I put here the IPN logo because looking back, IPN has greatly helped our think tank in guiding us to some policy discussions and advocacies, plus giving us some modest donations. Recognizing their support to us.
Welfarism in my presentation is defined as the political and social belief that individual and parental responsibility should be subsumed or substituted by more government responsibility in improving people’s welfare. So, from education to healthcare, from unemployment allowance to food stamps, from housing to train fare, from seeds to agri credit, an endless program of subsidies, all financed via high taxes/fees/fines/penalties and endless borrowings.
Welfarism therefore, is giving more powers
to governments and their officials, elected and appointed. Giving them more spending power and
taxation power. Below, an illustration.
Some data, taken from the IMF, World Economic Outlook (September 2014) Database.
Some data on the Philippine government's public debt was also shown. Another illustration below.
Shrinking government -- huge spending on welfarism, taxation, bureauccratism, etc. -- can actually lead to more citizens welfare.
1. Welfarism and populism is wrong. Individual and
parental/ guardian responsibility should not be subsumed by more government
responsibility.
2. Welfarism results in corruption of the people’s
values, creates more state dependency and sense of entitlement. The income and
investments of hard working people are not entirely theirs, other people are
“entitled” to get a big portion of it.
3. Governments around the world remain big, or keep
expanding. Local, national and international/multilateral government agencies.
This means their appetite for more taxes, fees, fines and penalties keep
expanding.
4. Existing taxes, fees, fines are no longer sufficient
to sustain huge spending by governments. Endless borrowing is the norm.
5. Almost all governments around the world are indebted,
they vary only in the extent of indebtedness. The more welfarist and populist
the government, the more indebted it is.
6. Being indebted is not bad per se. In cases of
emergencies and natural calamities (ex. Big earthquake in 1990, Mt.
Pinatubo eruption in 1991), borrow.
7. But when there
are no clear emergencies, governments should have balance budget at least,
fiscal surplus if possible and pay back some debt. This is not happening, in
most governments worldwide.
8. Fiscal responsibility, governments should learn to
live within their means, do not engage in endless borrowings, do not mortgage
the future of the next generations.
9. But we must not renege those debt payment, pay them
all. The hugeness of the debt and its interest payment is a constant reminder
to the current and future administrations that endless borrowing is wrong.
10. Reduce taxes especially personal and corporate income
tax, leading to zero income tax. Governments have many other taxes and fees to
collect, have many assets to privatize.
11. The promise and hypothesis of “expanding government
leads to expanded welfare” is hardly
happening. In most cases, the opposite happens, backward-bending case of
diswelfare as government size keeps
expanding.
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See also:
Welfarism 26: John Mangun on Economic Decline of the West, July 31, 2013
Welfarism 27: On Support for Single Mothers and HIV Patients, November 29, 2013
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