FACTOID # 129: ‘Dollar’ is the most common currency name, followed by ‘franc,’ ‘pound,’ ‘dinar,’ ‘peso,’ and ‘rupee.’
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

SEARCH ALL

FACTS & STATISTICS    Advanced view

Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 

 

(* = Graphable)

 

 


Encyclopedia > Ownership society

Ownership society is a slogan for a model of society promoted by United States President George W. Bush. It takes as lead values personal responsibility, economic liberty, and the owning of property. The ownership society discussed by Bush also extends to certain proposals of specific models of health care and social security. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ... In moral philosophy, the word responsibility has at least two related meanings: The obligation to answer for actions. ... ... // Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... Health care or healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions [1]. The healthcare industry is one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing industries, consuming over 10... For specific national programs, see Social Security (United States), National insurance (UK), Social Security (Sweden) Social security mainly refers to a field of social welfare concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized needs, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...


Critics have claimed that Bush's agenda for an ownership society also includes extending tax cuts, allowing wealthy Americans to shelter income from tax, and using the tax code to curtail the government's role in health care and retirement saving. Some say that the ultimate purpose of these proposals is the abolition of the graduated income tax, a progressive tax, and its replacement with a structurally simpler flat tax. A tax cut is a reduction in the rate of tax charged by a government, for example on personal or corporate income. ... A progressive tax, or graduated tax, is a tax that is larger as a percentage of income for those with larger incomes. ... A flat tax, also called a proportional tax, is a system that taxes all entities in a class (typically either citizens or corporations) at the same rate (as a proportion on income), as opposed to a graduated, or progressive, scheme. ...

Contents


History

The term appears to have been used originally by President Bush (for example in a speech February 20, 2003 in Kennesaw, Georgia) as a phrase to rally support for his tax-cut proposals (Pittsburgh Post - Gazette, Bush OKs Funding Bill for Fiscal '03, Feb 21, 2003 Scott Lindlaw). From 2004 Bush supporters described the ownership society in much broader and more ambitious terms, including specific policy proposals concerning medicine, education and savings. February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kennesaw is a city located in Cobb County, Georgia. ... A tax cut is a reduction in the rate of tax charged by a government, for example on personal or corporate income. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Medicine is the branch of health science concerned with maintaining human health or restoring it through the treatment of disease and injury. ... In common usage, saving generally means putting money aside, for example, by putting money in the bank or investing in a pension plan. ...


The idea that the welfare of individuals is directly related to their ability to control their own lives and wealth, rather than relying on government transfer payments, is a longstanding one, particularly in British conservatism. The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...


In a modern form its implementation was developed as a main plank of Thatcherism, and is traced back to David Howell, before 1970, with help from the phrase-maker Peter Drucker. Thatcherism is the system of political thought attributed to the governments of Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. ... Other notable men have this same name, see: David Howell (disambiguation). ... Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was a management theorist who created many phrases common in business today. ...


In political practice under Margaret Thatcher's administration, it was implemented by measures such as the sale at affordable prices of public housing to tenants, and privatization.. The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), is a British politician. ... A local authority tower block in Cwmbrân, South Wales Public housing or social housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ...


Ownership and control

As formulated by the Cato Institute (see original quote and external link below), the desiderata are that The Cato Institute is an influential libertarian non-profit public policy research foundation (think tank) headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institutes stated mission is to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and...

  • patients have control [of decisions on] their personal health care,
  • parents control [i.e. have power over] their children's education, and
  • workers control [i.e. have some responsibility for the investment of, or explicit property rights in] their retirement savings.

Here the comments in brackets are an interpretation or paraphrase, consistent with a generalised idea of ownership. The conceptual link here is by means of the idea that private property, the most familiar and everyday form of ownership, is being extended. Control is closely associated with ownership in that sense. Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive possession or control of some thing, which may be an object or some kind of property. ... This page deals with property as ownership rights. ...


This Cato Institute formulation is not, however, in terms of positive policies. It is more accurately a definition of ownership by taking the state out of the loop. So, for example, in health care ownership is not being defined just on the basis of informed consent. Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of any actions. ...


There is no real originality, politically speaking, in the connection made between individual ownership of property and political stake-holding. This was an idea discussed in Europe and America in the eighteenth century. (For example that the franchise should only be for property holders.) A stakeholder is a person who holds money or other property while its owner is being determined. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Meanings of franchise: Full rights of citizenship given by a country or a town, especially suffrage (political franchise) In a wider sense: any right or privilege granted by constitution or statute. ...


The novelty of the Cato Institute formulation would lie in the extrapolation. In the case of savings, for example, the extension would be an assertion of property rights in money held in savings or collected tax revenues.


Political consequences and unexpected consequences

Consistently with the basic tenet, proponents of an ownership society usually support inherited wealth, and oppose inheritance taxes and wealth taxes. They are also likely to favour a pattern of property ownership based on the purchase, rather than rental, of accommodation. For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... Inheritance tax, also known in some countries outside the United States as a death duty and referred to as an estate tax within the U.S, is a form of tax that may be levied upon the estate of a deceased person that is left to a living person or... Because of the broad term wealth, property tax, capital transfer taxes (inheritance tax, gift tax) and capital gains taxes are sometimes referred to as wealth taxes. Net worth tax Some countrys governments will require declaration of the tax payers balance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that ask for...


The consequences for health and education are heavily dependent on details of implementation. For example, ownership in one's child's education, for a parent, might be in the form of an education voucher, a vote in the running of a school, influence on the school curriculum, or a generalised 'right' to have a child educated in line with one's own values. An education voucher, commonly called a school voucher, is a certificate by which parents are given the ability to pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned. ...


One example from the UK of an unexpected or unintended consequence of government policy favouring direct share ownership, through some oversubscribed privatisation issues, was the holding of small parcels of shares by individuals numbered in millions. This broad-based ownership created an administrative overhead, for example in relation to every shareholder vote.


Quotations

We Conservatives have always passed our values from generation to generation. I believe that personal prosperity should follow the same course. I want to see wealth cascading down the generations. We do not see each generation starting out anew, with the past cut off and the future ignored. - John Major conference speech 1991. The Right Honourable Sir John Major, KG, CH (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served in the Cabinets of Margaret Thatcher as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer before succeeding Thatcher as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of the United...


...if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country. The more ownership there is in America, the more vitality there is in America, and the more people have a vital stake in the future of this country. - President George W. Bush, June 17, 2004


Individuals are empowered by freeing them from dependence on government handouts and making them owners instead, in control of their own lives and destinies. In the ownership society, patients control their own health care, parents control their own children's education, and workers control their retirement savings. Cato Institute


"Many people don't have the time, inclination, or expertise necessary to take full responsibility for their own well-being in areas that are so complex as assuring they have sufficient income for retirement or choosing a health plan appropriate for their circumstances," says Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank. This article is about the institution. ...


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Encyclopedia: Ownership society (555 words)
Ownership society is a slogan for a model of society promoted by United States President George W. Bush.
Ownership is self-propagating, since the more that a person can own or acquire through money, the more he or she will generate other things to be owned.
Ownership seems to be central to economies in capitalism, facilitates economic development and increases prosperity.
Ownership society - definition of Ownership society in Encyclopedia (870 words)
Ownership society is a slogan for a model of society promoted by US President George W. Bush.
From 2004 Bush supporters described the ownership society in much broader and more ambitious terms, including specific policy proposals concerning medicine, education and savings.
For example, ownership in one's child's education, for a parent, might be in the form of an education voucher, a vote in the running of a school, influence on the school curriculum, or a generalised 'right' to have a child educated in line with one's own values.
  More results at FactBites »


 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.