Britain is "The Welfare State". For those of you who do not understand...it means we give certain liberties to people for free or very cheaply...examples being:
Health Care. Several countries such as America & Ireland have to pay for health care, this means just going to see the doctor can cost in excess of £50 - but in Britain it is free.
Universities - Again, in America Prices vary but are often in excess of £15k per year for tuition fees. Scotland currently offers free University whilst England, Wales & N.I. offer cheap (£3k soon to increase to £6k - or £9k with various grants ect. for poorer students) tuition.
Education - In some poorer countries even basic education is privatized and only the richest children are educated, but here in the UK every child gets it for free.
So is this "Welfare State" where everyone is equal - or so they say - really worth it?
Let's take a look...
Last year the UK spent £110bn. on Health.
Over £12bn on Higher (University) education and nearly £80bn on education in total...but it has debts of roughly £1tn.
So really...is it worth that cost?
In my opinion things like rises in tuition fees will be a good thing. Privitization of health care would destroy the point of it so that's a big no-no, and primary education is a foundation which every child needs so we cannot privatize that, but we need to find a way to reduce the debt and I think reducing the Welfare State is one way.
Discuss.