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HOW TO MAKE IT

(or: Nice Things Other Countries Do That The Philippines Can Try Doing Too)

"Study how other nations prosper, and then do as they do." - Simoun in Chapter 16 of Jose Rizals El Filibusterismo
This does not, in any way, promote the socio-economic systems of the countries listed. Only their positive policies would be highlighted in this short note, hoping against all hope that sane Filipinos (if there are anyone left in the Philippines) after reading this would start analyzing their countrys current system and help transform it for the better. Countries are not listed alphabetically. Feedback and requests for inclusion of other countries are most welcome. BRUNEI: No Income Tax, Free Housing Yup. NO INCOME TAX and FREE HOUSING! The Bruneian government owns all petroleum refineries and all natural resources. Hence, income from industries is utilized for the peoples welfare. As a result, crime rate in Brunei is zero. Everybody seems to be happy (well of course, some would want to have freedom of expression too, but majority of citizens dont care about the lack of such freedom since they think they have no reason to criticize the government anyway). SINGAPORE: No Private Ownership of Land

Well, almost. Some types of private ownership are now allowed, but almost all chunks of land are owned by the government. Hence, an overwhelming majority of citizens have decent housing (as the government ensures that land is equitably utilized for the peoples welfare and not just for some firms profits) and there are no greedy land grabbers too. NORWAY, BRUNEI, SWEDEN, DENMARK, BELGIUM, FINLAND, NETHERLANDS, CUBA, VENEZUELA: Free Education At (Almost) All Levels In Norway, Brunei, Denmark, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands, education is free at all levels, from basic to post-graduate education for all citizens (including nonEuropeans). In fact, PhD (doctoral level) students in those countries receive fantastically high salaries aside from their free education. Bruneian citizens can also study abroad at expense of the government. In Cuba and Venezuela, education is free up to tertiary level (I have no data about post-graduate education). In Sweden, they recently introduced fees for foreigners but education is still free for all Swedish citizens and some foreigners with special status. Foreign PhD students are exempted from fees and they receive salaries too. CUBA, BRUNEI, UNITED KINGDOM: Free Health Care Yup, FREE HEALTH CARE! In Cuba, even sex change operations are free of charge. In the United Kingdom, health care is still free but austerity measures might affect this soon. FRANCE, GERMANY, NETHERLANDS AND DOZENS OF OTHER NATIONS: Partylist Election of Legislative Assembly Members Instead of writing the names of candidates in the ballot, voters write the name of their chosen party. Hence, legislators (congressmen/women and senators in our case) are elected based on the peoples acceptance of their partys principles. The politics of personalities is instantly abolished. People vote for platforms and issues, rather than for personalities. In the Philippines, this will weaken the elite political dynasties and strengthen progressive grassroots parties which have been elected previously under the current unique Philippine system. For example, Bayan Muna would easily win over the likes of Liberal Party or PDP-Laban because people are very familiar with Bayan Muna as a party, while candidates of the Liberal Party and other traditional elite-led parties focus too much on their candidates at the expense of the party. RUSSIA: Strict Rule on the Re-investment of Profits In Russia, multinational firms are required to reinvest a huge chunk of their profits in the country. The amount of profits that multinational firms can repatriate (remit) to their home countries is severely limited so that they will be compelled to reinvest their profits in Russia. NORWAY: Wealth Tax and (Double) Corporate Tax In Norway, wealth is taxed! And the rich people there dont complain. They know that such tax is spent well for education, health care etc. Corporations in Norway

automatically pay a corporate tax of 28% of their profits. The owner/s of the corporations also pay an additional dividend and capital gain taxation. ARGENTINA, BOLIVIA, VENEZUELA, NORWAY, BRUNEI: Government Control and/or Ownership of Natural Resources In Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia and Brunei, the government owns and controls all natural resources. Hence, they can ensure that the profits from the extraction of these resources will be used for the peoples welfare. In Norway, the government is the major stockholder in the biggest energy corporations. FINLAND: Really Pro-Student and Pro-Teacher Education System Just one standardized test. No homogenous classes. Ideal class size. More recess or break time! Teachers can implement the curriculum in their own way (genuine academic freedom!). Very high starting salary for teachers (100,000+ pesos; this is actually true in MOST COUNTRIES; the Philippines is somehow a unique nation, obviously.) NORWAY, FINLAND, SWEDEN, ISRAEL, JAPAN, GERMANY: Unemployment Pay In Norway the unemployed receive 87.6% of their previous salaries for 500 days and in Finland they receive 85.1% of their previous salaries for one year. And in Sweden, Israel, Japan and Germany, the unemployed can claim benefits worth between 66% and 90% of their last salaries. In the Philippines, when youre unemployed, YOU DONT RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE GOVERNMENT.