What Welfare State?

What Welfare State?Socialism for the Twenty-First Century: a Utopia, a lie or a Solution?, Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 13:18
          
           The Welfare State is considered one of the pillars of Democracy. The welfare state is based on a concept that aims to give a collective response to individual needs, acting as a correction factor of asymmetries of society, favoring those who have nothing at the expense of those who have more possessions, guaranteeing every individual to the satisfaction of a set of basic needs from birth until it dies. In doing so, the State takes upon itself a portion of earned income for those earning more and distributes this money, focusing on meeting basic needs of those it considers most in need.
            An overly protective welfare state will, however, creating a sense of facilitating the potential beneficiaries and a sense of outrage and injustice for those who are amputees from much of their income of their work to support a monster that it gives them almost nothing in return and sponsors laziness and irresponsibility of an excessive number of citizens.
            Politicians have become used to promise what the voter wants to hear and if the earnings of the state are not sufficient, then into debt to future generations by borrowing to the richest countries lack the money.
            We now have free education for those who do not want to study, free health for those who are not sick and monthly income for those who did not work either.
            Free?
            No, there is someone who pays!
            There are people who get up early in the morning, to get enough work all day, come home late, have little time to spend with family and rest up for work the next day.
            There are people who apply to study, to acquire skills to qualify with a legitimate ambition that allows them to improve their quality of life.
            For what? IRS to pay taxes, IUC, IMI, VAT and many other hidden taxes that the state can fund.
            Work harder to live better? No! Work longer to pay more taxes!
            Work harder to be considered "rich" and see diminished, the only reason, salary, on behalf of the crisis!
            Work harder to take more responsibility in exchange for a salary that diminishes every year and is exactly equal to the partner's side that only seems to work!
            Work harder to sustain Austerity!
            Work harder to see in the media that the tip of an iceberg hiding thousands of "boys" and friends touching the public enterprises and public-private partnerships to suckle on the teat of the sweat of working people.
            Work harder to see the rustic cunning be awarded against the merit and competence.
            Work harder to keep trying to stay afloat in a middle class, shrinking the number and budget.
            Working to give more and more people free education for those who do not want to study, free health for those who are not sick and monthly income for those who do not want to work ...
            The Welfare State can only survive but if there is a strong middle class, because it is not the poors who will pay the costs of the Welfare State, much less the very rich (a lot of people are working on how to evade taxes, have many positions Administrator Non-Executive Director to provide "friendly" and can always change the tax domicile of companies and blackmail the thousands of unemployed who can create in the twinkling of an eye)!
            We can only maintain a Welfare State that quality is selective and judicious.
            We can only maintain a Welfare State for each quality is the underlying law is a duty!
            We can only maintain a Welfare State quality if it is sustainable and will only be sustainable if it is worth working, or if the share of income that the state takes to whom work is not enough to compensate demotivating work and thus feed the state budget.
            We can only maintain a quality Welfare State if the person holds has a better quality of life for him who is sustained.
            We can only maintain a quality Welfare State if the economy grows, the GDP increase.
            We can only maintain a Welfare State if we exercise a quality unrelenting fight against fraud and tax evasion in order to tax some  "fiscally poors" have not an improved quality of life that so-called "rich."
            We can only maintain a quality Welfare State if we fail to give free education to those who do not want to study, free health care for those who are not sick and monthly income for those who did not work either.
            And yet we can only maintain a Welfare State with the quality that our budget allows.
            We can not provide excellent services to only have incomes that allow minimally acceptable quality of service (or what is possible ...)
             Ensuring a Welfare State with the possible quality for our reality to be an ambition of all who want a society more inclusive, more just and more fraternal and they see not as a cost but as an investment.
             Ensuring a Welfare State with the possible quality for our reality to be an ambition of all socialists.
            Ensuring a Welfare State with the possible quality for our reality depends on income and manage amputees who works at the same time and ensure that work still worth it.
            Ensuring a Welfare State with the possible quality for our reality depends on political honesty to say that there are limits to what can promise!
            They are taxes that guarantee the Welfare State, not demagoguery!
            We can continue to promise free education for those who do not want to study, free health for those who are not sick and monthly income for those who do not want to work, we can continue to promise all the rights and some more!
            And yet even more promising Rights!
            And even more rights and better!
            ... But without money, it will be just promises!

Europe, the end of a dream?

Europe, the end of a dream?Socialism for the Twenty-First Century: a Utopia, a lie or a Solution?, Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 03:29
            I am of the generation that sang "I want to see Portugal in the EEC", a theme from the portuguse rock band "GNR". I have always believed in a European project that transformed Europe of states, in some real United States of Europe, where it could be Europe from Portugal to Greece, via Britain, Sweden and Germany. He believed in a political Europe, but also social, which encourages the development in order to achieve the living standards of more developed countries.
            I had the opportunity to visit Berlin at the time of the fall of the Belin Wall and then left me no doubt that only a few years would be enough  for East Germany to be equivalent to its big brother. The reality however was contrary to my predictions and even today, after more than 20 years there are still "East Germans".
            Europe thought as I believed I would forget differences and hatreds secular realities separated by languages, morphological characteristics and ways of looking at life and live in society radically different principles in mixing immiscible surrounding a threshold of utopia.
            The global economic crisis precipitated the weaker economies of the eurozone to distressing situations, making inevitable the use of foreign aid as a first test of European solidarity and unity.
            At a time when one would expect support of the strongest economies of the European Union, which was observed was a shaking water from his coat, separating the European First Europeans, the European and North Second, in the South Europeans once we have Greeks, Germans, French, Irish, Portuguese, etc.. Instead of converging, our rich partners of the European Union say that we differ and impoverished.
            Does that only one in Europe or under the table, which means we should be poor, with low wages, job security and more with less social rights is that Europe dreamed? Is it a Europe that interests us?
            I'm still not for me "eurosceptic" but I'm not so convinced on the "want to see Portugal in the EEC" ...