Estonia Promotes Electric Vehicles But Has Bigger Plans for Social Services
A physician who likes to remain anonymous as “Leo” sent me an article on electric vehicles in Estonia, and forwarded this piece as well. Apparently that country provides free Internet access to its people (as well as free charging for its citizens’ EV charging). He writes: “This article about free Wi-Fi is also interesting. Too bad we don’t have it here.”
Thanks, Leo. Yes, it’s nice to have public services, but keep in mind that nothing’s free. Providing “free” Wi-Fi means that everyone pays for it through taxation, and no one has the opportunity to run a for-profit business associated with it.
Deciding which products and services should be “free” in this sense is not a straightforward task; it’s asking where we want to be on the scale between free market, deregulated capitalism on the one hand (which those of us who are paying attention have seen doesn’t work), versus communism on the other (which we totally abhor). In the words of a college girlfriend of mine, it’s “tricky business.”
If you’re looking for things to move out of the for-profit realm, let’s start with healthcare, as the rest of the developed world has already done.
Healthcare is an important topic because it affects everyone. Affordable healthcare is offered to people as a way to pay for sickness care but that will most likely come from increasing taxes. What is really needed is a lifestyle that will maintain or improve health so the cost of treating illness will be reduced or eliminated. There are many doctors advocating lifestyle changes and the Internet affords people the opportunity to learn about them.
In 1900 the rate of cancer was 1 in 33; in 1950 it was 1 in 13 (we were told then that cancer would be cured in 10 years); today it is 1 in 3 for women and 1 in 2 for men. Cancer is the leading killler of children. What the market offers as food does not always contain what the cells need to function properly and many times contains additives that are detrimental to cellular integrity and function.
The following link is a good place to start.
http://hpjmh.com/2012/10/16/arthritis-ms-lupus-more-a-total-of-81-success-stories/
Wishing you all the very best in health and happiness.