Should We Consider
Social Welfares While Developing Economy
Robert Ching 景彥儒 (101102044)
National Central
University
Abstract
The question of
whether to develop a country’s economics or to maintain social fairness has
long been a contentious problem for Taiwan. The controversy was established on
whether it is morally acceptable to benefit the majority people and
disadvantage the minors? Moreover, ordinary citizens hold solid believe that
developing economics somehow equals to public welfare deprivation.
There had been many
arguments proclaimed, believing that the government should do everything to
protect the equality among the people. However, the question arises on the
definition of social fairness. It is obvious that no one wants to be the victim
and be deprived while the others benefit from the result. Although the reality
shows that both developing economics and social fairness could not be
completely balanced. For example, when the Taiwanese government attempts to
sign the EFCFA with the Chinese government many people protested on the street;
it may seems to bring economic prosperity to the people, but in the same time
sentenced a death penalty on the Taiwanese traditional industries, such as the
towel industry. Therefore, it seems for the ordinary citizens that an ideal
administration should always consider equality as the ultimate goal.
Furthermore, it also reveals the ill-favored truth that without a firm
economy as basic foundation there would be no social fairness. It is simple to
understand this concept by thinking that if a country does not have a
well-functioned economic system, how could it provide job opportunities for the
needed and how could it watch over the underprivileged minority. Here, the
cruel reality had exposed itself by emphasizing that fortune is the exact
solution for it. For instance, when the great economic recession stroke the
world back in the past years; many people were driven out of their job and were
depended on the country’s pension. What if then the country were poor and were
not capable of distributing out pensions for the needed. If that happened to be
the case, the whole idea of the social fairness will not be considered that
much.
To make a
short conclusion, we can assume that there is no true social fairness existed
in the world. It is impossible to have everyone to stand on the equal bases.
Sacrifices have to be made in order to assure the welfares of the majority.
Hence, the whole theory of equality and social fairness are to be designated to
be idealism. Although many people claimed that why should certain people suffer
while the rest benefit; it is without doubt a serious and sad problem to be
discussed but the economic theory of “Opportunity Cost” might provide some
explanation to support this concept. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines
the economic theory “Opportunity Cost” as "the loss of potential gain from
other alternatives when one alternative is chosen". Briefly, what it means
is that if we had to make a choice between the choices, we should always choose
the one that provides the less cost.
Text
(1)
Government’s
Decision is Essential to Pursue Happiness
From the article
“Enhancing the Social Welfares is the Government’s Duty” by the chairman of the
Taiwan New Century Foundation, he points out that the term gross national
happiness is the future indicator for determining a country’s social-economic
development. “According to Wikipedia the definition of the gross national
happiness (GNH) was designed in an attempt to define an indicator and concept
that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and
psychological terms than only the economic indicator of gross domestic product
(GDP).” It includes a wide category such as education and social welfares. Even
though the things listed above are no doubt important, the methods which to
achieve it are still based on money. Just think if you do not have enough money
to feed yourself how could you come up with spare money to develop and maintain
things.
The challenge for the
Taiwanese government now is that the generally public does not trust them.
There are always disagreements to the government’s decisions. The public thinks
that the government is only doing things to benefit rich people while the other
suffers. There are even articles written saying that the Taiwanese government
should take some Western countries for model. Perhaps it is true that these
countries had both well-developed economy and social welfares. The reality,
however, is that each country has its own history and culture therefore will
not be the same. These countries had long stable economy while the Taiwan
Economic Miracle only popped out in the recent thirty years. Yet, when we are
making a decision we could not take everything into consideration, or there
will be no choice made at all. Referring to the characteristic of public
opinion, it contains the risks of inconsistency, complexity and variability.
For ordinary citizens does not take the whole nation into concern, they are
simply replying what changes had been done to them.
The decision maker,
therefore, becomes important. Take the Taiwan’s Ten Major Construction Projects
for example. Although the public opinions were against it at first but soon
found favor from it. There is question why the general public behaved this way,
because Taiwan was experiencing significant effects from both the 1973 oil
crisis and economy crisis at that stage. Many people strongly believed that the
government should focus on people first than to develop economy. There were
even radical words on newspapers saying that the constructions are built for
the riches only for the poor people will never afford to drive a car on the
highway.
Apparently, the
project brought up the economy as it was expected and even better. It took the
whole nation into prosperity and became the well-known term of Taiwan Economic
Miracle. Moreover, many people were out of poverty and even became successful
in various businesses. But just think what if the government did not insist on
its project and listen to what the public wants. Developing public welfares may
be right but how to get the essential-money are more important.
(2)
Expand
Our Vision in Trade and Business
What is the difference
between locking ourselves from the outside world and committing a suicide?
Refusing to take Economy development is no different than the frog in the well
that knows nothing of the great ocean. With the expansion of the ASEAN 10+1
proposal and the signing of various FTA (Free Trade Agreement) between
different countries; the Taiwanese government should take concern on how to
avoid our economy to become isolated from the world. If not the consequences
will result in the unemployment rate and the social welfares of the public.
According to National Policy Foundation, the websites cites that if the
Taiwanese government refused to sign ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework
Agreement), then we will have to endure the heavy customs in trade while other
FTA signed countries will be totally free of it. The condition will be even
worse for Taiwan is not diplomatic recognized by other countries, therefore,
make it hard to get into advantages in cooperation.
Articles had been
written and comments being made to warn the citizens of Taiwan the danger of
signing ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement). According to Professor
Kenneth S. Lin of the department of economics at National Taiwan University, he
says in his blog that the signing of ECFA means the decrease of job
opportunities and the increase of unemployment rate. He says, though, the
Taiwanese government reassure that the Chinese labors will not be imported; the
unlimited flow of money and techniques will eventually corrupt the current
boundary and raise unemployment rate. It is because companies tend to
manufacture their product with the greatest profit as possible. However, I am
against to the professor’s thought. I think that even with great risk we should
not lock ourselves up. It is inevitable for countries to survive outside of
this global bond. If we do then we will be like North Korea which suffers in
poverty and famine.
Moreover, if we use
the economic term “comparative advantage” to strengthen our point, we will see
that it suggests that since the world had turned into a global village, it is
profitable for the company then to search for places that require the less
demands on customs. With this restriction in mind, countries outside of this
hub-spoke game will be eliminated. As a result, companies may be forced to move
to another country, factories may be shut down and the happiness of the people
will be deprived.
In recent years the
role of China had transformed from World Factory to World Market. It is
inevitable to make trade and cooperation with China. Moreover, the arising
economic potential of the south eastern Asia had also attracted many investors
and countries to invest. Therefore, I think it is urgent and necessary for the
Taiwanese government to sign ECFA. To be frank, the worries about signing ECFA
will affect the traditional industrial such as agricultures will not to be
worried. For I think it is normal for the traditional industries to face such
challenge. The solution on the other hand will not be how to protect them but
how to help them transform into a more modern type. It is then better to come
out of our own cage and face the fact that cooperate with other countries will
be the future trend. Following this concept and you will eventually be
satisfied.
(3)
“As
you sow so as you reap” Government Efficiency
“Capital is dead
labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the
more, the more labor it sucks.” The German economist Karl Marx has defined
Capitalism as an unfair system for people to live in. The worry of Karl Marx is
that if our society were divided into two classes; the middle class who owned
capital, factory and hired wage laborers; and workers, who were ordinary,
people that owned nothing at all. The fear of this system is that if it
continues to circulate the middle class will eventually gain more money while
the wage workers still working for them. However, the original purpose of
Capitalism is to get the hard working people to gain what they desired. The
concept of “As you sow, so will you reap.” Without doubt having people rewarded
according to their effort is definitely better than distribute the rewards
equally.
Many people questioned
the existence of Capitalism. Criticisms have long stigmatized it to corruption,
bribery and the method to oppress the poor. The truth, however, is that without
Capitalism there will be no competition at all. The word competition may seem
cruel for some people, because it is associated to winner and loser. The winner
gets qualified and the loser gets knocked out. The way it functions is what
most critics had bombarded at. However, the nature defect of human beings is
that they tend to get idle easily when they are out of pressure. Think this
way, if everyone is distributed with same reward because we need to take care
of everyone. Do you think everyone will work to their utmost? As a result,
there is no motive for people to strive hard because no matter you are hard
working or lazy you will eventually be the same. Take this idea into
consideration if everyone has a job then we do not have the burden of taking
care of the poor and everyone could be able to feed themselves. Therefore, we
can conclude that Capitalism itself is originally with proper purpose, but it
is moral corruption that brought it to failure.
There are many kinds
of moral corruption in our daily lives. These include temptation; laziness and
power pursue which will destroy a country’s economy structure if it is involved.
How to avoid this catastrophe then is essential. Take Singapore for example,
the country had successfully transformed itself from a British colonial port
city into one of the world’s financial center. According to Dr Harold Siow Song
Teng, a Research Fellow and Administrative Manager at the Centre on Asia, he
argues in his book Government Policy and Critical Success Factors of Small
Businesses in Singapore that “one of the main economic players responsible for
Singapore’s economic success is its small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs.
Their overall success has helped propel the country and its people forward.
From economic policies to politics, Singapore is a planned and regulated
economy. Singapore’s economic success story is actually the result of a form of
capitalism carefully calibrated and controlled by the government.” Now think
for a minute if it not because a person wants to gain more money and not
because a person is benefited with the amount of work he devoted, how could
Singapore be called the head of the four Asian dragons.
Moreover, he continues
to claim that “An important element or aspect of good critical success factors
(CSFs) emerges from the role being played by the government. The existence of
good government or public policies that are pro-business is vital for the
success of firms”. Singapore enforced strict laws that punishes whoever deviate
the right path toward righteous. For example, if there happened to be any forms
of bribery or moral corruption severe punishments such as life imprisonment
would be enforced. The Singaporean government would shall no mercy toward those
people who crossed the line to avoid corruption.
In the end, the
statistics had proved Singapore to be the world’s financial center. It is
simply due to the severe laws that supervised the government’s performance.
Moral corruption is a dangerous thing that leads to destructions. However, if
we found ways to overcome it the result will be beneficial.
(4)
Look
Not at the Current Situation but at the Future - ETC and Economy
“For the purpose that
freeway road users can pay tolls more effectively and safely neither stopping
cars, nor using cash, we programmed a BOT case which is called "Private
Sector Involvement in Development of Electronic Toll Collection System" in
order to promote using ETC on the freeway, increase passing volume of toll
stations, save payment time, improve convenience and safety, and reduce air
pollution. Furthermore, with the development of intelligent freeway in the
future, ETC system will be operated and integrated into Electronic Toll &
Transportation Management, ETTM, as the base of Intelligent Transportation
System, ITS”. It is proclaimed by the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau,
MOTC, which intended to replace the old manual toll collection with electronic
toll collection and to make an avant-garde step forward in the 30 years of
Taiwan Freeway history.
The way how manual
toll collection function is by collecting tolls from the drivers that passed by
the toll station. However, there is a fatal drawback in this method. According
to the statistics provided by the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau that two
thirds of automobiles using the freeways now have the chance of avoiding these
toll stations, because of the short distances they are traveling and the
unequal distances between toll stations, which means they can drive on the
freeway for free. In contrast, for those people whose residences are close to
the toll stations it would be unfair for them because they have to pay the same
amount of money as driving from one toll station to another, even though they
only used a short distance of the freeway. For example people living in Taishan
may have to pay toll not long after they drive their car on the freeway passing
by the Taishan Toll Station.
As a result, the
Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau came up with the solution that instead of
collecting toll at each toll stations with the same price, a driver will be
charged with the length he used. Therefore, in order to make it possible we
rely on prevail of the electronic toll collection. Moreover, after switching
completely from manual toll collection our government can save up to about 19
billion NTD and use it into social expenses. The vice minister of the Taiwan
Area National Freeway Bureau happily announced that Taiwan could not only save
billions of budgets but also becomes the first country in the world to adopt
such system.
Yet, many people
question the actuality of such a huge profit. Besides, in order to fulfill the
plan the government still have to spend a lot of money to build up the system,
which seems like a great risk. Also replacing the manual toll collection will
make 974 toll collectors’ loss their job. The challenge will be at material and
moral aspect.
However, think for a
minute if you do not have to lose your precious time waiting at a toll station
to pay toll manually. Isn’t that a significant benefit you earned especially
when you are in a hurry? Furthermore the rules about toll collecting are
restricted in many ways which the government would lose some money. For example
the present rules indicates that if there is any natural disasters like typhoon
happening the toll stations would stop working and let users passing through
without paying toll. This is simply because of concerning about the life
security of the toll collectors. On the contrary if electronic toll collection
is put to function then we do not have to worry. Moreover, for those who lose
their job due to the system, it is our government’s duty to help them transfer
to another job.
In conclusion, the
benefit and convenience of electronic toll collection may not appear in the
blink of an eye because of the current moral and popularity of the ETC device.
However, if we think wide and far it is without doubt a profiting machine in
the near future.
Conclusion
In the final analysis,
we can see clearly that the role played by the government is extremely crucial.
Government’s duties includes making decisive choices, enhance working
efficiency, moral agent and protection. Although many people may argue that
when facing problems like sunset industries and traditional agriculture the
government should fully protect them. However, just like what we had discussed
earlier, the solution should be to help these industries transform or upgrade
than simply protecting them. After all, if there is a much proficient way to yield
something. Why not give it a try and make our life more convenient than
sticking with the old methods. Therefore, I think too much protection is
actually harmful for these industries because if there is no competition at all
the work efficiency will not improve and we cannot enjoy our lives to the
fullest.
Furthermore, for the
concern that government always enforces policies that benefit the majority
people and neglect social welfares of the minority, I think the government
should not be the target of bombard. There are many decisions that government
made in pursue of long term profit. Therefore, we cannot see the result in
short days. For example the Taiwan Ten Major Constructions is the best evidence
to explain this thought.
After all, a clean
government will be the one that provides the best for its people. Therefore,
people should give more trust for their government.
References
China
Times, Taiwan Advisors Group Series, 2012/12/18, Taiwan Should Develop Economy
and Social Welfares at the same time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVCgnuAH9Zg
CNTV,
Chinese Leader Wen Jiabao’s thought about developing economy and social
welfares, 2010/03/14 http://jingji.cntv.cn/20100314/101897.shtml
Wikipedia,
Gross national happiness 2013/12/25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
It
is the Government’s duty to raise the social welfares of people,
CHEN,LUNG-CHIH, 2011/12/30 http://www.taiwanncf.org.tw/ttforum/56/56-17.pdf
Harold
Siow Song Teng “Government Policy and Critical Success Factors of Small
Businesses in Singapore” Nov 2011 http://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/Government-Policy-and-Critical-Success-Factors-of-Small-Businesses-in-Singapore1-4438-3352-5.htm
Special
Report on Electronic Toll Collection --「Public Participation in Build and
Operate Project for Electronic Toll Collection System on Freeways」Toll&Service Div.
2013/11/04 http://www.freeway.gov.tw/English/Publish.aspx?cnid=1112&p=503
Taiwan
area national freeway bureau, MOTC, Development, Toll&Service Div.,
2013/11/04 http://www.freeway.gov.tw/English/Publish.aspx?cnid=1622&p=1743
Taiwan
advance the world in adapting the electronic toll collection http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=471951
