I've been thinking over the years, and the idea of a food tax seems better and better to me. Now, I do not think a flat food tax is a good idea, but there are two specific situations in which I think a food tax would serve the greater good.
1) Unhealthy Food Tax (especially for countries with socialized medicine). This tax can be calculated on the amount of sodium, saturated fats, and other unhealthy substances over a certain ratio in prepared foods. This would serve two purposes. Firstly, it discourages people from purchasing unhealthy foods for themselves and provides an incentive for companies to look for ways to make their foods healthier, hopefully increasing the quality of food that is available and consumed. Secondly, especially in countries with socialized medicine, this income can be used to bolster their health care systems. Think of it as a user fee. If you are eating more unhealthy foods, you are paying a fee for the future use of medical services you will be more likely to need later on. What's interesting about this idea is that it can be spun as both a left or right wing idea. On one hand, it is more tax and provides more power to the government to care for its citizens. On the other hand, it is a user-fee system where your pay for what you are likely to use in the future.
2) Calorie Tax. There can be a flat tax per calorie in all food items sold, with the tax proceeds going towards providing (food) aid to communities and other countries in need. There are two advantages to this tax. Firstly, it discourages people from overeating or wasting food. Secondly, it provides a large amount of income for third-world aid and development programs. It is like sharing your food with the less fortunate. Of course, there are numerous disadvantages to this, such as making it even harder for the poor to feed themselves. However, there are ways around this such as providing a flat tax rebate each year using the recommended amount of calories per person as set by a nutritionist. If the tax is high enough, this also means that everyone will be able to feed themselves as they will get enough money through the tax rebate to cover all of their basic food needs.
In my opinion, governments of the world should cover the basic human needs for the members of the communities they represent. Food is a basic human need that the government should provide assistance when required and implement policies to prevent its misuse and waste. These are only two ideas which can be very effective weapons when combined, along with other ideas, against hunger, malnutrition, and unhealthy diets.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Complacency and Ignorance - Health Care in the USA
Complacency, ignorance, bigotry, cult of the self... these are the negative qualities of the American culture that has deeply disturbed me over the years, and I feel that I am only starting to understand the depth at which these problems run in American society. Although in most cases, this does not lead directly to others being harmed, there are two extremely harmful manifestations of these problems, one of them being health care.
I am becoming increasingly disturbed at the lack of health care coverage available to the citizens of the world's most powerful, advanced, and rich country. Although I had been aware that there are problems with the American health care system, I did not realize the extent of the problems until watching Michael Moore's Sicko a few weeks ago. Although I am by no means a Michael Moore fan boy, what I saw in the movie shocked me, which caused me to start researching into the health care problems of this great nation. I had never looked into this issue, as coming from Canada, I had just assumed that in the US, a country richer and more technologically advanced than Canada, everyone had full access to high-quality health care services in the country. To me, and most other Canadians, access to free health care when you need it is taken as a basic right that should be granted to all human beings.
In my experiences, the most visible manifestation of the lack of health care coverage in the US is the highly visible disabilities and disfigurements in the homeless population in the country. Living in San Francisco and walking around the less well off urban areas of the city, I see a shockingly high number of homeless people with disabilities, either in the form of missing limbs, deformed appendages, or a limp while walking. Many of them seem to be bound to a wheelchair and have swollen extremities. Many more rely on old, beat-up canes to move around awkwardly. Many more seem to have obvious mental conditions, blathering incoherently as they walk around, yelling at passersby, or repeatedly performing simple actions over and over again. Just the sight of them makes you immediately lose hope that they will ever recover. They look like they are just waiting around for their death to release them from the pain and hopelessness of their lives.
Back when I lived in Canada, before moving to the US, I had never imagined sights such as this. The idea of such a rich and privileged society refusing to provide the most basic aid to the most needy was completely unfathomable to me. I had seen many homeless in Canadian cities too, but they all seemed quite healthy and most of them gave off the vibe that life still held great promises for them in the future if they worked at it, and that they were just down for the moment. I felt that the homeless in Canada were still part of Canadian society, while the homeless in the US feel like a separate subclass who are not seen as human beings. The general feel I get here is the less interaction we have with them, the better.
Even with all of these problems, there is still a surprising amount of hesitation, even contempt, in the US for the idea of universal government-provided health care as it is seen as "socialist" or "communist," two of the most derogatory terms in American political language. The American cult of self has instilled an idea that no one should be responsible for anyone else in their culture, and just living here for six years, I feel that I have become a much more cynical person who is becoming less caring about others in need. Worse still, is that large corporations in the US run very well funded propaganda campaigns which convince the ill-informed populace that the current private health care system is the most effective system. Combined with the Americans' contempt for government control and their rejection and ignorance of foreign countries and different ways of thinking, these propaganda campaigns are surprisingly effective at combating any policy which makes it difficult for the large corporations to make a hefty profit.
Of course, I do think there are advantages to the American system. It has indeed made them one of the richest countries in the world, and the vast majority of Americans live in a life of privilege and luxury compared to the rest of the world. However, when it comes to the basic necessities of life, I believe that these should be regulated and controlled by a responsible government that is working to serve the people. Sure, go ahead and privatize consumer goods and services for non-essential items and new technologies - these creative and hardworking entrepreneurs deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labour for taking such risks to bring joy and comfort to the world - but basic necessities for human beings to survive and to give them a chance at success should not be controlled by forces who do not care about the people who need them and only about the profits they can make by controlling these resources.
The American people need to wake up and see the problems in their society, especially when it come to health care. Now that there is actually a president in power who wants to improve the system, it is time for action, not time for even more complacency. Americans need to wake up to the world and see how things are done in other industrialized nations and question why it is that the American health care system is so abysmally low in the international rankings when the US itself is in such a privileged position. Americans, this is your chance to rescue many millions of people from a hopeless and painful existence, not to mention the lives that will be saved with health care coverage for everyone. Wake up, be bold enough to face the truth, and you can make the world a better place for everyone by taking action and supporting your president in the battle for health care reform.
I am becoming increasingly disturbed at the lack of health care coverage available to the citizens of the world's most powerful, advanced, and rich country. Although I had been aware that there are problems with the American health care system, I did not realize the extent of the problems until watching Michael Moore's Sicko a few weeks ago. Although I am by no means a Michael Moore fan boy, what I saw in the movie shocked me, which caused me to start researching into the health care problems of this great nation. I had never looked into this issue, as coming from Canada, I had just assumed that in the US, a country richer and more technologically advanced than Canada, everyone had full access to high-quality health care services in the country. To me, and most other Canadians, access to free health care when you need it is taken as a basic right that should be granted to all human beings.
In my experiences, the most visible manifestation of the lack of health care coverage in the US is the highly visible disabilities and disfigurements in the homeless population in the country. Living in San Francisco and walking around the less well off urban areas of the city, I see a shockingly high number of homeless people with disabilities, either in the form of missing limbs, deformed appendages, or a limp while walking. Many of them seem to be bound to a wheelchair and have swollen extremities. Many more rely on old, beat-up canes to move around awkwardly. Many more seem to have obvious mental conditions, blathering incoherently as they walk around, yelling at passersby, or repeatedly performing simple actions over and over again. Just the sight of them makes you immediately lose hope that they will ever recover. They look like they are just waiting around for their death to release them from the pain and hopelessness of their lives.
Back when I lived in Canada, before moving to the US, I had never imagined sights such as this. The idea of such a rich and privileged society refusing to provide the most basic aid to the most needy was completely unfathomable to me. I had seen many homeless in Canadian cities too, but they all seemed quite healthy and most of them gave off the vibe that life still held great promises for them in the future if they worked at it, and that they were just down for the moment. I felt that the homeless in Canada were still part of Canadian society, while the homeless in the US feel like a separate subclass who are not seen as human beings. The general feel I get here is the less interaction we have with them, the better.
Even with all of these problems, there is still a surprising amount of hesitation, even contempt, in the US for the idea of universal government-provided health care as it is seen as "socialist" or "communist," two of the most derogatory terms in American political language. The American cult of self has instilled an idea that no one should be responsible for anyone else in their culture, and just living here for six years, I feel that I have become a much more cynical person who is becoming less caring about others in need. Worse still, is that large corporations in the US run very well funded propaganda campaigns which convince the ill-informed populace that the current private health care system is the most effective system. Combined with the Americans' contempt for government control and their rejection and ignorance of foreign countries and different ways of thinking, these propaganda campaigns are surprisingly effective at combating any policy which makes it difficult for the large corporations to make a hefty profit.
Of course, I do think there are advantages to the American system. It has indeed made them one of the richest countries in the world, and the vast majority of Americans live in a life of privilege and luxury compared to the rest of the world. However, when it comes to the basic necessities of life, I believe that these should be regulated and controlled by a responsible government that is working to serve the people. Sure, go ahead and privatize consumer goods and services for non-essential items and new technologies - these creative and hardworking entrepreneurs deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labour for taking such risks to bring joy and comfort to the world - but basic necessities for human beings to survive and to give them a chance at success should not be controlled by forces who do not care about the people who need them and only about the profits they can make by controlling these resources.
The American people need to wake up and see the problems in their society, especially when it come to health care. Now that there is actually a president in power who wants to improve the system, it is time for action, not time for even more complacency. Americans need to wake up to the world and see how things are done in other industrialized nations and question why it is that the American health care system is so abysmally low in the international rankings when the US itself is in such a privileged position. Americans, this is your chance to rescue many millions of people from a hopeless and painful existence, not to mention the lives that will be saved with health care coverage for everyone. Wake up, be bold enough to face the truth, and you can make the world a better place for everyone by taking action and supporting your president in the battle for health care reform.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Finding the Value in Life
On a recent discussion with one of my friends, we re-visited the age old discussion of the meaning of life. I've come to realize that "meaning of life" depends on how you define value, which is different for everyone. It is useless to discover a universal answer to the meaning of life, as different people value different things. To someone who values their belief in a divine being, their answer to the meaning of life may be to live life in service of their deity. To greedy hedonist, their meaning of life may be to get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of life no matter what the cost is to others. However, once I have come to realize that the meaning of life depends on your own values, a basic answer can be proposed to the question of what the meaning of life is. The answer is as follows: to maximize the realized value of your life, where the value is a personal definition.
Thus, the key to finding meaning in life is to finding the value that life holds for you personally. What do you want to contribute to the world in your time here? What do you want to get out of it? Perhaps one day we will be able to define what "value" truly means, but for now, all we can do is guess. Although using a standard societal definition of value is perfectly acceptable, as let's face it, in most cases the masses are correct. However, if you want to get the most out of life for yourself, you must think hard about what yours values are and work at maximizing them over your lifetime. This is due to the fact that although popular belief does work for the general case, it is rarely the best case for any individual as all individuals are different. Since people are social animals, thinking in a way that does not agree with their family, friends, and society is very difficult and painful, but for a unique and extraordinarily satisfying life, I believe that this is a requirement. In most complex systems, one must move away from the local extrema to find a global extrema.
But what if you are like me? I can't seem to grasp any true value in life, since if there is no afterlife, everything will become nullified in the future anyway. As time goes to infinity, the chances of survival for the human race, or any race for that matter, goes to zero, and any traces of your existence will be meaningless, if not certainly erased. Of course, if there is an eternal afterlife, this would solve the problem, but as of now I still have not fully convinced myself that it exists, although I certainly hope that it does.
For now, while I am still trying to find exactly what it is that I value in life, I figure that instead of wasting my time, I might as well help others achieve theirs. To me, it seems that if everyone works toward maximizing the total "realized value" of life summed across everyone in the world, the world would be a better place as people would have on average, realized more of their dreams and passions. Very rarely will your own "realized value" have an inverse relationship to the total "realized value," and if for some reason yours is, perhaps it is time to step back and consider why your goal in life involves stifling the dreams of others.
So, for now, while I am still finding my value in life, I have decided the best thing I can do, for both myself and others, is to help others who already know what their values are to achieve them. Along the way, perhaps I can learn about different viewpoints which might end up helping me find my value in life after all.
Thus, the key to finding meaning in life is to finding the value that life holds for you personally. What do you want to contribute to the world in your time here? What do you want to get out of it? Perhaps one day we will be able to define what "value" truly means, but for now, all we can do is guess. Although using a standard societal definition of value is perfectly acceptable, as let's face it, in most cases the masses are correct. However, if you want to get the most out of life for yourself, you must think hard about what yours values are and work at maximizing them over your lifetime. This is due to the fact that although popular belief does work for the general case, it is rarely the best case for any individual as all individuals are different. Since people are social animals, thinking in a way that does not agree with their family, friends, and society is very difficult and painful, but for a unique and extraordinarily satisfying life, I believe that this is a requirement. In most complex systems, one must move away from the local extrema to find a global extrema.
But what if you are like me? I can't seem to grasp any true value in life, since if there is no afterlife, everything will become nullified in the future anyway. As time goes to infinity, the chances of survival for the human race, or any race for that matter, goes to zero, and any traces of your existence will be meaningless, if not certainly erased. Of course, if there is an eternal afterlife, this would solve the problem, but as of now I still have not fully convinced myself that it exists, although I certainly hope that it does.
For now, while I am still trying to find exactly what it is that I value in life, I figure that instead of wasting my time, I might as well help others achieve theirs. To me, it seems that if everyone works toward maximizing the total "realized value" of life summed across everyone in the world, the world would be a better place as people would have on average, realized more of their dreams and passions. Very rarely will your own "realized value" have an inverse relationship to the total "realized value," and if for some reason yours is, perhaps it is time to step back and consider why your goal in life involves stifling the dreams of others.
So, for now, while I am still finding my value in life, I have decided the best thing I can do, for both myself and others, is to help others who already know what their values are to achieve them. Along the way, perhaps I can learn about different viewpoints which might end up helping me find my value in life after all.
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