tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216696312551674822.post4716749886645170232..comments2023-06-06T13:33:13.176+03:00Comments on A Crop Of...: The Century of DIY part 4Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08667181915901582783noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216696312551674822.post-18397778180103764842016-01-07T19:34:52.047+02:002016-01-07T19:34:52.047+02:00Sue, Thanks for your thoughts.
Firstly, I'd ...Sue, Thanks for your thoughts. <br /><br />Firstly, I'd like to point out that just because you suffer with paranoia, it doesn't mean they are not out to get you!<br /><br />Cynical, Yes! In spades. Conspiracy theory driven, no. I don't believe in a big master plan. There are too many players with their own agendas for any unified plan to achieve fruition. <br /><br />The labour dynamic in the Beveridge period was, in fact very different from now. Automation has made huge leaps and many un/semi-skilled workers are now competing with machines who have trade-in values as opposed to pension costs. Soon more and more skilled and professional workers will see similar fates. <br /><br />Social needs, however, have changed very little. this does not mean that governments should sell off their obligations as entrepreneurial opportunities. The dependant population has become unsustainable in the present model. Raising the pensionable age is one solution, many choose to work beyond due to the the benefits of improved healthcare. There are many idealistic suggestions such as resource-based societies. Maybe, culling or workhouses but this is a management problem. <br /><br />One thing is for sure, selling public assets to the markets at knock-down prices as well as selling public services back to the public is going to open a can of worms. <br /><br />The last century made huge leaps forward in social care and the remit of governments. Major headway was made in tackling poverty. It is just lazy-minded to abandon these plans because the books are getting tough to balance. <br /><br />Anyway, gotta go, there's someone hanging around outside!<br />Happy New yearDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08667181915901582783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216696312551674822.post-17005853537663805902016-01-06T20:03:33.085+02:002016-01-06T20:03:33.085+02:00Don't you think the change to freemium also ha...Don't you think the change to freemium also has to do with the fact the post-war, Beveridge-designed model has to do with completely new social and economic circumstances which couldn't possibly have been foreseen in the post-war period? And which probably only worked for the immediate decade following that period? I mean economico-socio-politically - population figures fitted the model, pretty full employment in post-war reconstruction in a low-tech world which needed far more hands to the pump, after which people went home and gardened for 2 or 3 years before they popped their clogs. Given how much they'd contributed over a working life of course they could have a pension which pretty much equalled what they'd earned. Nowadays medical science gives us all much longer lives and the public purse can't afford to provide what we have come to think is our right. Fewer people working and anyway fewer young people mean there aren't enough of them to provide the benefits we think we deserve - unless you move to huge Scandinavian-style taxation, and they don't like that much either, and anyway they're all much smaller countries. These are all problems. Is your analysis a teensy bit cynical and conspiracy-theory driven?suej11https://www.blogger.com/profile/00163496495594927183noreply@blogger.com