous, ppl work fewer hours, enjoy higher living standards and their economies are doing quite alright thankyouverymuch.
clownboy wrote:We MAY disagree however on how the ladder got lost. I can remember a lot of talk a couple decades ago about how your "Dole" worked. There were warnings then, from those wacky fiscal conservatives, that the system would eventually lead you here. That and, as I nderstand it, immigration issues have been kicking your ass lately.
Feel free to call me a know nothing Yank. I'm really just pulling this from memory and what may have been "US propaganda".
No, I really think that the laissez faire economy has actually hurt ppls' ability to provide for themselves here. Dunno how much the dole is now but it's always been prohibitively low. THe problem was that wages at the bottom end of the labour market got so low that work wasn't much more attractive. Many in work had to have wages topped up by welfare, which meant that the tax payer was effectively subsidising the entrepreneur.
You'd probably counter with complete removal of welfare (ppl pulling rickshaws and shining shoes or something?) but we'd have been stuck with Victorian poverty and an uneducated workforce who didn't stand a chance in the knowledge based economy. Plus rocketing crime. Really, there's no reason we couldn't have been more like Norway or the Netherlands where welfare has always been more generous, ppl work fewer hours, enjoy higher living standards and their economies are doing quite alright thankyouverymuch.
Lots of safety nets, no ceiling - Winston Churchill