Chapter 581 About National Welfare
Paul II's idea still worked. He took over the bronze triple crown passed down through the ages, and then began to use the Vatican's secret sacred skills to bless the bronze triple crown. It took about more than two hours. Finally, the holy light in his body was exhausted, and then he stopped.
After that, Fan Wubing began to diagnose and treat him. As expected, his symptoms were much milder. Fan Wubing felt that just two treatments could restore him to health. However, in order to show his hard work, he delayed for a few more days. The treatment was not finished until a week later.
Within this week, Paul II clearly felt that his physical condition had improved, and after a week of treatment, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease completely disappeared. After a series of instrumental tests, Paul II proved this The world has been freed from the troubles of Parkinson's disease, and his previous symptoms have also been significantly improved.
The two cardinals were also very surprised to see such miraculous medical skills. Especially after the treatment, the holy light in Paul II's body began to slowly recover again, which made them feel at ease. Otherwise, if Fan was not sick, If he is really the spokesperson of some evil force, His Majesty the Pope will fall into the arms of the devil.
In that case, if word spreads, it will be a tragedy that will make the world laugh forever.
Fan Wubing also gained something during this treatment, because he clearly discovered that the biggest difference between the physiques of foreigners and Chinese is that foreigners have thick lines and simple and strong meridians, so they are easily affected by diseases such as Captured by religious tools such as Catholicism, they have become simple believers. However, the Chinese people’s meridian system is relatively complicated, so it is more difficult to use religion to influence the Chinese people. It often requires a very complicated system of divine stick theory. , can the Chinese people fall into it.
Moreover, Fan Wubing also conducted a more in-depth analysis of the so-called Holy Light, and found that this thing is similar to the Inner Qi, but its structure is relatively simple, so ordinary Catholic believers can also obtain the Holy Light. Generally speaking, The simpler the thought, the easier it is to obtain more Holy Light. This principle is similar to the fact that successful people in martial arts novels are often the protagonists who are stupid and blessed.
After the analysis, Fan Wubing also discovered to his surprise that his own internal energy could actually imitate the Holy Light. Just using vibrations at the same frequency as the Holy Light to stimulate, he could transform his own energy into extremely powerful energy. Abundant Holy Light.
Therefore, after Fan Wubing finished treating Paul II, he deliberately showed the holy light on his body. As a result, the whole room was filled with a milky white halo, which made Paul II and the two red cardinals The bishop was astonished to a degree that no pope in recent generations had ever heard of, let alone seen with his own eyes.
Everyone immediately thought of a term, Paladin.
Although there are so-called paladins in the Vatican today, everyone knows that these are just inherited from history.
In fact, the most they can do is ride horses and fencing, and they cannot produce the so-called holy light at all, let alone be able to show the power of faith against the enemy.
It is said that during the Crusades, the Paladins still had this set of inheritance of faith, but now, basically no one can tell what the power of faith is?
At this time, Fan Wubing suddenly showed his hand, which shocked everyone, but they felt that this was the power of the Lord. Otherwise, how could a Chinese suddenly have such a powerful power of faith?
But no matter what, Paul II and the other three people felt that this trip to China was not in vain. Not only did they cure the disease, but they also discovered a Chinese with strong "power of faith", or perhaps Maybe it’s the Lord’s guidance.
Paul II and others did not stay in the capital for long. Before leaving, Paul II presented Fan Wubing with a Holy Knight Medal to thank him for curing his illness, and explained to Fan Wubing, This Paladin Medal is also a cultural relic medal that has been circulated for hundreds of years.
Fan Wubing was very interested in collecting these cultural relics. He also expressed his friendship to John Paul II and invited them to his home. After John Paul II and others experienced the rich and diverse cooking techniques of Chinese home-cooked dishes, they all found it very novel. Although clergy were forbidden to cook their own food, they saw that such simple ingredients could be made. When they were served various delicacies, they still expressed their admiration.
Fan Heng is not at home. He has left the capital and returned to Jiangnan Province to take up his post. Otherwise, if he knew that the world's biggest magician was a guest at home, he would probably be a little tangled in his heart, especially this god. Stick actually still has a long-term political stance.
In any case, Fan Wubing gained a lot this time, and he also demonstrated his strong strength in the social circle. Even the Pope from the Vatican was able to recruit him to be the host of Fan Ting's wedding. There is nothing else he can't do What about?
Paul II probably asked his subordinates what they should pay attention to when contacting the Chinese. When he came to eat, he also brought gifts. They were not very expensive. They just produced a lot of olive oil on the Italian peninsula. This Things are often used in religious ceremonies, so it seems very solemn for him to bring them.
After dinner, everyone sat down and started chatting. Without knowing why, they started talking about national welfare issues.
In recent years, in order to reduce the government's burden, the Chinese government has introduced a policy to stop allocating welfare housing, and at the same time, it has also promoted the socialization of public medical care. In terms of taxation, the introduction of the tax-sharing system has also greatly increased the total tax revenue. This has This raises a question: What does the reduction of national welfare mean?
Paul II had also seriously studied these issues, so he said to Fan Wubing, "The debate about the welfare state has been around for a long time. For ordinary people, having welfare is better than not having it, so they all agree with the welfare state. . But for financial experts, they have another layer of thinking and have many doubts. The most basic question is, where does the money for welfare come from? And where is it used? Ordinary people always think that the government has its own money. Source, it is always a good thing to have money to spend on yourself. In fact, the government does not create wealth, but consumes wealth. In the final analysis, the government's money is collected from taxpayers, and the larger the government, the better. The more things you do, the more money you spend. Generally speaking, it is a bit unnecessary for the government to collect taxes from taxpayers and then spend them on taxpayers. It also expands the power of the government. In terms of the country's situation, this may not be a good thing. Instead of taxing and returning taxes, it is better to tax less, which can also save a lot of taxation costs and redistribution costs, and overall improve efficiency. This is the main reason for opposing the welfare state. "
"I am also a little confused about this issue." Fan Wubing was not very clear about this, so he scratched his head and said, "I think the welfare state also has its drawbacks. For example, the welfare policies of some Nordic countries, although for the poor, It’s beneficial, but in a sense, it can also be said to be raising lazy people, which seems inappropriate.”
Looking at the exact sources of tax revenue and where exactly it goes, the welfare state is nothing more than a policy of income redistribution. Whether it is good or not depends on who collects the tax and spends it on whom.
If it is expropriated from the richer class and used by the poorer people, it corrects the excessive wealth gap, such welfare may be good. But if the tax is collected from the general public and spent on the general public, this welfare policy is unnecessary because it does not change the income distribution and only has undesirable side effects.
What's even worse is that taxes are taken from low-income people to help high-income people. It worsens income distribution and reduces efficiency. This undesirable side effect is to change the direction of people's efforts.
In a market economy, people work hard to make money, that is, to create wealth. But in the welfare system, people work hard to take advantage of loopholes, avoid paying when it comes to paying, and get in front when it comes to sharing benefits. It can be said that the direction of the entire society's struggle has been distorted, from wealth creation to wealth distribution. People's strength is used to offset each other's internal friction and cannot increase the wealth of society.
There are similar problems with using taxpayers' money to alleviate poverty, but poverty alleviation is necessary and the side effects can be overcome. It is not necessary for the welfare of ordinary people, and it is even more harmful to the welfare of wealthy people.
"According to the opinion of most tax experts, the tax system in some countries such as yours is not conducive to the poor. In other words, the poor pay more taxes as a proportion of their income than the rich. For example, 25% of the poor's income is taxed , while the rich only pay 18. This is because your country’s tax revenue is mainly related to the circulation of goods, that is, the consumption of the rich accounts for a low proportion of the total income, and the proportion of savings is high. On the contrary, consumption accounts for a higher proportion of total income for the poor, so the taxes paid by the rich as a proportion of income are lower than those of the poor." A cardinal close to Paul II was obviously responsible for the Vatican's economy for a long time. When talking about this matter, he said clearly, "The personal income adjustment tax is used to correct the gap between the rich and the poor, but your country's income adjustment tax cannot have such an effect at all, because most of the rich evade taxes. In fact, this part The tax is mainly collected from the working class, and it has a counter-regulatory effect. To correct the distortion caused by this tax, we must find ways to deal with it, which is another big problem.”
Fan Wubing nodded. In fact, he also knew that what the cardinal said was indeed true. Just like his company, because it can enjoy various tax-free policies or through financial experts, it can reasonably use legal means. Carry out tax avoidance, so the money that can be saved in this aspect alone every year is a very scary astronomical figure.
For most joint ventures or foreign-funded enterprises, the preferential policies and tax policies they enjoy are basically enviable, which results in a tax policy where the poor feed the rich.
Even if tax policy is not distorted, there is still the question of spending: to whom does the money that the government spends on welfare go to?
If it is spent on ordinary people, taking money from everyone and then giving it to everyone is just like what was said before, it is unnecessary, and the money will be leaked from everyone's hands back to everyone's hands. There are not only the administrative costs of taxation and redistribution, but also the political costs of corruption. For example, if you hand over 100 yuan, you may not even get 90 yuan back, so this kind of benefit is not as effective as tax cuts.
The cardinal continued to explain to Fan Wubing, "If welfare expenditures are used for low-income people, such welfare is meaningful. But the target of welfare measures must be the lowest-income people, not the middle- and low-income people. Who should the limited money be used for? It is obviously unreasonable to use it for the middle- and low-income people instead of the lowest-income people and ignore the most difficult people. Of course, it is difficult to identify who is the lowest-income person. But the problem is often not the difficulty of identification, but the fundamental directional error."
Fan Wubing was a little confused, but after thinking for a while, he had some insights.
This is like the economically affordable housing system introduced later. Although the original intention was to help people with difficulties in life solve the housing problem, in fact it did not help the most difficult people. It can be said that economically affordable housing helps people who already have hundreds of thousands of yuan, and they are obviously not the most difficult people. In contrast, migrant workers who come to the city to work are much more difficult than them. But they can't afford to buy a house, so the policy to solve their housing problem should be low-rent housing, or a better way is to give housing subsidies and let them find the best combination of money.
Pope John Paul II concluded by saying, "When the pros and cons are clear, those who support the welfare state are those with relatively low incomes, who are expected to benefit from the country's welfare policies. Those who oppose it are those with high incomes, because part of their income is given to others. If a vote is taken by show of hands, low-income people are in the majority, so proposals for a welfare state are often easily passed in parliament. Welfare policies can alleviate the gap between the rich and the poor and are beneficial to social stability. High-income earners will not strongly oppose it. However, it is inevitable that some people in society take advantage of welfare policies to be lazy. People who can work do not work and live on welfare subsidies. For high-income people, high welfare will reduce their enthusiasm for making money because the extra money they earn is spent on others. The result is that the unemployment rate in society remains high, wealth creation decreases, and the society is filled with lazy thinking. This is a side effect of the welfare state, and it is also a phenomenon that does exist in the current welfare state."