If this article is accurately portraying the situation, Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, thinks vacations are a human right.
"An overseas holiday used to be thought of as a reward for a year’s hard work. Now Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer."
Read the article here (it's short).
Also interesting, see how opinions about needs and wants have evolved over the years:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/luxury-or-necessity/
Personally, I wouldn't say any of the things in that first graph (clothes dryer, dishwasher, home computer, cable or satellite tv, home air conditioning, car air conditioning, microwave) are necessities, but then again I spent two years in a 3rd(ish) world country.
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1 comment:
I think I get what you're saying, but even in your situation I wouldn't call a dryer a necessity. I think it's still a luxury (there's probably some middle ground on these definitions). I draw a low line for that sort of thing.
Obviously, to accomplish your goals, a lot of what I would call luxuries are necessary, but I think that's different than what it means to say something is a human necessity (which is also distinct from a human right which demands government subsidy).
I guess the question becomes "necessity for what?" Upward social mobility is a worthwhile goal, or at least a desirable side-effect of other worthwhile goals, but I wouldn't call it a necessity either. This topic probably deserves a lot more than two blog comments, but that's a beginning.
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