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RE: Understanding the Fall of Canada
I've been watching it in disbelief for weeks. Canada was always so far ahead in terms of liberality and freedom. In my eyes...
Ich beobachte es seit Wochen ungläubig. Kanada war immer so weit vorne in Sachen Liberalität und Freiheit. In meinen Augen...
I firmly believe that there are two types of people: thinkers and doers. Someone comes up with a good idea, but you need people to make it work. We can see that in old age security. Someone came up with the idea, but it took accountants to make it work properly. The money that people and their employers contribute to the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) is held by the CPP Investment Board, which has a net nominal return of over ten percent.
You could describe the thinkers as the left and the doers as the right. The cost of liberalness is freedom. If a person wants to have old age security, everyone must pay taxes. If you're going to have a pristine lawn, no one may walk on the grass.
One of the problems we have is that politicians on both sides decide for all of us without consulting the people. When COVID-19 started to appear, our government sent our emergency reserve of masks to China (about 16 tons). Consequently, our government lied and said that masks were unnecessary. They didn't want the public to compete against the medical profession for the remaining supplies. Ironically, agents acting on behalf of the Chinese government stripped our shelves, giving us shortages. The Chinese government turned around and sold our 16 tons of masks back to us. That is a different subject.
Since then, our government has covered the mismanagement of previous decisions with even greater errors. Too much was left in the hands of the thinkers as the doers had to stand on the sidelines.
Canada is not alone. Politicians around the world consider themselves cleverer than the people they represent. Our problem is that our leaders think they are and hold the power to prevent people from finding out they are not.
Yes, indeed... Canada isn't alone with that "phenomenon". Did we elect these people, these polititians? Not me, not you. But a lot of citizens. The majority. Does it work in a correct way? I'm not sure. I have other ideas about a political system. May be I'm a thinker. But I'm willy to become a doer. How?
Primarily by thinking outside of the box! One of my pet beliefs is having a Universal Basic Income (#UBI). While COVID-19 has been going on, Canadians have been able to tap into something similar, giving eligible people $2000 per month. The government has borrowed a massive amount of money to pay for it.
The thinkers believe that we should continue borrowing money and converting the current system to permanency. As an exercise, how would you implement a plan that would provide a #UBI without bankrupting a country?
I am also very much in favour of an unconditional basic income. However, I would finance it differently. On the one hand, through the abolition of all other social and transfer benefits, thus also saving the authorities and institutions that have become superfluous. On the other hand, by taxing assets, transactions and earnings (instead of profits)...
Ich bin auch sehr für das Bedingungslose Grundeinkommen. Allerdings würde ich es anders finanzieren. Zum Einen über den Wegfall aller sonstigen Sozial- und Transferleistungen, damit ebenso Einsparung der überflüssig gewordenen Behörden und Institutionen. Zum Anderen über Besteuerung von Vermögen, Transaktionen und Erträgen (statt Gewinnen)...
There is one fundamental precept of #UBI that can be discarded. While it can be universal, is it necessary to be equal payments. Young people have the highest potential to earn income. If older people could retire earlier, that would also open up opportunities in the workforce.
The Canadian government increased the child benefit by $100 per month during the pandemic. What if it was allocated to an annuity held by the CPP Investment Board. The annuity would accumulate at ten percent until age 18 (when the benefit ends). After age 18, the annuity would start to payout. The first five percent would be reinvested to continue building the annuity, and the balance would be paid out as the #UBI. The "child" would receive over $100 per month at age 18. Through the magic of compound interest, at age 55, the UBI would be over $2500. By age 65, it would continue to rise to almost $4000 per month.
This example meets the criteria of being self-funded without touching existing social safety net programs.