Up coming topics to be addressed after the New Year:
Developing Nations and Government Accountability
North Korea's Middle Child Syndrome
The Importance of the Art of Fashion in the World
and
Why FIFA, Why?: Russia's World Cup
Happy New Years and Easy Spirits,
Carlos
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Welfare State
Nations across the globe are finally realizing that they can't have everything for free.
In the majority of the developed world, citizens pay large amounts of taxes into the state coffers to guarantee that everyone will be taken complete care of from cradle to grave. In most it worked for a time because said nations had small, heterogeneous populations. Unfortunately, global migration is leading to increasingly diverse societies with increasingly diverse needs. And the global financial crisis isn't helping the situation.
Now that people and governments are losing money left and right, the new "Age of Austerity" is becoming the reality for most the world. Now that people are losing jobs, they are becoming more and more reliant on governments that are finding themselves with less and less tax revenue. If there is no money for services, people are going to have to learn to live without them.
A welfare state simply doesn't work when money is not coming in. Europeans are now going to have to face the music. If more and more people lose jobs, there isn't going to be money for free university education or free childcare, or even weeks of paid vacation.
South Africa is an interesting example of the false hopes that a welfare state creates. Since the fall of Apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has been slowly realizing that the greatest promise they made to the nation is one that simply cannot-and should not-be fulfilled. In a nation where upwards of a quarter of the population is unemployed, the government (to varying degrees of efficiency) continues to spend tax-payer money on houses for the poor. It is only now 16 years later that people are realizing en masse that such a policy simply wont solve the economic problems that plague the country. It also doesn't help that the tax revenue collected is coming from a small portion of the citizens, who like the rest of the world are having to tighten their belts. As the economy slows, more people are going to be demanding houses and other handouts, and the number of people paying for them will decrease.
The moral of the story is that buying people houses isn't going to lift them from poverty. All government-planned, low-income communities end up creating are ghettos in which people and business cannot thrive. No company will want to invest, and no one with a sizable amount of cash is going to move there and raise property values. The key really is education.
My friend once joked that the government need only pay for two things: education and the post office. I laughed because it's kind of true. If the government paid for everyone to get vocational and university educations, they wouldn't need to pay for health care, child care, and other forms of welfare. Education not only provides people with general knowledge, it also opens up the mind to entrepreneurial possibilities that lead to wealth creation. If people knew how to make jobs for themselves, they would be less reliant on the government and be able to accomplish things on their own.
Frankly, and maybe it's because I'm American, I don't usually trust the government and its institutions. I've always had little patience with them and those that work with their. Most of them simply don't work properly. This is because they have nothing at stake; it takes an army to fire them and they have a rock solid salary that keeps them from making more money than they may deserve or want to earn. If government workers had some kind of incentive, they would actually be willing to help people. Can you imagine a world in which everything is run like the DMV. It's awful, isn't it. Let's not allow that to happen.
The University of Washington Parking Service is another great example of what we as a nation can expect in every walk of life should a welfare state be put into effect. When I was visiting my friend on campus, I paid the fee to park overnight (knowing full well I would have to get up at 7:30 AM to ensure I didn't get a ticket). In the morning when I went to my car around 7:20, I found that I had been fined $30 dollars at 6:54 AM for not having the ticket displayed properly. Now, as someone that has proof of purchase, I was relaxed knowing that a simple mistake had been made. I was WRONG.
When I went the booth to explain the situation, the woman working was very curt and unhelpful telling me to "follow the directions on the envelope." The same envelope that was sopping wet from being on a wet windshield. I followed the directions to the parking office only to find that the office had moved multiple blocks away. I had to go back to the booth and ask a helpful man where it was. When I finally arrived, I once again tried explaining my situation to one of the workers only to be told that "it was an appeals matter," and that it would take 6-8 weeks to be process, during which I would receive penalties for paying the ticket late. I paid and left in a huff.
My point is that I don't want to have to deal with bureaucrats in every walk of life. How would you feel if you lived in a government subsidized house, a tornado occurred leaving you without a roof, and the insurance office told you it would take two months for you to prove you didn't damage the house yourself. You wouldn't be happy.
I'm happy that those in the rest of the developed world are finally beginning to realize that they've lived for decades in a bubble that for a large swath of American society has been the status quo. We all need to realize our own potential and use it to find a niche of our own.
In the majority of the developed world, citizens pay large amounts of taxes into the state coffers to guarantee that everyone will be taken complete care of from cradle to grave. In most it worked for a time because said nations had small, heterogeneous populations. Unfortunately, global migration is leading to increasingly diverse societies with increasingly diverse needs. And the global financial crisis isn't helping the situation.
Now that people and governments are losing money left and right, the new "Age of Austerity" is becoming the reality for most the world. Now that people are losing jobs, they are becoming more and more reliant on governments that are finding themselves with less and less tax revenue. If there is no money for services, people are going to have to learn to live without them.
A welfare state simply doesn't work when money is not coming in. Europeans are now going to have to face the music. If more and more people lose jobs, there isn't going to be money for free university education or free childcare, or even weeks of paid vacation.
South Africa is an interesting example of the false hopes that a welfare state creates. Since the fall of Apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has been slowly realizing that the greatest promise they made to the nation is one that simply cannot-and should not-be fulfilled. In a nation where upwards of a quarter of the population is unemployed, the government (to varying degrees of efficiency) continues to spend tax-payer money on houses for the poor. It is only now 16 years later that people are realizing en masse that such a policy simply wont solve the economic problems that plague the country. It also doesn't help that the tax revenue collected is coming from a small portion of the citizens, who like the rest of the world are having to tighten their belts. As the economy slows, more people are going to be demanding houses and other handouts, and the number of people paying for them will decrease.
The moral of the story is that buying people houses isn't going to lift them from poverty. All government-planned, low-income communities end up creating are ghettos in which people and business cannot thrive. No company will want to invest, and no one with a sizable amount of cash is going to move there and raise property values. The key really is education.
My friend once joked that the government need only pay for two things: education and the post office. I laughed because it's kind of true. If the government paid for everyone to get vocational and university educations, they wouldn't need to pay for health care, child care, and other forms of welfare. Education not only provides people with general knowledge, it also opens up the mind to entrepreneurial possibilities that lead to wealth creation. If people knew how to make jobs for themselves, they would be less reliant on the government and be able to accomplish things on their own.
Frankly, and maybe it's because I'm American, I don't usually trust the government and its institutions. I've always had little patience with them and those that work with their. Most of them simply don't work properly. This is because they have nothing at stake; it takes an army to fire them and they have a rock solid salary that keeps them from making more money than they may deserve or want to earn. If government workers had some kind of incentive, they would actually be willing to help people. Can you imagine a world in which everything is run like the DMV. It's awful, isn't it. Let's not allow that to happen.
The University of Washington Parking Service is another great example of what we as a nation can expect in every walk of life should a welfare state be put into effect. When I was visiting my friend on campus, I paid the fee to park overnight (knowing full well I would have to get up at 7:30 AM to ensure I didn't get a ticket). In the morning when I went to my car around 7:20, I found that I had been fined $30 dollars at 6:54 AM for not having the ticket displayed properly. Now, as someone that has proof of purchase, I was relaxed knowing that a simple mistake had been made. I was WRONG.
When I went the booth to explain the situation, the woman working was very curt and unhelpful telling me to "follow the directions on the envelope." The same envelope that was sopping wet from being on a wet windshield. I followed the directions to the parking office only to find that the office had moved multiple blocks away. I had to go back to the booth and ask a helpful man where it was. When I finally arrived, I once again tried explaining my situation to one of the workers only to be told that "it was an appeals matter," and that it would take 6-8 weeks to be process, during which I would receive penalties for paying the ticket late. I paid and left in a huff.
My point is that I don't want to have to deal with bureaucrats in every walk of life. How would you feel if you lived in a government subsidized house, a tornado occurred leaving you without a roof, and the insurance office told you it would take two months for you to prove you didn't damage the house yourself. You wouldn't be happy.
I'm happy that those in the rest of the developed world are finally beginning to realize that they've lived for decades in a bubble that for a large swath of American society has been the status quo. We all need to realize our own potential and use it to find a niche of our own.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Keeping Things Fancy
My friend Brianna is one cool mofo. She keeps it classy. This is her blog. You know that song where Drake is all "oh you fancy huh? Oh you fancy huh?" This is that person, and yes, she has everything did!
https://bridonovan.wordpress.com/
Nails done, hair done!
https://bridonovan.wordpress.com/
Nails done, hair done!
Can I get a "What-what!?" from the Colored Section
People of color at Evergreen suffer from the effects of serious white guilt and misguided attempts at cultural understanding. The road to hell, we all know, is paved with good intentions, and some people are going to dig themselves a grave.
Cultural appropriation is a serious problem at Evergreen, for it doesn't create a true sense of diversity of cultural awareness. In the end it only creates a diluted caricature of the culture it seeks to represent. It's also something that is inherently dishonest and self-serving.
Much of the problem stems from the fact that white guilt is driving it, and not a true interest in the culture at hand. I don't believe in "white guilt," and think that its a trivial construct that only furthers the cultural gap. Compensations are not in order, and no one in my age groups needs to make up for the ills of those past. If that is the state of mind of too many, then a post-racial society cannot begin to be a reality. Wearing African patterned clothing is not going to make people take you more seriously, or look at you with less enmity. One doesn't need to broadcast their tolerance of other cultures to be taken seriously and not viewed as racist. Let your mind and you words speak for you, not horribly misplaced attempts at looking worldly.
The flip side of this is that many people are not proud of their culture. Somehow they have decided that it is a single homogenized and inherently evil entity. It seem that they have replaced European cultures with all the bad aspects of American history and culture. Poles no longer exist, Italians no longer exist, Germans no longer exist. There is only the tyranny of the white man: a faceless, greedy horde devoid of heritage or morals. They think they have nothing to be proud of, nothing to call their own. Unfortunately, appropriating Asian or Latin American practices aren't going to help them at all.
People of European descent, be proud of who you are. The fact that a person has little melanin doesn't signify a lack of beautiful, interesting, and influential culture. Be proud of the accomplishments of European minds, and of European artists. It's not their fault that they discovered the steam engine first. It's also not their fault that unelected rulers, or those voted in by wealthy landowners, stole diamonds from Africa.
I'm not the most politically correct person out there at all. I'm careful with what I say but sometimes one has to be blunt to get to the point. But I digress. Too often I fall victim to political correctness that is simply unnecessary and counter-productive. In many ways it can feel belittling to have someone of another ethnicity (particularly whites) explaining to me how I should feel about my background. As a Mexican person, I don't need people to let me know what is an appropriate way to address my ethnicity, and I don't need someone to let me know when I should find something offensive. I don't need someone to explain to me the difference between chicano and latino and hispanic and how I should feel empowered by one and offended by another. (FYI, I use all three with pride.) Take pride in your own heritage, and stop trying to use and define mine.
Bake your pies and wear your bonnets with pride!
Cultural appropriation is a serious problem at Evergreen, for it doesn't create a true sense of diversity of cultural awareness. In the end it only creates a diluted caricature of the culture it seeks to represent. It's also something that is inherently dishonest and self-serving.
Much of the problem stems from the fact that white guilt is driving it, and not a true interest in the culture at hand. I don't believe in "white guilt," and think that its a trivial construct that only furthers the cultural gap. Compensations are not in order, and no one in my age groups needs to make up for the ills of those past. If that is the state of mind of too many, then a post-racial society cannot begin to be a reality. Wearing African patterned clothing is not going to make people take you more seriously, or look at you with less enmity. One doesn't need to broadcast their tolerance of other cultures to be taken seriously and not viewed as racist. Let your mind and you words speak for you, not horribly misplaced attempts at looking worldly.
The flip side of this is that many people are not proud of their culture. Somehow they have decided that it is a single homogenized and inherently evil entity. It seem that they have replaced European cultures with all the bad aspects of American history and culture. Poles no longer exist, Italians no longer exist, Germans no longer exist. There is only the tyranny of the white man: a faceless, greedy horde devoid of heritage or morals. They think they have nothing to be proud of, nothing to call their own. Unfortunately, appropriating Asian or Latin American practices aren't going to help them at all.
People of European descent, be proud of who you are. The fact that a person has little melanin doesn't signify a lack of beautiful, interesting, and influential culture. Be proud of the accomplishments of European minds, and of European artists. It's not their fault that they discovered the steam engine first. It's also not their fault that unelected rulers, or those voted in by wealthy landowners, stole diamonds from Africa.
I'm not the most politically correct person out there at all. I'm careful with what I say but sometimes one has to be blunt to get to the point. But I digress. Too often I fall victim to political correctness that is simply unnecessary and counter-productive. In many ways it can feel belittling to have someone of another ethnicity (particularly whites) explaining to me how I should feel about my background. As a Mexican person, I don't need people to let me know what is an appropriate way to address my ethnicity, and I don't need someone to let me know when I should find something offensive. I don't need someone to explain to me the difference between chicano and latino and hispanic and how I should feel empowered by one and offended by another. (FYI, I use all three with pride.) Take pride in your own heritage, and stop trying to use and define mine.
Bake your pies and wear your bonnets with pride!
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