Originally Posted by PatriotsReign

Then I suggest you move to Sweden...America is NOT going to become socialist.

Originally Posted by Patters

I lived under Swedish socialism. I found it it wonderful. My taxes were very high, but there was no crime to speak of, health care was free (even had a doctor come to my apartment on a Sunday night once), dental care was cheap, there were virtually no homelessness, even cheap apartments were clean and of a high standard, wages were good, everyone got 5 weeks of paid vacation, the water and air were extremely clean (fishing right in the city center), mass transit was superb, the national pension plan was supposedly quite good, and they were highly successful in keeping HIV down and drug addiction down. I lived there in the 1990s when the stupid American conservatives were gleeful because they thought the Swedish economy was collapsing. Instead, Sweden did some restructuring and today it's one of the strongest economies in Europe.

Despite all the wonderful things about it, the fact is that prices were quite high and the society was so egalitarian it lacked the excitement and dynamism of the United States. But, the reality is for raising kids and for the middle class it's a better system than the one we have here, but of course most Americans are simply ignorant of other nations, having never lived abroad.

Democratic socialism is a good thing, and that's part of the reason I hope that Romney gets defeated. While Obama is no socialist, he's certainly not going to do what Romney wants and restore the Gilded Age.

Originally Posted by PatriotsReign

One fact is for certain....NO ONE can compare Sweden or any tiny nation to the US and believe what works there can work here because that's just false. Large mega-nations like the US have massively higher infrastructure costs compared to countries like Sweden.

No country has any interest in attacking Sweden....not true of our country. So our military costs as a percent of our GDP will always need to much higher than Sweden's.

Comparing Sweden to the US is like comparing Proctor & Gamble to the little mom & pop store down the street. They are not comparable.

Originally Posted by Drewski

To play Devil's Advocate here....isn't it "easy" to provide all that stuff when you have a total population +/- the size of one of our cities (NYC)? Not to mention, I assumed you lived in a city - where public transit is prevalent.

ie. if you ask someone who lives in the South End of Boston- they would say "mass transit is superb" while if you ask someone who lives in say Halifax MA they might say "what mass transit?"

Please note I am not bad mouthing the joys of Sweden's life style. Just simply pointing out that how good 9M people have it in Sweden is about as relevant to us here in the states as me stating how bad 280M people have it in Indonesia.

For better or worse - our population size, how spread out it is and the size of our country area wise do work against us having that type of utopia here at home.

Could we have some of it? Sure I think we could. But it wouldn't be on a national level.

Originally Posted by Patters

I lived under Swedish socialism. I found it it wonderful. My taxes were very high, but there was no crime to speak of, health care was free (even had a doctor come to my apartment on a Sunday night once), dental care was cheap, there were virtually no homelessness, even cheap apartments were clean and of a high standard, wages were good, everyone got 5 weeks of paid vacation, the water and air were extremely clean (fishing right in the city center), mass transit was superb, the national pension plan was supposedly quite good, and they were highly successful in keeping HIV down and drug addiction down. I lived there in the 1990s when the stupid American conservatives were gleeful because they thought the Swedish economy was collapsing. Instead, Sweden did some restructuring and today it's one of the strongest economies in Europe.

Despite all the wonderful things about it, the fact is that prices were quite high and the society was so egalitarian it lacked the excitement and dynamism of the United States. But, the reality is for raising kids and for the middle class it's a better system than the one we have here, but of course most Americans are simply ignorant of other nations, having never lived abroad.

Democratic socialism is a good thing, and that's part of the reason I hope that Romney gets defeated. While Obama is no socialist, he's certainly not going to do what Romney wants and restore the Gilded Age.

Originally Posted by PatriotsReign

WOW!! Great minds really do think alike!

Originally Posted by Tunescribe

I absolutely agree 100 percent. Limited Democratic socialism is the ONLY way that this nation's abundant wealth can be equitably distributed. Capitalists who want more than their share still will have the ability to make their way.

Originally Posted by Tunescribe

I absolutely agree 100 percent. Limited Democratic socialism is the ONLY way that this nation's abundant wealth can be equitably distributed. Capitalists who want more than their share still will have the ability to make their way.