智慧人生篇章 第10期:社保困局

But social security carries a risk: the risk that somewill abuse the system, taking without giving. It's arisk we seem increasingly unwilling to accept.Attitudes are changing. Yet coming down hard onthe unemployed also carries a risk. The risk that wepenalise those who want to work but cannot in a timeof high unemployment, when jobs are scarce inone part of the country and moving is not an option.Some out-of-work people in my congregationhardly have the train fare to get to somewhere elselet alone the means of setting up home there.So, wewant to bear down on those who won't work, but we know that the more heavily we do, themore we risk penalising those who would work if they could. So what are we to do? JohnMaynard Keynes said that the test for any new social policy should be that the final outcomemust not only be better than what went before, it must be sufficiently better to make up for thepain of transition that some would bear.As we debate changes to welfare, I look for someoverarching principle to guide me. My golden rule would be this: that I don't ask others to paya price I in their shoes would find unbearable.

社保制度存在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，有些人會(huì)濫用該體系，只知收取，不知給予。我們對(duì)此的態(tài)度在改變，越來越不能容忍這種風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的存在。但如果對(duì)失業(yè)人群置之不理也存在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)槿绻植康貐^(qū)失業(yè)率很高，工作難找，而人們又沒辦法遷居其他地區(qū)，這部分失業(yè)人口就會(huì)因之遭受重創(chuàng)。在我教區(qū)的有些失業(yè)人口連去其他地方的火車票都買不起。我們不想容忍那些不愿意工作的人，但我們也知道，我們?cè)绞菍?duì)這些人采取嚴(yán)厲措施，就越會(huì)損害到那些想工作而無法工作的人。那我們?cè)撛趺崔k?John Maynard Keynes說，測(cè)試任何新的社會(huì)制度，不能只看最終結(jié)果是否比之前的好，還要看這結(jié)果能否有效補(bǔ)償在制度轉(zhuǎn)變過程中受損人群的損失。在我們?yōu)樯鐣?huì)福利的改變爭(zhēng)論時(shí)，我尋找能指導(dǎo)我的大方針。我的黃金法則如下：如果我站在對(duì)方的角度覺得無法承受，那么我也絕不會(huì)要求別人來承受。