In de New York Times staat vandaag een lang, overwegend lyrisch en zeer lezenswaardig artikel over het Nederlandse Model gezien door de ogen van een Amerikaan. Mooie quote:
American politics became entrenched in two positions […]: the old left-wing idea of vast and direct government control of social welfare, and the right-wing determination to […] privatize the system and leave people to their own devices. In Europe, meanwhile, the postwar cradle-to-grave idea of a welfare state gave way in the past few decades to some quite sophisticated mixing of public and private. And whether in health care, housing or the pension system […], the Dutch have proved to be particularly skilled at finding mixes that work.
Het belangrijkste nadeel? De winkelsluitingswet:
Indeed, most shops close by 6 p.m. ?” precisely when people leaving work might actually want to patronize them.
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