Double Standards - On the way back from a recent visit in my home country, I was skimming through a local paper and stumbled across an article with the headline, "The Addicts and Dissolute Are Lucrative Business For The State [of Austria]". Beneath it read that the yearly profit raised from tobacco and alcohol taxes are 1.5 Billion Euro higher than the consequential costs needed for medical procedures, therapy, social support, criminal prosecution, and loss of productivity. This short statement plus a closer look at the embedded graphics left me flabbergasted. The whole situation is by no means new, but the numbers definitely speak volumes. Okay, so I first glanced at the column alcohol which showed the bar of income generated by sales, taxes and other charges. The second bar represented the amount of so called social consequential costs. Hence the category alcohol shows a profit of 385 billion Euro versus 255 billion spent on hospital, rehab, social services, etc. This leaves the Austrian state with a nice cushion of 130 billion Euro plus. Drugs range around 0 as far as income due to the fact that there is just no such thing as legalization as of yet. The total needed to medically treat and socially re- integrate drug addicts are therefore 278% higher and create a minus of just as much in billions. Gambling banks 270 billion Euro in profits, but it only takes 10 billion to deal with the results which considerably expands the margin thanks to another 260 billion plus. So far so good, and certainly nothing to seriously complain about yet. Were there no statistics on the consumption of tobacco and related treatment costs, we would most probably not even hear or read about it. The addiction of nicotine is not just the leading one in my country but turns out to be the top economic booster. Even though the numbers do not necessarily make as much sense as I would have anticipated, they certainly paint a dire picture of the struggle between facts and fiction. 1587 billion Euro in cash flow meet a comparatively petty 234 billion in treatment costs increasing the overall profit to 1353 billion! Quite mind- boggling! Altogether Austria takes in a whopping 2242 billion Euro in taxes and profits but only pays out a rough third supposedly with the intention to cure our addicts. What the heck is right! My country - at least statistically speaking - checks in on a yearly income of 1465 billion Euro exclusively through vices such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs and gambling. Sure, an extra 1465 billion is still less than the proverbial drop in the bucket but still leaves enough evidence for being one of the richest nations worldwide. What a farce though! We, the society, try to help all those who keep falling off the wagon so they get back on track through special campaigns, treatment and therapy programs as well as social integration when at the same time the big lobbies wish for nothing greater than the exact opposite. How two- faced our words and actions are! 777 billion Euro, the number of social consequential costs reads. Any coincidence here why exactly 777 and not any other amount? Just saying. - I'm fairly positive that this kind of mathematical calculation more or less delivers similar results in other parts of the world as well. With regard to smoking, America meanwhile plays a slightly different tune as a consequence of banning smoking in all public places across the nation. However, nowhere else are the prices or rather taxes for cigarettes as quickly rising as in the States. Smoking here is no longer as much of a problem as in my country where still 34% smoke. The consumption of drugs and alcohol though appears to be topping all the other addictions on this continent. Actually, it does not matter at all which form of addiction ranks number one in which country. What counts undoubtedly is and always will be the intention and the purpose behind. We've really got to ask ourselves, do we truly want people to kick and recover from their costly habits or are we rather out to keep them suffering and consequently paying? The truth is, as long as we remain locked in within our double standards, we will not heal but continuously destroy ourselves.
College or no college - That's the question Now the time is here again for high school graduates to venture off to college and university. I still, to this day, remember being thrilled and overly excited to start as a fresh(wo)man in a new place where studying would go hand in glove with partying for the next few years. I love to see every one's kids swarm out and flock together in college districts and on student campus terrains. Most teenagers get accepted somewhere even though often at second or third choice sites, but they will all have to face one and the same question which is, at what price? Unless you are granted a scholarship, three years and plus of college education costs you an arm and a leg, and if you keep going for more profound specialization, you will be in debts up your neck by the time you have got your PhD. Then what? Go and spit out job applications like a ball machine hoping that someone is going to hire you - unless of course you were lucky eno...
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