An article written by: Lee Sonogan
“Life brings only so much luck which when used up leaves you without a safety net.” – Once Upon a Lie
What is a social safety net? It is defined as a collection of services provided by the state or other institutions such as communities and friendly societies. Low, middle and high developing countries use social safety nets at different levels. While critics of social safety nets say it creates an incentive to be unproductive and poor, it has lowered crime rate and poverty levels to some degree worldwide.
The services of social safety nets are many. Today, about 2.5 billion people are covered by safety net programs and 650 million people or 56 per cent of the poorest people. Then in some low-income countries, around one in five of the world’s poor still lack safety net protection. The importance of a social safety net can protect families and individuals from poverty, economic shocks and any other potential crises.
The common social safety nets that countries have are the police, the fire department, welfare, public transport, unemployment benefits, a few more. While all these programs are necessary, I believe there are other areas of social safety nets that should be explored. While these socialism based services exist and are successful, why can’t we take risks in creating new services? The only way we can create growth over the status quo is to invest in social safety nets one at a time while having a conservative structure to all systems.
A universal basic income would not be effective in this day and age. It would be successful in a futuristic future where robots have taken most of the jobs. Minimum wage works for a lot of people, but employers take hiring people even more seriously. Universal healthcare has been successful in many countries. Then there are more services that seem like a human right. But doing them all at one time would mean a massive increase in taxes. Cause where else would this money come from? Most counties around the world are in debt in the billions.
In conclusion, this is a complex issue. Without the absolute facts and figures, you can not create successful socialism services within an existing government. These services would benefit local economic communities, but not as a whole country of people. And if there was a way for a whole country to be socialists. That would be communism in the radical left. My final thought is that we need a new system that is in the radical centre where socialism can benefit more people while having ethical private rights and moral conservative structures. As John F. Kennedy said, “Idealism without illusions,”.
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