According to the recent Eurostat data for 2013/2012, the “Old age and survivors” group of citizens receives the greatest share of the total volume of social protection benefits in the Czech Republic (46%, 9.7% of GDP), followed by the categories “Sickness/health care” (29.7% of the total benefits, 6.3% of GDP), and “Family/children” (8.8% of the total benefits, 1.9% of GDP). The percentage shares of GDP are below EU28 average.

The UN refugee chief outlined a detailed six-point plan. UNHCR's proposals make clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution, and that EU Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

Without action, public pension and health systems will not be sustainable over the long-term. Our grandchildren would face unsustainable public debt and sharp tax increases that could stifle growth and reduce their economic well-being, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It is not often that the public gets a clear picture of how the state views the people. That view slides on a spectrum from servant to master. The ideal state serves society: it provides public goods and redistributes national income to ensure social justice and stability. The state is an abstract, however; it actually is composed of thousands of citizen agents. Those agents can turn the state into the master of the people in order to collect money for the benefit of an intertwined class of bureaucracy, politicians and lobbyists.Two recent policies may convince them to the point of resistance. Read the report...