A new society (3) - Raising a Family

The raising of a family can be made an individual or a social decision. I prefer it to be a social decision.

In a society, each family can have the right to raise two children with the cost being largely borne by the society. The cost will cover pregnancy, childbirth, medical care of the mother and child, education of the child and an allowance to be given to each child.

This will encourage every family to have at least two children. Families that wish to have more children will have to bear a larger proportion of the cost, maybe 50% to 70%.

Some religion encourage their followers to have children, according to the will of God or Allah: "Go forth and multiply". Similarly, a secular society can meet a large part of the cost of raising children.

If a large part of the cost is borne by society, the citizens will have to pay a higher tax. But they will get it back through the benefits provided to their children. Those who prefer to remain single will have to pay a tax for reduce the burden of the parents. This will encourage more people to have a family and raise children.

Maybe, each person can work 1 or 2 hours a day (on top of 4 hours of work for the basic necessities) to pay for the cost of raising the children needed by society.

Tan Kin Lian

Health insurers reject claims

President Obama wanted to introduce a "public option". It will allow the uninsured to choose a health plan provided by the Government. This is intended to provide competition to health insurers and make them more efficient.

The health insurers industry lobby against the public option. They told Americans that the public option would lead to a "death panel" will have responsibility to control cost and decide if any insured person should receive expensive treatment.

As a result of this lobby, many Americans are now afraid of the "public option". But the insurance industry is not being honest and truthful. They are already adopting this practice. Read this article.

Voilunteer for FISCA

If you wish to volunteer or join FISCA, please go to the website, www.fisca.sg

Please do not call me or send e-mail to me, as I am not able to personally handle all of these requests. Thank you for volunteering and joining.

Loan insurance limit challenged

Read this article. It shows how the Consumer Association and the Regulators (Financial Services Authority and Competition Authority) look after the interest of consumers in the UK. We need to learn from them. It is not just business.

Lack of transparency and fairness

I posted the case of a policyholder who paid an annual premium of $2,000 and received $54,000 after 21 years (yield of 2.2%).

A similar policy, taken with another insurer, would have given a yield of 5% p.a. giving a payback of $75,000. The difference is $21,000 or 39%.

Where did the $21,000 disappear to? It went into high expenses or are retained in the fund to "smooth the bonus". There is lack of transparency and fairness. The policyholders are at the mercy of the insurance company!

A good way to overcome this problem is to introduce the calculation of asset share for each individual policy, as implemented in Malaysia.

Research 2 - Meeting the Basic Needs of a Population

I wish to ask for a volunteer to carry out this research. If you wish to volunteer, please send an email to kinlian@gmail.com.

1. This research is to look at the percentage of the population that is required to be occupied to meet the basic needs of the population, such as food, shelter, clothing, health and education. This study excludes the secondary needs, such as entertainment, leisure and discretionary expenditures.

2. What percentage of the population is engaged in the occupations that cater for the basic needs?

Research 1 - Cost of Raising a Child

I wish to ask for a volunteer to carry out this research and to submit a report to me. If you can volunteer, please reply to kinlian@gmail.com.

1. If a country has more children, how many additional jobs will be created, e.g. teachers, doctors, nurses, carers and other occupations that are directed connected to taking care of the child from birth till the child enters the workforce. You can add the hardware cost, such as building schools, child care centers and medical clinics for the children.

2. Estimate the total annual cost and divide by the number of children. This will be the cost for each year of raising a child.