READERS SPEAK OUT
In his column "The Clinton & Roosevelt Inaugu-rals"
(NCX, Feb/Mar, 1997), Jerry Brown empha-sizes that in other countries Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) and Food Stamps are not called "welfare,"
but referred to as "income assistance" or "family assistance,"
where poverty generated by the market system is compensated by direct government
intervention. An excellent functioning model of this type of compassionate
social welfare system can be found in Norway.
While the United States has been rapidly dismantling the welfare state,
privatizing the public sector, downsizing government, reducing subsidies
and cutting social programs, Norway has been moving in the opposite direction.
The Norwegian social welfare system, which is the most generous in the world,
is based upon strong egalitarian beliefs and frowns upon wide disparities
in income. Some government benefits offered under the Norwegian welfare
system include the following:
·Generous child-rearing cash subsidies paid annually to mothers who
leave their jobs to stay at home and raise their children.
·Free government-funded day care for working mothers with children
·Free lifetime medical and dental care for all Norwegian citizens (single-payer
system)
·Government-subsidized housing and vacation benefits
·Retirement pay equivalent to industrial workers' pensions, for all
homemakers.
·Forty-two weeks of fully paid maternity leave from work
·Free government-paid education for all Norwegian citizens through
the doctorate level
Surprisingly, the Norwegian business community also benefits from their
government's efforts at promoting social democracy. The Norwegian inflation
rate is under 2%, and their unemployment rate is the lowest in Europe. In
recent years, annual economic growth in Norway has ranged from 3% to 5%.
Norwegian workers are the most productive in the world because strikes are
rare and there is no high demand for salary increases. Crime and homelessness
are also virtually non-existent, both in the cities and countryside. Because
of these positive pro-business benefits, most Norwegian business people
have joined with their workers to strongly support their government's social
welfare system.
Over the years, most Norwegian government and business leaders have learned
that the goals of social justice and economic prosperity can be attained
together under a compassionate social welfare system. Before anyone else
in the United States suffers under the harsh provisions of "The Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996," I strongly urge our
elected officials to consider the "welfare state" success story
in Norway and repeal this Draconian law now!
Jeffrey M. Gonyo, Slinger, Wisconsin
Apr-May
97- - Archives - - HOME-
- Electrons to Editor
