https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3 DEBATE: Should Singapore Become a Welfare State? en-us 2016-07-11 23:44:17 UTC 2016-07-18 02:02:01 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116232168 Welfare = minimal wage & welfare system
Minimum wage leads to unemployment 
Welfare system can make people lazy
Creates a mindset that unemployment is fine because they are supported by tax payer monies
Welfare made Australian Aborigines decline in productivity due to misuse into purchasing alcohol
Use welfare funds to grant employers grants to train and employ these lower income families who have unemployed members.]]> 2016-07-12 00:00:00 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116232168 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116232809 Welfare means giving money to people of poverty.
Safeguarding and countering the "one bad apple spoils the bunch" theory would mean that the government would set up offices to grant money after analyzing their background. They would then help them pay in order to prevent people from misusing the funds should the government decide to give them money.
Also, the working class lamenting about paying for others should think about it in this perspective. If the working class were to pay for the people of poverty, the people of poverty would learn to be self-sufficient and join the working class. Therefore, in the short term perspective, it could be detrimental towards the working class. However, in the long term perspective, it will effectively reduce the ratio of the working self-sufficient class to the people of poverty ]]> 2016-07-12 00:14:49 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116232809 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116233156 Welfare, as an obligation by the federal law leads all of us to believe that we are obligated to fund the unemployed and the impoverished. This not only diminishes the value of charitable donation and the function of the community, but it also takes a large portion of our tax contribution without our consent and channel it to the people who refuse to take up a job. This inevitably introduces a sense of entitlement in people who are dependent on the government for welfare handouts. The "welfare class" that originates due to these policies introduced by the government do possess detrimental characteristics  that not only are harmful to themselves but to the society as whole.
As such, though the welfare policies were introduced to prevent starvation, disease and misery within the poor of the land, its negative effects are much worst in terms of the contribution to the economy.]]> 2016-07-12 00:21:57 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116233156 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116239939 Singapore is a first world country which has a per capita of up to $52,000 a year. We have CPF
which is we can't really use much other than for housing and insurance, education, investment
and retirement. However we can't use the money directly and the only time we even use a big sum is for housing. Does this protect us?

Yes, but not everyone... There are a group of referred to as the Cardboard people. They do not have a home, don't have proper clothes to wear, no money to buy food. So they collect
cardboards lying around shops and streets and sell them to collectors for $0.09 per kilogram...

This is the harsh reality.. So buying an adequate meal 3 times a day... It's not easy... Not only do they suffer living below substantial level but they also have to face threats from Karang guni and so on... When coming to know this, you might question what is our excellent government, which keeps self praising itself for the great city we have, doing to help this people.

Well, one of the ministers apparently talked to a group of teenagers who had an interaction with
one such aunty. His brilliant post on facebook stated that most of these people do it as they are bored at home and want to go scavenging for cardboards 5 am in the morning everyday of their lives, as a form of "Exercise!". As ridiculous as that sounds, many Singaporeans have expressed their disenchantment towards this post and some even went to state about their experiences with
such people and a few went to talk to these people to really know how they felt and they are
roasting the minister for being so ignorant.

This is the Republic of Singapore... Republic means that - all citizens have an equal say and so are treated equally by the government, especially insofar as there is a constitutional prohibition on government discrimination - CPF isn't helping these people, insurance policies aren't helping but just providing them with a substantial living is our nation's responsibility. So making Singapore a welfare state will definitely help these people.

What is a welfare state? A welfare state is where a specific citizens special needs are catered to
by using the tax payers money. With 3 main components such as Financial services: Pensions and unemployment benefits, Social services: Healthcare and Education, Non-cash benefits: Medication. Since most of these are already taken care of under several schemes, we only need to implement a Liberal Welfare system which prevents anyone from falling below substantial level of living. Or a social democratic welfare which has high Taxing but offers the best of services to those in need.]]> 2016-07-12 02:23:36 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116239939 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116239976 A welfare state will help minimise economic difference. Statistics show that 1 out of 6 houses are millionaires; the others suffer from a much lower income. These low income groups may not have jobs nor have an ability to have a sustainable lifestyle. People need an extended time to get income due to various factors. These factors include the sole breadwinner being in jail, hospitalised, etc. Foreign workers coming into Singapore have a lower salary, making these foreign workers have more benefits compared to a local Singaporean in finding jobs. Welfare will allow a family to live, not comfortably but enough time to find a self-sustaining job.

]]> 2016-07-12 02:24:02 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116239976 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240330 Countries such as Australia and Sweden are now having a hard time sustaining their country through their welfare system. In Australia, 8 out of 10 income taxpayers are paying for the handouts given to the poor as much as $150 billion. The government has mentioned several times  that this is because of the high unemployment rate which keep worsening every year.  In Singapore, we adopted system such as MediSave which requires people to save to pay their own way and such, not burdening the government’s budget as much.

]]> 2016-07-12 02:29:49 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240330 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240367 People such as alcoholics will misuse the system to satisfy their drinking habits. Singapore provides people with enough education such as compulsory schooling up to secondary schools and there is no need to pay for school fees. This is to ensure that all singaporeans have the opportunity to up their skill level and knowledge to get a good job when they grow up. There is no reason that that Singapore have to provide welfare for people who are lazy and did not work hard in their younger days, making them need extra funds from the government where they can actually avoid if they had worked harder to get a good job.              ]]> 2016-07-12 02:30:27 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240367 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240758 These are the responses by the various groups from the debate in class. I have also added in some cartoons and readings to spark some thinking regarding the issue. Please feel free to add in more cartoons or relevant materials to help make this a very useful resource for your SS study. Please remember to add in new posts under your own name. Thank you. ]]> 2016-07-12 02:36:02 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240758 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240970 2016-07-12 02:39:01 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116240970 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241068 2016-07-12 02:40:59 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241068 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241173 2016-07-12 02:43:32 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241173 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241320 2016-07-12 02:45:28 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241320 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241523 2016-07-12 02:49:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241523 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241660 Singapore's Philosophy on Welfare rests on four pillars:
1. Each generation should pay its own way.
2. Each family should pay its own way.
3. Each individual should pay his/her own way.
4. Only after passing through these three filters should anyone turn to the government for help. But it will be there when needed. ]]> 2016-07-12 02:51:31 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116241660 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116242028 2016-07-12 02:58:08 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116242028 chongcw3 https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116242112 2016-07-12 02:59:38 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116242112 choong_jueen_mao https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116347721 Despite a welfare state being beneficial to the unemployed and those who are not benefitting from our current system. A welfare state will be detrimental to those outside the unemployed. The profits of bosses and others will go to the unemployed which in most cases, the business leaders have no intention of employing. This will demotivate current members of the working class as a large amount of their hard work placed into their jobs will be given to unemployed. Demotivating the current Singapore workforce and bringing down the economy output of Singapore and is nearly impossible for the economy to recover]]> 2016-07-13 13:48:50 UTC https://padlet.com/chongcw3/syf85edzmco3/wish/116347721