Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Asia's Next Revolution
http://www.economist.com/node/21562195 Due 18 September 2012. What are "lessons from the west" from which Asia is learning? Cite specific instances of agreement or disagreement with the articles' content. Why would Asia want to mimic socialism rather than capitalism??
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There is social pressure among the continent for social protection. China has learned to provide their citizens with health insurance, extended pension coverage, and covered more people with social security. Over 40 million households of India benefit from the government. They have health insurance provided. I agree with the government of Asia helping out citizens. I believe health insurance should be provided and there should be minimum wage. The economy of Asia should be based on socialism instead of capitalism because a continent based on socialism is to satisfy the needs of the people and the economy. The needs of Asia's economy and people need to be satisfied as much as they can be.
ReplyDeleteAsia's economy has been referred to as "extremely dynamic" and is constantly changing. Now as they are moving towards a more (what we would call) modern (first world) system of economy they are leaning towards socialism, in the sense that they are providing more government sponsored services to people. They have learned from other Western economies that Welfare should be moderate so it does not induce laziness and act as a "cushion". They also have seen that America has made unaffordable promises regarding health care. They should approach health care and entitlement with caution, so they do not end up over their heads in empty promises they are unable to afford. I do agree that the government should lean more towards socialism because it is better for the general population. Without it, the people of rural China would probably still be without health care. Socialism also prevents the polarization between rich and poor that is common with capitalism, where the rich get richer and vice versa. Although they may face challenges due to the large population, the general direction in which their economy is moving looks promising.
ReplyDeleteAsian countries are said to have the most dynamic economies in the world, but as they become more successful, Asian citizens are starting to pressure the government for more social protection. Asian countries have learned from western mistakes, which include making unaffordable pension and healthcare promises. They have learned to make social protection more of a safety net, so the citizens will not rely too heavily on it, but will still have a sense of protection. I agree that Asia should raise the retirement age, so they can prevent making unaffordable promises. like western nations. Overall, Asia is striving towards socialism because of the desire for a balance between rich and poor, and a reliance on their citizens.
ReplyDeleteAsia is learning from western countries attempts of setting up welfare states by realizing that they need more moderate government aid to benefit their citizens. This way, they do not create systems where laziness is rewarded and the welfare system itself acts as a cushion for the citizens, instead of a safety net. European states have especially struggled from this problem as they tried redistributing their capital while being ravaged from wars and depressions. America too has served as a teaching lesson since it has tied people’s health insurance to their employment. With that, I agree with the article when it states that the Asian countries, when trying to overcome the many challenges of creating a welfare state, should “protect the poor more than subsidizing the rich” in relation to social provisions. That way, public money is not wasted on things that benefit the rich, but on the things, like health care, that can benefit the majority of society. Asia is making an attempt to become socialist rather than capitalist because not only have their citizens been demanding more government aid, but also to decrease the gap between the rich and the poor. So, instead of having a dog eat dog world, now the countries can have a economy that provides some support along with equality.
ReplyDeleteThe lessons Asia is learning are the mistakes from the other countries such as America's mistake in "creating its entitlements system—including making unaffordable pension and health-care promises, and tying people’s health insurance to their employment." I agree that china has done something right since a few years ago 80% of people had no health insurance and now practically everyone does. Asian countries are also really imporant to our economy because if something goes wrong it can screw up the worlds most dynamic economics. China wants to mimic socialism because it will help their peoples rather than captialism and the peoples wants from the government are growing.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with the article in the Economist on one point they made. Asia might have a dynamic economy, but what they gain in production capability, they lacking innovation and ideas. Asia is striving for the top seat in the world economy, while trying to avoid the pitfalls of the west. They understand that to have a strong state, you must first have a strong state of people. I agree with the article that Asia needs to be more flexible and innovative, while avoiding a high minimum wage; I also agree that Asia needs to mature politically before handling state welfare programs which involve both politics and economics. I believe the reason why Asian countries are following the path of more Socialistic policies, because for most of the Asian countries such as China, the transition from Communism to Socialism is a much more easily transition that to Capitalism. I also believe that the Asian countries are trying to avoid the many pitfalls posed by capitalism, such as the issue of lassie faire economics. Lassie faire simply does not hold up when a few greedy men control the world’s economy. Greed is not good when you have a bunch of Gordon Gekkos willing to do any amount of scrupulous acts to achieve the almighty dollar. Asian countries want to avoid Capitalistic mistakes, and their first step is to learn very important lessons from the west. Because these Asian countries want to set-up a welfare state that might actually work-out, they are trying to learn the lessons from the west. One of the lessons that the Asian countries need to address, is to plan for the long term. They need to take into account longer life expectancy and the emergence of new technologies, something the United States overlooked when they implemented the Social Security program. They must avoid making lawful promises that they can’t provide, such as Greece had tried to do. And finally, in the emergence of a new welfare plan, the states must avoid placing a huge debt on the following generation, such as the United States and many other western countries have yet to address.
ReplyDeleteThe lessons Asia is learning from the west are all thanks to the mistakes other countries have made in the past and in the present. One of these examples is America's entitlements system, where unaffordable pensions and health care promises are placed on the people and their health insurance is tied into their employment. In present day Asia, about every person has health insurance as opposed to its previous days where only 20% had it. Another lesson is learning to collect more tax revenue which will cover their spending promises. I would agree with the article when it states that Asia is trying to overcome many obstacles in their creation of a welfare state. Asia wants to mimic socialism because they want to lessen the gap between the rich and poor and create a society in which everyone is equal in their treatment. In such case, the people of Asia can gain more of their government's aid which the people have been asking for.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that Asian countries are taking "lessons from the west" and applying it in their decision making. As countries like China observe how welfare programs have worked out in the USA they make decisions based on what they believe will work out in the best way for their country. The article mentions how low retirement ages of Asian countries are and I agree that they must be raised because it truly is unsustainable. I believe China as well as other countries have leaned toward the more socialistic type of welfare because it seems to have had better results than capitalistic forms of welfare. In like manner, I would deduce that they have made these decisions because its a much more frictionless transition for a communist government to adopt socialistic policies rather than capitalistic policies.
ReplyDeleteSome lessons that Asian countries are learning are that, yes, Socialist policies are great for a country and a welfare program help tremendously, however, it is not altogether safe to become completely "welfare-dependent." They (the Asian countries) learn the consequences of welfare/social program dependency and inability to pay for it from Western countries such as Brazil. Brazil spends a lot of money, however their social programs are lacking because the aid from these programs is not evenly distributed. In all, the biggest problem Asian countries face is allocating their spending wisely in order to have dependable social programs without the threat of overspending. Asian countries, due to their massive amounts of working-class citizens and, as the article stated, rapidly increasing class of affluent citizens, want to adopt a more Socialist system of economy in order to provide for the increasing demands of their citizens and their need for social programs. In a Capitalist, free market economy, these government programs are not used because it necessitates government involvement, and the "invisible hand."
ReplyDeleteChina has been growing very rapidly over the past few years and because of that China's people have been placing more and more pressure on their government to get more from them. Like public pension, national health insurance, unemployment and other social protection "hallmarks". China has been learning alot of 'lessons' from the west on what NOT to do. For example in Europe when recipients of welfare became a powerful interest group which resulted in economic sclerosis. Another thing China is trying to avoid is straying from tradition of hard work with welfare dependency. One of China's bigger problems is the sheer size of the population and to provide welfare to every single person would be difficult because most of the Asian population are in the "informal" economy which makes it hard to verify their actual incomes. China's leap towards welfare provision and will greatly depend on politics and the economy
ReplyDeleteAsian countries are learning that it is not safe to completely depend on welfare and that the Asian countries will not be able to pay Western countries. One of China's problems is that they do not have enough welfare to support everyone in the country because of its population, which is the largest in the world. I think Asia wants to make everyone equal in society and thats why they mimic socialism and Asian countries want more of the governments help.
ReplyDeleteAsia's economy has been extremely diverse and is becoming more malleable. But as they progress more and more, they're becoming highly interested in the ways of socialism. They rely more upon governmental planning to distribute their resources, etc. As the article states, they have "little desire to replace traditions of hard work and thrift with a flabby welfare dependency." They've acquired this knowledge from keeping a close eye on their western friends. The article also says that Asian countries are well aware of the fact that they should stray away from making healthcare and pension promises that they cannot keep. To avoid it, the article says their safety nets have generally been minimalist. The basic health insurance and pensions only replace a small fraction of workers' former income.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what I agree and disagree with, I think that sticking too much with one form of economy might create a polarization, or an extreme. Sure, China, etc. should include certain essences of Socialism to keep their economy afloat. However, they might need to include aspects of other economies to prevent something drastic from taking place. Although Socialism prevents the distinction between the poor and rich, I believe that if they incorporate some of our techniques into their economy, they can keep the money distributions fair, but the more important of the jobs, or rather, the more hard-working of the people could be better off. It is what they deserve, after all.
With all of that being said, regardless of opinion, their economy looks to be moving in the right direction. As long as they keep it in check, they should continue to move up.
Asia is using the mistakes from other countries to develop their welfare system. And since those Asian countries has to sustain a large population, a reliable welfare system is necessary. I agree that the welfare system should not be a cushion but rather a safety net and government should be moderate and there should be a reasonable minimum wage. I disagree that the retirement age should be raised, however, if people should choose to work beyond that age limit, they should be able to. Asian countries tend to be much more collective therefore socialism will work very well for them. Their welfare system looks promising as long as they keep it moderate, not repeat history's mistakes, and not make promises that cannot be kept.
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ReplyDeleteJacob Hochman - Asia has realized that they need more moderate government aid to benefit their citizens by learning from the mistakes of western countries. By doing this, they are avoiding a system where welfare is a fallback for the citizens and where laziness is rewarded. America is a prime example that Asia has learned from because of how we have tied people’s health insurance to their employment. European states have struggled with this problem as they have made attempts to redistribute their capital while being ravaged from wars and depressions. With that, I agree with the article states that Asian countries should “protect the poor more than subsidizing the rich” in relation to social provisions when trying to overcome the many challenges of creating a welfare state. This way, public money will not be benefitting the rich, but rather be better spent on important things such as health care, that will be a benefit to the majority of society. Asian citizens have been demanding more government aid, which is one reason for attempting to become Socialist over Capitalist. Another is to try and decrease the gap between the rich and the poor. Instead of having a Capitalist Society where everyone is an enemy in business and you need to beat competition and make the most, the countries will have an economy that provides more support and equality among citizens.
ReplyDeleteThe “lessons from the west” that Asia is learning are many of the downfalls that are occurring or already have occurred in many countries like the United States and several European countries. Europe’s welfare for instance is, according to the article, a “safety net” turned into a “cushion” over time, this means that it is used to give people leverage and coverage throughout their lives which wasn’t the initial goal. Also, the article comments on European countries’ redistribution of wealth wound up backfiring. Another region of the world, Latin America, had many problems such as collecting an insufficient amount of income tax revenue and their social protection “often aggravated inequalities.” Finally, the United States’ mistake that Asia can learn from is in their entitlement system in that it is “making unaffordable pension and health0care promises and tying people’s health insurance to their employment.”
ReplyDeleteAsia may want to mimic socialism rather than capitalism because the demographic and geographical factors affect the many possible decisions. For instance, the “big three” countries in Asia: China, India, and Indonesia, have such bid income disparities in which creating a welfare system will be like creating a single welfare state across the EU. In an attempt to prevent their continent from the same harmful factors that many other countries have seen, the countries of Asia may want to have more government control over society rather than free enterprise because a single public payer, as the article rights, may be the cheapest way to provide health care” and in turn can help Asian countries create new and efficient delivery systems with modern technology.
I agree with the article when it talks about Asia transitioning into a socialist government to protect itself from the capitalistic mistakes that have arisen in the West. Socialism can benefit all countries, the article specifically says that with a cheaper health care program (the single public payer) monetary costs can we refocused on a more technological research which will, in turn, help the PPC of Asia protrude farther to the right and entirely benefit their own economy and the World Economy.
The "lessons from the west" that Asia is learning are how to be a socialist country from the many mistakes of other countries. Socialisim helps balance the country and give a safety net for people. Asia is shifting from a rapid incline to a steady welfare state. Although socialism can help them and becoming more welfare based can help them, their economy is currently doing good and they shouldn't change very much.
ReplyDeleteAsia is learning from other countries past mistakes in order for them to benefit and move forward; which is pushing them to socialism more, rather than capitalism. Asia's citizens want more from their government. Things like unemployment benefits, national health insurance, and public pensions are being needed more and more across the continent. Citizens are yearning for social protection and Asia is "learning from the West" to try to meet these needs.
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