From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[Fascinating article (posted here in full). The author sneers at Finns'
"groupthink" but completely misses the virulently malignant type of
conformity that lurks behind Americans' vaunted individualism. (I suppose
such blinkered vision is a prerequisite for Robert Kaiser's position as
associate editor of the Washington Post.) Even with that bias, though,
the
compelling rationality and decency of the Finnish model shines through
here.]
In Finland's Footsteps:
If We're So Rich and Smart, Why Aren't We More Like Them?
By Robert G. Kaiser
Sunday, August 7, 2005
The article doesn't mention one of the crown jewels of the Finnish welfare
state, namely the assisted living facilities that are unparalleled in the
industrialized world. Last Wednesday I went up to visit my mom in the
geriatrics ward of the local hospital ....
Fortunately, she is well cared for there. But there's got to be a better
way of providing for old folks who can't take care of themselves. If
Finland, with its meager economy, can, so can the USA. That of course is
dependent on sweeping social and economic change.
And the clock is ticking. Of the Four Horsemen of the American Apocalypse
-- neoimperial adventurism, dwindling oil, deindustrialization and societal
aging -- the aging factor, IMO, is what Boomers as a whole have most to
fear. I have had much occasion to ponder trends in US eldercare lately, and
it's a grim subject for contemplation. Unless you have a ton of money to
secure truly personal attention, America's medical-industrial complex will
ensure you a protracted twilight of senescence in oppressive institutional
care. What's particularly tragic for Boomers is that they will have no
recourse to their usual solution to life's problems in this savage society
-- gaming the system -- because their wits will be gone. As things stand
now, the miracles of modern medicine will provide elderly Boomers a
nightmarish future of Hobbesian intensity -- a life that is nasty, brutish
... and long.
Carl (age 55 and very much aware of it)
