undefined | Better HN

0 pointslotsofpulp4y ago0 comments

I have yet to hear a good answer to what people expect non federal governments to do, other than to keep people on the move and make it someone else’s problem.

For the same reason no single city, county, or state can offer taxpayer funded healthcare, they also cannot offer taxpayer funded mental healthcare and/or universal basic income (or whatever other welfare scheme), and still be part of a country that has freedom of movement.

The only reason the countries that do offer these things can continue to is because they have an immigration border with which they can limit the number of benefit recipients.

0 comments

3 comments · 2 top-level

KerrAvon4y ago· 1 in thread

Can you point to non-right-wing-affiliated sources to back up your assertions?

Have you read this? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42867903-open-borders

lotsofpulpOP4y ago

My reasoning is from first principles of dividing x resources amongst y number of recipients.

I want everyone in the world to have everything they want, but that is not compatible with the constraints of nature.

I am also aware that I and almost everyone else in the developed world consume far more than our "fair" share of the world's resources.

I have not read that book, but the caveat that throws cold water on egalitarian solutions is that we all want to maintain our disproportionately high standard of living while also increasing the amount of resources others receive, which is not going to happen without redistribution.

ahelwer4y ago

Canada implemented socialized healthcare regionally. Provincial hospitalization insurance was available in Saskatchewan many years before any federal program. So your assertions conflict with the historical fact of how successful social programs came into being.

With regard to homelessness, the solution is to build socialized housing with integrated health services. This will never happen at the federal level until some states (or counties, or cities) take the lead. In line with how a great many people believe federal politics should be.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse