Learn from Norway
It seems that the government's plans to strengthen its measures for coping with domestic unemployment include assistance to traditional industries in order to prevent manufacturers from laying off more employees. I think that this is totally wrong.
With the public finances already overstretched, what is the need to throw all this money away? All those industries enjoyed huge artificial growth during KMT rule when wages were kept low with brute force and workers were exploited as much as in China, or maybe even worse. Now the era of hunger wages in Taiwan is over, hopefully for good, so how can these industries be competitive any longer? Who needs them?
Instead of filling inept bosses' pockets, why not concentrate all the financial resources available on the creation of an efficient welfare system that would boost consumer confidence and internal demand as a direct result, thus making the Taiwanese economy less susceptible to catching pneumonia every time US demand slows down?
If someone still opposes the creation of an efficient welfare system out of misguided prejudice or outright fear of paying more taxes, my suggestion is that they should look to the Norwegian model, which boasts the following: steady but sustainable economic growth; an extremely generous welfare system (maternity leave can last for something like a year and maternity pay is worth 90 percent of salary); a zero unemployment rate; no budget deficit (despite the generous welfare provisions); a legal provision that the government must do its best to find suitable employment for all 18 year-olds. This list is by no means exhaustive.
The downside to this is that the taxation level is the highest in the world, but the Norwegians don't see this as a form of punishment, and don't fight back by means of massive tax evasion, fully aware that what they pay now they will get back when a rainy day comes.
George Dukes
Guildford, Surrey, UK
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