Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander and his successor Olaf Palme
The “Greek miracle” liberated the people, changed the world and the course of history because it first discovered the “reason” and later brought to human relations the also very important Greek “measure”. Our ancestors believed that in all human activities, economic, political and social, there must be “perfect in every way”. The Greek measure means modesty, consensus, conciliation, mutual respect, solidarity, democratic dialogue.
What will mean the intervention of the welfare state “when and where it is needed” and the Greek “measure”, let’s look at the following three examples.
• Economy.
Toyota, which has recently become the largest car industry in the world, wants to sell cars where it can and more in the US and Canadian markets. According to “economic liberalism and more neoliberalism” he could do it freely. But sometimes there is the word “but”, the Greek “metro” and the welfare state. It can do it freely, but it will have to produce cars in Canada. The result is that Toyota was forced to build car factories in Canada, which creates thousands of jobs, brings the much-needed economic growth to Canada, not to Japan, and not only are cars sold in Canada but also exported to the world market. With only one Toyota plant having the technology and capital to do the job, the Canadian state’s revenue is almost incalculable, as Toyota is taxed in moderation on its profits, employees are taxed on their income, employees they spend their money and pay sales taxes to the state, and others have income from that money, and pay taxes again and so on. , economists say when you spend one euro you give income to another ten euros. Some have realized that they can benefit and have found ways to control globalization, neoliberalism and sharks. With the money that Toyota brings to Canada through globalization, neoliberalism and sharks, the Canadian state can use it for social benefits, public health, etc.
Eventually when it rains lemons you make lemonades you do not condemn and reject all things, but you try to benefit in your own way from what is around you. All things are relative, and you can gain from all evils, such as globalization, neoliberalism, and sharks, something you would not otherwise have if you had a little willpower and imagination.
• Social politics
In the welfare state of Canada, all citizens and even those who have lived legally in Canada for certain years receive an old-age pension when they reach the age of 65, not one day earlier and of course not at the age of 45 or 50, only when they reach the age of 65. no exceptions.
But there is a welfare state intervention. The old-age pension is gradually declining for those who “have more”, and have an annual income of over $ 73,756 for 2016, and there are many in Canada, and when the annual income reaches $ 119,400 the pension old age is zeroed.
At the same time the welfare state provides a “Guaranteed Income Supplement” something like a small pension, to citizens if they live in Canada and have a low income. This monthly non-taxable benefit is added to the pensions of low-income citizens.
These welfare state interventions are easily accepted by Canadian society and “by those who have more”, are acquired rights and are not disputed or discussed by anyone.
• International relations
In the UN peacekeeping operations for many years the welfare state of Canada plays a leading role and always participates where needed from Cyprus to Sudan. World peace with projects, money and personnel, is a high priority and basic policy of the Canadian state. The Canadian soldiers became the “blue helmets” of the UN and the Canadian flag reminds everyone of modesty, peace and democratic dialogue.
Canadians have become modest out of necessity, because next to them is an “elephant” and when you sleep with an elephant you have to use speech and dialogue, and be modest. Eventually this modesty proved to be very beneficial and effective in practice for everyone and became a way of life that the Canadian welfare state wants to share with everyone.
The issue of global economic development is very complex and not at all easy. Β we say what is happening in Greece where everyone has been talking for many years and wants growth and development is not seen anywhere. The “developed” capitalists of the welfare state claim that (economic) freedom and economic development require a lot of work, especially innovation and ingenuity, organization, planning and discipline, it does not automatically come from the skies or from Germany, but from the citizens themselves. I would like to add that we still need rationality, education, freedom and a disciplined lifestyle. At the same time, the state intervenes in the economy with a “measure” when and where needed.
There are five basic economic models.
1) the state economy, everything is controlled by the state
2) the economy of the free market or free trade, everything is controlled by the market, supply and demand work without any state intervention.
3) the mixed economy, 50% state economy and 50% free economy
4) the mixed economy, which is more state and less free let’s say 90-60% state and 10-40% free
5) the mixed economy, which is more free and less state, say 90-60% free and 10-40% state, the model, is also called the economic model of the Welfare State. The intervention of the state in the economy is done with “measure” when and where it is needed.
Of course models # 1,2 are nowhere to be found except in books, and most likely model # 3. Sometimes we might talk about model # 4
Excessive use many times with different terms of economic liberalism and more neoliberalism has caused a justified confusion. Some deliberately use the term neoliberalism to achieve political benefits because they supposedly advocate more progressive positions and suggest unfulfilled wishes that will strangely come from heaven. In politics, in society and more in the economy, what you say matters more than what you do with what you say and it matters most what results you have with what you do. In the end it is only the results that interest us.
In the endless battles of society that take place between the general interest and sharks, since people discovered money to facilitate their transactions, everyone is trying to improve their position and profits and often in an exaggerated way. When sharks’ excesses become unbearable, the general interest resists and imposes rules that sharks think they will violate at the first opportunity they find, never forgetting their goals and profits. In these battles, the Greek “measure” and the intervention of the welfare state “when and where it is needed” make a big difference ..
Our view is that the economic model of the Welfare State, intelligently implements in the best way the Greek “measure”, modesty, consensus, conciliation, mutual respect, solidarity, democratic dialogue, and its implementation has the best results for all.
The only question that concerns the economists and politicians of the economic model of the Welfare State, is how much more the less free the state is the mixed economy, say 90% free and 10% state, the 80%, 20% etc. Pi. There is no other issue.
The “capitalists” of America and Canada have long understood that state intervention in the economy must be done “in moderation” when and where it is needed, and they are taking far more socialist measures than the countries of the once so-called of existing socialism ”. That is why they still live and reign today.
The economic model of the Welfare State is, for the followers of the welfare state, the undisputed and only way to economic development, social prosperity and political freedom. Many argue, perhaps unjustifiably, in my opinion, that there is a high correlation between political freedom and economic development. Swedes are the first to talk about thirty hours of work a week, in other words they reduce work by 25% and are interested in a better quality of life, they know why they live. Tage Erlander, Prime Minister for 23 consecutive years, a true leader left worthy successors (only in this the real leaders of history are judged), he was the first to clearly show the one-way street and his contribution to humanity is incalculable.
Undoubtedly, the Liberal Parliamentary Democracy is the most socially just and acceptable political system. Also this issue has been finally resolved.
The United Nations makes an annual report on the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures the average length of time a person can expect to live, the quality of health, access to education and livelihoods. the level. In this report in the first ten places are undisputed, for the last twenty years at least, the countries that have as a model the Welfare State such as Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, United States, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden. “The welfare state has given Western societies the opportunity to experience a great economic boom,” he continues today.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI
Economic development, based on the economic model of the Welfare State and the Liberal Parliamentary Democracy are ultimately the only ways and today there are no other alternatives
Change and evolution have a long way to go in the model of the Welfare State and in the Liberal Parliamentary Democracy. Of course some will want to talk more and rarely try other avenues which in my opinion will be very short.
Globalization
Workers at a tou Bangladesh factory, even today, earn about $ 500 a year for 40 hours a week, and unskilled workers in Canada earn about $ 25,000 a year, or 50 times more, for the same hours, with natural consequences. for the price of the products for all depending on where the production takes place. Canadian factory workers make about $ 100,000 a year for about 50 hours a week, and a postman 40 hours a week makes $ 60,000 a year.
The New International Economic Order, enacted by the United Nations in 1974, was intended to help the economically disadvantaged growing nations, on their own initiative, and to bridge the gap between Bangladeshi workers. and the Canadian worker, and this was considered a moral and just goal that is not easily disputed by many today.
Most decisions in the developed “capitalist” countries of the West, which affect the population in its daily life, are made by the citizens or by economic agents, and not by the state, based on the rule which is the most efficient and economical way. Citizens want as little state as possible every day, because they believe they will decide better what concerns them. Of course the state must intervene “in moderation where and when needed”, but the state is not the main or the only way for economic activities.
Capital has neither a god nor a homeland and accepted to participate, perhaps with great enthusiasm, in the New International Economic Order. Computers are made in China with Intel funds and not far from my home, it is a Toyota car factory that produces about 500,000 cars a year. are Chinese, Canadian (it no longer matters what it is, people buy them) or have international capital as their boss. .
The development of technology allows and encourages Intel to easily invest $ 5.5 billion in China. The rule that is the most efficient and economical way matters, nothing else ..
Intel says may invest up to $5.5 billion in China memory chip plant | Reuters
Globalization, for economic agents, is a very easy choice and may be an inevitable process that will ultimately help them survive. It is a key economic action based on the laws of supply and demand that we have all accepted. Economists and to a lesser extent some politicians claim that it will also ultimately help the global consumer. We will be able to buy cheaper consumer products but at the same time we will have work and income, here we stumble. Here we need work. America in the last crisis with state intervention gave the solution. As a result, GM now produces cheap cars, say 20,000 instead of the 50,000 it produced before the crisis. Here it seems that we have begun to rethink globalization and it is not ruled out that we may soon have the opposite circulation. The view that globalization has hurt America is gaining ground. We can not stop it, but we can slow it down. It is certain that those who understand the new game will survive. It is very certain that those who have more will lose some. It is no exaggeration to say, only ascetics will escape the globalization that enters our lives every day without asking, at first we distrust but eventually we approve.
The era after the New Order
In the 60’s the French politician Z.S. Schreiber was talking about the “American Challenge.” Today, the Germans and the French apply the American rule “if you can not defeat them together with them” and apply what Schreiber said the Americans should not do, which ultimately makes no difference to the region.
In the post-New Age era, the invisible world economic agents (who have neither god nor homeland) are constantly fighting using all the means they know how to regain power with all its benefits. This struggle began when man discovered money, so that he could easily ask his fellow human beings to serve his needs and it will never end. The struggle will be hard with alternating victories and defeats for the two camps and sometimes there will be an ongoing war. The demand will be a fairer Welfare State, more political freedom and more Liberal parliamentary Democracy.
The New Order and the economic “sharks” advertise, seek, and “sell” every day, where they can but also to the fools more, a model of a docile citizen, who “consumes”. In 1966 I went to attend the first economics course of the late X. Zolota and told us “human needs are unsatisfied, that’s why the economy works, we always want more”. Consumption is an innate natural need where when controlled it is a pleasure and when not controlled it is a passion. I mentioned above that economic development also needs rationality, education, freedom and a disciplined lifestyle. Ford discovered the car and Mercedes decided to produce and advertise Mercedes and Volkswagen and of course I did not have a specific consumer in mind. What will the consumer do if Volkswagen buys a Mercedes or “will use where it can a donkey to cross the road and not a Concord plane” (which no longer exists ..), because what happens is not the fault of Ford, nor o Mercedes, neither Germany, nor America, nor the New Order, except its empty head. There is no autopilot that will do everything for us and only he will be responsible when everything goes wrong. I want to reiterate that “we should not swim with sharks” (a wise Canadian proverb for those who borrow from usurers) because when “sharks” eat us, it is our fault, not “sharks”. “Sharks” will always exist and the easier they find victims, the more they will multiply and grow stronger.
The younger Greeks changed the meaning of the aristocracy, where the excellent hold. Gradually we passed to the aristocracy of blood (nepotism and family rule), and after we got tired of the princes they passed to the aristocracy of spirit, money and lies. Of course this is the last step of the “evil of the ladder” with all the consequences.
We tried them all. The time has come to return to our roots, we must return to the aristocracy in its true sense, where the excellent hold, to bring back to our daily lives the “Greek measure”, modesty, consensus, conciliation, mutual respect, solidarity and democracy . The citizens will soon take from the rulers what belongs to them, they will say their opinion loudly and sharply in every direction and they will build the necessary democratic institutions starting from the political parties so that we can finally change course and see fate in the sun one day. . We must all one day understand that our positions and views in our public and private lives have significance and consequences for all of us.
Tassos Giannitsis, emeritus professor, former minister tells us, the emphasis is mine.
“In order not to overwhelm the youth of today and tomorrow, however, we must become aware that a twenty-year-old in Chalkida or Sparta is no longer in danger of competing with someone of a different party, ideology or family or living in Xanthi or Agrinio. It is endangered by our own shortcomings. The danger he faces is his widening gap with the worker and the skills he has or will have tomorrow in handling the new tools of economic and political domination in Shanghai, Kyoto, Edinburgh, Barcelona or Calcutta. This risk is not possible. He is sure. “
See the link for more.
http://www.tovima.gr/opinions/article/?aid=929084
I could omit or delete all the above and replace them with the phrase that I did not tire of reminding you of what Cornelius Kastoriadis was telling us ”-Yes, sir, you will correct the Roman, in the space and in the area where you are
astrosgr.com 