On the World
Observation / Taiwan Pension System
NEVATHIR
September 20, 2018
Conservatives live media life feeding on hostility toward government except for war and destruction that widely cost life and popularize suffering with no benefit to national security. Liberals live media life saving markets from failures with successes resembling massive wealth deterioration for the working class. Credulous socialists live media life defending Taiwan government pension fund bankruptcy, remembering its single-payer healthcare insurance success.
As a reminder to gullibles, highly successful single-payer Taiwan healthcare insurance was established by fascist KMT, while supposedly progressive DPP outcompeted Republicans in terms of xenophobia. Fascist KMT passed single-payer healthcare insurance to win people's votes, so xenophobic DPP fuelled hostility toward Chinese to win people's votes. Politics, hand in hand with people.
Given worldwide criminal politicians and politics, Taiwan in particular, shouldn't universal socialists bearing conformity to Stalin deserve the same fate, while Milton Friedman may be criticized for being too soft against tyranny?
Other than inability to bend criminal politicians toward societal good, government programs without corporate co-direction, professional guidance, and expert audit often exhibit inferior quality or inefficient quantity sans proper market due to lack of choices or proper regulation due to conflict of interest.
The reason Taiwan left poorly-architected government-financed pension fund to bankrupt itself is simple. The opportunity cost for politicians saving distant future population welfare is losing votes at present with high probability, for other politicians focusing on timely affairs flatter voters better.
A possible rectification is to offer both public and private option with careful regulation, much like hospitals. Savers may leave bankrupt government programs for sustainable private plans, forcing government to fix its finance or face financial crisis now.
Bringing certain failure from future to present, capitalism or market socialism overcomes universal socialists' and people's short-termism with market pressure toward progressive reform and timely adaptation for survival.
Of course, properly regulated rescue mechanism for deficient pension plan restructuring is recommended for saver protection.
The discussion here doesn't discredit highly successful USA Social Security, but reveals Taiwan government incompetence. USA isn't Greece. Likewise, Taiwan isn't USA, to boot. It's possible to appropriate Social Security alternatively, but political challenge is formidable.
If politicians and people can not prove themselves wiser than Milton Friedman, there is little room for government programs except for public goods and warfare, which demands serious liberals' and socialists' attention away from media life for good.