p. 72-74
On pages 72 and 73 the author talks about his personal experience and how his family and society helped him. It’s interesting reading about this, but I imagine an American’s thoughts when reading about the author’s Swedish free education and free healthcare experience will be very different than other people’s thoughts. Oh, wait, the author does mention the taxpayers paid for all of it; it wasn’t actually free. Oh, wait, there are taxes (almost) everywhere.
It is true that everyone gets some kind of help in order to even just survive in this world. It is also true that some basic needs for progress such as education and health care would benefit the world to a greater degree if they were free or at the very least affordable for everyone.
So anyone reading about the author’s experience would most likely think about systems; the system which allows for education and healthcare to be offered to everyone without anyone going bankrupt or to just live to pay off debts, the system which allows full access only to those who are wealthy and the system which is some sort of combination of the two.
The problem is not so much to figure out which system is better, but which system is sustainable. You need a system which is sustainable. You also need a system which is fair. If the system is sustainable then it will be able to go on for a long time without causing or exacerbating any problems. If the system is fair then everyone will be offered the opportunity to be educated and to be healthy regardless of personal wealth.
No one system in existence today seems to be able to do both. Worse, no one system currently seems to be sustainable for much longer. In a lot of countries the healthcare system seems to be a primary topic in the news. And yes, as per the FACTUFULNESS theory, negativity dominates the news and that doesn’t mean there’s no progress, but it IS tempting to wonder…
What if that particular mode of thinking the book is trying to put on the table is no longer valid for certain issues in our societies?
Even though the book was published in 2018, I think current times may be the precursor to a difficult future when it comes to certain issues, such as healthcare and education. It may be 10 years from now or it may be 50, but unless a new model arises then we may be facing another dip in progress as a whole such as in the past.
Do we have to go through it? Can we just have progress without a major event occurring such as wars or pandemics as in the past?
Technology may be getting way too much credit these days, but I believe if used well it could actually get us out of this major event-progress-major event-progress loop. Which new economic model can do this and who will come up with it?
Here’s a final thought: What if this major event already occurred (financial crisis of 2007) and eleven years in we are seeing the consequences all over the world and we are actually experiencing this dip in progress as a slow decline? Worse still, what if technology masks this decline and prevents us from taking the appropriate measures which could help us bounce back?
*The Spur of the Moment Guide to FACTFULNESS is a series of posts of first thoughts while reading the book FACTFULNESS by Hans Rosling. *
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