Apparently last week's post on the value of making public services and programs universal was rather well timed, as the Globe and Mail is pushing David Cameron's plans to hack away at some of the UK's universal benefits as a model for Canada.
So let's make clear that the converse of my point is true as well. Just as anybody concerned with making a program sustainable should want to make sure that it's designed to eliminate avoidable resentments, so too can a concerted effort to carve out groups from a universal benefit be seen as consistent with a desire to undermine the program as a whole in the longer term. And particularly when a business-friendly source is talking about the need for shared pain as the basis to limit the availability of a social benefit, it's worth asking immediately what kinds of sacrifices are being demanded from the corporate sector to go with the desire to slash citizens' benefits.
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