Climate, Welfare..., Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 15 October, 2018 http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4892252.htm
Context: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany – are the countries with the largest so-called social welfare states. They are the most prosperous. They have the best social conditions. They report the highest quality of life... They have a degree of equality that is unmatched in other parts of the world. People work very hard, thank you, and labour force participation of women is the highest in those countries. Why? Because the social welfare state also means that there’s child care available, that there is maternity leave for the first nine months or 12 months to a mother raising a new child. And father’s leave. But after that there is enough support that a mother can go to work. And people do want to go to work. The idea that this has taken away the work incentive is actually the opposite.
“[W]hy are Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway not that far behind us, ranking in the top twelve countries for antidepressant use? Is it just the long winters? Why are their drug-related deaths booming? Isn’t it possible that a generous, far-reaching welfare state depletes people’s sense of drive, purpose, and self-respect, and enables them to explore chemical forms of happiness?”
Ten Reasons We Can't, and Shouldn't, Be Nordic (2018)
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Jim Geraghty 7
American journalist 1975Related quotes
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“[W]hy presumes purpose... But what if there isn't purpose? Whenever we say why we really mean how.”
"Lawrence Krauss: A Universe from Nothing" (2031)
Source: 11:05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sKeycH3bE&t=665s
“Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”
Interview, Los Angeles Times (7 January 1970)
1970s
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Lecture (December 19, 2007)
Source: Economics Of The Welfare State (Fourth Edition), Chapter 2, The Historical Background, p. 39
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