4 ms·

If only the USA had a similar program!

• freyir 10y ago
  We can't divert money away from the war machine.
  • ptaipale 10y ago
    In Finland, the package was actually seen as a part of the war machine. The package developed from assistance baskets delivered to low-income mothers by General Mannerheim's Child Protection Society after the Finnish civil war (1918), and became a government program in 1937 by offering the package to low-income mothers. The purpose was to increase birth rate and reduce infant mortality by drawing mothers to pre-natal care with the promise of free stuff. It was expanded during the years of WW II and offered to all mothers starting 1947, at a time when the country was recovering from war and paying war reparations to USSR and everyone was really piss-poor, so poor it makes me want to cry. The country was under tremendous pressure from the Soviets and had to desperately assign all available resources to defence, food production and other essential items. Making parents feel that the government cares for them was important in the war years.
• KillerRAK 10y ago
  We can -- let's start with a population the size of Finland. The State of Colorado has about the same # of people -- a great place to start! Think critically before you toss out the old argument: The U.S. should do X, just like Y; where X is the socialist program of choice and Y is a Nordic Country of your choosing.
  • oblio 10y ago
    Ummm... isn't the US GDP per capita higher than Finland's?
    • freyir 10y ago
      And couldn't we exploit economies of scale?
  • scarmig 10y ago
    Not sure if that applies here. There isn't anything particularly hard to administer about sending a one-time box to every parent who has a kid. It's not even collecting any new information--everything needed is recorded during birth registration. Even the potential for fraud is limited, because generating fraudulent SS numbers is much more lucrative than cardboard box resale, and we already have systems in place to limit that. A county or state could easily implement this, with well-scoped resourcing requirements and little chance of cost overruns.
    • rglovejoy 10y ago
      My worry about fraud isn't about the mothers, it's about the politicians and suppliers who would run this program. Too many pockets getting in the way.
  • moogly 10y ago
    Well, your counter-argument is just as old.