from a layman's point of view,i think Africa cannot be too broke to afford this system. Africa is broke because no leader on the continent has seen that makinglife conditionseasier for thegrassroots is an investment that will benefit the entirenation in the long run. if we understand that man isthe only element in economics that's both an end and a means to the end, then we should make his empowerment a priority.there can be no marketeconomics without him, no cars, computers, aeroplanes, etc. it all starts from man himself. in fact, Social Security, like education, is one of those things a country cannot do without, if this argument is restricted to the era we live in.

consider the following:

where there is hunger and malnutrition, treatment ofconditions people living in such circumstances getby medication is almost useless since the route cause of the condition being treated could be the very hunger itself that has the capacity to impair the imune system. taking care of the hunger is therefore half the battle. likewise, where conditions are squalid and plague and cholera are rampant, treatment of the conditions that this inhygienic environment causesis useless if one does not eradicate the cause first.

after the realization is made that a country with a high average level of education is better adapted to the times than one that is not, anda country embarks on a program to educate its citizens, itwould be absurd for this country to neglect the life conditions of the citizens it wants to educate. educating a man who lives in squalor andis undernourished is similar to treating a disease without eradicating the possible cause of the ailment for the simple reason thata man's brains also need nutrition and other forms of care to be at their best. this means a large portion of the money spent on educationgets wasted on brains that are not in acondition to take in the material, and ifsome individuals excel because they are naturally gifted, then the resulting intellectis mediocre due to the same effects.

think of the ramifications of this in terms oflevel ofdevelopment of such a country if it is led by the best that flow out of such a bad set-up.

African people pay taxes, that constitute the social fund available to goverments formedicare, among many other things, but if we remove the poverty factor that is a contributing cause of much of these diseases, or at least amelioratethesefactorsby providing social security, there would be a lot more money left over for other things, including social security itself.

i can delve into this further, expand it into other fields of everyday life, but then i believe you see whati am getting at. bottom line is there is a lot that shows theinvesting should start with man,otherwise it will not work. as such, no country can afford to allow its citizens to rot. Africans pay taxes, a social fund that is mostly looted, or spent on programs that do not really need prioritization since they are only themeans to an end. man makes these things, and he makes them better when he is at his best, when the conditions are such that he is able to actualize his potentialities.

what do you think about this argument?

but where do u want to start?!



first of all u need to find strong black leaders. no corrupt politicians nothing more but puppets on a string. the next step should be the creation of a strong african community. definitely the only chance to "reclaim" most of the resources. just like the arabs did.

that is already an almost impossible mission.

many things have to be dealt with in first place and then u can startwith topics likesocial security. we all know that africa is the richest continent. but all its wealth is spread all over the world may it be swiss bank accounts with african owners or big companies in europe and the u.s..

not to be rude or anything but why should we copy america? just on cnn america's sss is broke its already in trouble.we have other things like pension and stuff but i feel its a bad idea.it seems like america is the only one with such.good luck to them but it simply wouldn't work in africa, which comprises of about 56 countries some rich some exremely poor.the vast diffrencial is too much.an most african leaders have other things on mind

I actually think social security would be perfect on a continent like africa. I read some where that 7,000 people die a day in Africa. Whats even worse is thatlooking at Africa's ups and downsover the past centuries I have come to the realization that they were actually more stable under white rule. At least thenmore ofthe people got fed. I would really like to see an Iraq style coup on some of these so-called leaders in Africa. Nigeria's president givesover 90% of the countries oil profits to him and his family. The corruption is just so over the top that the continentcan begin to do better until some of these dictators are done away with.