Tag archive for ‘welfare state’
What a Post-American World means for Europe
In recent months, Europe has learned some hard lessons about its transatlantic partner. President Barack Obama triggered great hope when he replaced George W. Bush at the American helm. But a year later, especially following Obama’s failure to produce anything of substance at Copenhagen, Europeans are realizing that Obama is going to have a difficult [...]
Can The State Still Be Saved?
After eleven years in government, the German Social Democratic Party are now having to cope with their greatest electoral defeat in the post-war period. On the day of the election there was a feeling almost of unbelief about what was happening, not just among party members but also among many supporters. How was it possible [...]
Our Aim should be a Fundamental Rebalancing of Economic Power
Compensatory redistribution in the form of the welfare state is not on its own enough to redress the inequalities generated by capitalism.
At the beginning of this debate Poul Nyrup Rasmussen highlighted what several other contributors have agreed is an apparent paradox: the ideology of market fundamentalism lies thoroughly discredited by the failure of its economic [...]
Fair taxes are part of the Good Society
Fiscal deficits can be managed and are less dangerous than cuts.
In Britain, the Conservative Party and their friends in the mainstream media and City are using the recession to launch an assault on the solidarity of the welfare state. Over the summer, the Labour Party was embarrassed over its ‘investment versus cuts’ narrative when [...]
A Social-Democratic Strategy for Growth
An ethically informed strategy, based on growth through investment and better employment conditions, is also the most effective.
Our debate on the good society should not seek to design a social model based on ethical principles. Rather, ethics should help us in determining the direction and means by which we as democratic socialists seek to ensure [...]
Hypotheses on high youth unemployment rates in Scandinavian countries
Several of the comments in response to my previous post on “European youth unemployment” encouraged me to explore the causes of high youth unemployment in Scandinavian countries. In-depth research on this issue might give complete answers; here I only aim to propose some hypotheses which require further investigation.
First of all, I would generally exclude the [...]
Six Things that didn’t cause the Crisis – But really ought to have
Experts, soothsayers and pundits have been falling over themselves to list the factors that combined to produce the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. (My ha’penny’s worth is here). A partial consensus has emerged on some issues (excessive deregulation of the financial sector, current account imbalances) while debate continues to rage on others (such [...]