“Ship Them to Asia!” Germany’s Solution to Care for the Elderly
Now here’s a cost-effective solution. When it costs too much to care for the elderly, and you’re a government official, what can you do to help balance the budget? Ship them to Asia.
It’s cheaper to buy property in Asia. I don’t mean in Beijing. I mean the low-income countries.
You can get cheaper doctors there.
Food is cheaper, too. Simple, but cheap. Rice three times a day. Soy sauce is available for dinner.
The German government has figured this out. So, off granny goes on an extended vacation! “Bon voyage!”
Germany sometimes sends them to eastern Europe. It’s cheaper there, too. And it’s easier for relatives to visit.
This is just good business. We want to have government run like a business. This is business in action.
It is not clear that the oldsters are always consulted on this. Maybe they are. There is nothing like Alzheimer’s to produce cooperation. “If you have any objections to being sent to live in Vietnam, please say so now.”
The trouble with running a government as a business is that business is voluntary. Ludwig von Mises pointed this out in 1944 in his classic book, Bureaucracy. Profit-management is based on open entry of competitors. Bureaucratic management is based on coercion.
Any time you hear a politician call for running a government as a business, start looking for an exit.
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Published on January 4, 2013. The original is here.