Hari Om Another great snippet Alastair. Clearly part of a longer talk, but the gist is here. Very valid points. In OZ, the public health system is funded by a contribution (currently 1.5%) from the pay packet... by being a percentage, no one is disadvantaged. This is the key to things. Medicare, it must be said, is working under the same pressures as NHS, however this could be remedied by requesting that the rate be upped to perhaps 1.7% - which would mean very little more to the user but quite a bit more to the funding. This format could very easily be applied to all 'universal systems' which Mr Meek is referring to; utilities are certainly a fundamental part of an advanced society, but that society must not forget that there ARE costs involved and to expect it to come for free is also not healthy. A weighted at-pay-source contribution would go a long way to resolving things.... however that is also then dependent on efficient systems, best-practice management of the funds and systems, and a true understanding in fairness of resource.
Sadly, 'humanity' lacks its own measure in this... the more these things are debated like this the better. In a few generations, it might be sorted. YAM xx
We need to find some mechanism: moral, educational, social or whatever to get corporate responsibility to society back in balance too. No use increasing taxes on a population when profits are being extracted largely untaxed and a corporate welfare system is being played to the max too.
Feel free to leave a message. I don't expect everyone to agree but if you can't be nice you'd better be polite to get your comment published. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteAnother great snippet Alastair. Clearly part of a longer talk, but the gist is here. Very valid points. In OZ, the public health system is funded by a contribution (currently 1.5%) from the pay packet... by being a percentage, no one is disadvantaged. This is the key to things. Medicare, it must be said, is working under the same pressures as NHS, however this could be remedied by requesting that the rate be upped to perhaps 1.7% - which would mean very little more to the user but quite a bit more to the funding. This format could very easily be applied to all 'universal systems' which Mr Meek is referring to; utilities are certainly a fundamental part of an advanced society, but that society must not forget that there ARE costs involved and to expect it to come for free is also not healthy. A weighted at-pay-source contribution would go a long way to resolving things.... however that is also then dependent on efficient systems, best-practice management of the funds and systems, and a true understanding in fairness of resource.
Sadly, 'humanity' lacks its own measure in this... the more these things are debated like this the better. In a few generations, it might be sorted. YAM xx
We need to find some mechanism: moral, educational, social or whatever to get corporate responsibility to society back in balance too. No use increasing taxes on a population when profits are being extracted largely untaxed and a corporate welfare system is being played to the max too.
ReplyDelete