Ill-conceived proposal
Having read about the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) consumer vouchers to stimulate the economy I have one question. When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was proposing a referendum, one of the points the KMT raised in opposition to the idea was the cost of printing the ballot papers and the counting of votes.
Now the KMT have proposed a system that requires not one piece of paper, but multiple pieces of paper to be counted and audited. Isn’t this hypocritical?
Also, a nation’s paper currency is designed with a number of anti-counterfeiting mechanisms. I have to wonder how much thought will go into ensuring these vouchers cannot be counterfeited?
What’s to stop the average Joe or organized crime in Taiwan (or for that matter in China) from duplicating these “simple” vouchers and flooding Taiwan with fake vouchers that, in sufficient numbers, could lead to mild hyperinflation?
I think the DPP tax rebate is a more sensible idea. It would be cheaper to implement, doesn’t require changing any laws and protects against counterfeiting.
It appears the KMT won’t listen to good advice if it doesn’t come from within its own ranks.
MICHAEL GRUBER
Monterey, Australia
When I came to Taiwan in 1988, the country’s “economic miracle” was blooming, bringing tremendous new opportunities and conveniences, but also a proliferation of material goods. Within a few years, the hundreds of motorcycles at every intersection had turned into a jam of new cars. Fashion had become a national sport. The Lunar New Year holiday, once a modest meeting in the family home, had become an excuse to drive from one elaborate venue to another, feting everyone on gift-boxes of cookies and candies wrapped in multiple layers of bright plastic. Now you see everyone packing an iPod, a cellphone and maybe even a laptop, jumping in and out of their cars to grab a Big Mac or a latte at Starbucks.
This is known as consumerism. I watched it eat up my home country, and was glad to relocate here, where I reveled in the genteel complexity of Taiwanese culture. But that culture is nearly moribund now, replaced by corporate products that produce mountains of garbage each day. In fact, the country has built incinerators to compact this waste, which release dioxins and other harmful chemicals into the air.
The factories that provided Taiwan’s “miracle” have ended up polluting the country quite badly. And now the entire western part of the country is covered in concrete — conquered by factories, roads and stores.
The government’s consumer voucher program is designed to “stimulate the economy.” It sends the message that Taiwan will be healthy if everyone buys more stuff. But this is not so. Taiwan is ailing from the amount of stuff already produced, used and thrown away.
Consumerism is not patriotic, and those who run the national economy must face the damage that this mindset has wreaked. A new, gentler economy must emphasize feeding, clothing, housing and transporting 25 million people — with due respect for the environment that they and their children must inhabit. Traditional culture, where it can be revived, would do this job splendidly.
CHRISTOPHER LOGAN
Lotung, Ilan County
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