In Finland the goal is not to subsidize certain people or groups, but to equalize the basic support structure across the broad expanse of society. By comparison, many of the most visible American programs as they exist today look surprisingly targeted, selective, and, in many cases, stigmatizing—Medicare for the elderly, for example, or food stamps, school lunches, and Medicaid for the poor (now including many in the former middle class). Meanwhile childless young people and the reasonably well-off get few advantages out of the bargain at all, and when they do, they fail to see it. And then
...more
