From: jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison)
Subject: Re: Ontario "socialism"
Organization: University of BC, Electrical Engineering
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 21:19:27 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.125908.2687@bmerh85.bnr.ca> viking@bmerh66.bnr.ca writes:
>|> In article <1992Sep29.002207.12803@bmerh85.bnr.ca> myhui@bnr.ca (Michael Hui) writes:
>|> >In article <1992Sep28.211112.16306@ee.ubc.ca> jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison) writes:
>|> >>We are long past the old union war-stories of children exploited in coal
>|> >>mines for 18 hours a day, and the goons beating anyone who spoke for worker's
>|> >>rights.
>|> >
>|> >Didn't you watch/listen to Jesse Jackson's speech a few months back
>|> >during the Democratic National Convention in New York City?
>|> >
>|> >It's still happening. Not to children, but to old, desperate women.
>
>No, but the tories are working on it.  Child allowance is gone, old age pensions are
>being clawed back (except MP's), UI and worker training are being foisted on to the
>provinces (who can't afford it either) and medicare is headed for user-pay.  Hell, 
>who needs to be the 51st state - the only aspect of the welfare state the tories want
>to leave is the dole for their rich buddies and supporters.  

If we support the idea of Family allowance, then it hardly makes sense
to give family allowance to everyone. The Torie's are removing Family
Allowance for middle income and the rich. Big deal: it'll leave more for
people who need it, and cut the amount of civil servants needed to process
so many cheques.

The social welfare system should help reduce the tensions in society, and 
help give people a fair shot at succeeding in life. It should act as an
insurance system against catastrophe.


BTW: user fees for medicare make a lot of objective, economic sense.
Economic studies clearly show that a *small* up front fee for services
substantially cuts use of a system. As long as a user fee stays as a
small inconvenience, it will deter people from using the system.
The intent is to stop people with the sniffles going to the doctor
every time. The intent is not to deprive people of service they need.
A service fee reminds people: this service is serious, and non-trivial,
and shouldn't be used to indulge hypochondria etc. Use it if you need it;
but don't abuse it, since this will hurt things for other people in the
long run.


An interesting example from an economics study: 

A college campus has a student health center. It gets a lot of people in.
When they moved the health center a few blocks further away, the number
of visits dropped by a large amount (don't recall). This kind of approach
cuts costs without preventing anyone from getting the services, if they
really need them. Human nature will always take advantage of something,
if it is free and convenient. Yet services are NOT free; and if a lot
of people are using a service when they don't need it, that leaves a lot
more time, money and services for people who need it more.

>
>Harold Henriksen                    Bell-Northern Research
>email: viking@bmerh694.bnr.ca       Ottawa,Ontario,Canada 
>
>Pillaging and plundering were more fun than programming!
>(Opinions are not my employer's and sometimes not mine)


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 John Paul Morrison                     |  Just another "Enemy of Canada"
 University of British Columbia, Canada |  Say NO/NON to Constitutional
 Electrical Engineering                 |  hegemony and fear-mongering
 jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca              VE7JPM |  by politicians/scum.
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Xref: sparky soc.culture.canada:6908 can.politics:7363