Tunescribe

As Patters insightfully pointed out, the quality if life from top to bottom in Sweden is better than ours because of superior social policy. But the American system would forever remain different from the Swedish model, for example, simply because of this country's fervent capitalistic orientation. That will never go away. So, the opportunity to better one's lot individually will always be in place. The only difference would be getting taxed at a higher rate.

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PatriotsReign

Here's where the danger in America lies.....

In the past 5-10 years, we've added MILLIONS onto the gov't dole in the form of food stamps, free cell phones, soc sec disability, etc.

The more Americans that are added to gov't assistance, the more likely they'd support SOCIALISM....or more socialism than we have today.

What they do not understand is that Sweden's unemployment rate is much lower and their labor participation rate is higher than ours.

In other words, they have fewer deadbeats than we do and they have a larger percent of their available labor pool working than we do. And they have fewer people working for their gov't as a percent of their population than we do.

What works in Sweden can't work in the US. We'd have to have even higher tax rates than Sweden to do what they do.

I would take up arms and fight if my gov't told me I had to give them 50% or more of MY earnings....that is how strongly I feel about this issue.

SMALLER federal gov't....not LARGER federal gov't is my choice!

I've never like big government or politicians in general....doubt I'll ever change

PatriotsReign

I pay enough taxes and can't afford any more.

If you add up all forms of taxes we pay in the US, it's darn close to 40% right now

All Federal Taxes
All state taxes
Gasoline Tax
Sales Tax
Restaurant Tax
Hotel tax
Internet tax
Cell phone tax
Cable TV tax
Air travel taxes
Property Tax
All state and local fees are taxes
Toll fees

How high would you like to go Tune?

No one deserves a gov't subsidized cell phone!!! That's for sure.

There is only one thing uglier than greed and that is LAZINESS.

Drewski

Understood. And thank you for providing a "true" response to the question, and not some bumper sticker response.

However, you never explained why wealth should be equal.

To answer my own question - I am of the opinion that the only equality we are guaranteed is the equal opportunity to pursue your happiness.

What you do (or don't do) in that pursuit is left to the individual and has consequences.

For instance - I strive to support my family as well as I can (that is my "happiness"). However, I fully recognize (and accept) that I will never be able to support my family as well as I could if I were say a Doctor; as my wealth will never be equal to what a Doctor's would/could be.

To take that to another direction. Let's say that I am the greatest SQL Developer in the land. Do you think my skills should be rewarded equally to say Tom Brady, as he is the greatest QB in the land? He's pulling down millions between salary and endorsements, while I am clearly not.

That is acceptable to me, because a person should be rewarded "as well" as the market deems their skills worth. $20M is apparently the going rate for NFL greatness, while the greatness in SQL is not nearly as rewarding.

Is that acceptable to you?

D

PatriotsReign

Yes, of course it is!

Don't you believe everyone deserves an iphone? After all, we don't want children to feel "less than" others do we?

The question we need to ask anyone touting the benefits of socialism vs our system is,

"Could you show me a successful socialist nation of 300+ million people with 3,794,083 square miles and that allows as much immigration as we do?"

And then wait the rest of your life for an answer!

DocHoliday

The list of countries with a situation like ours is small, on the order of one.

Only making a point that what you said probably isn't the best way to make your point. Sample size is too small

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PatriotsReign

There are exactly ZERO socialist countries with a population, geographic area and immigration policy comparable to ours.

My point was Sweden can not be compared to the US in any discussion regarding socialism.

Drewski

Understood - there is no other country on Earth with the geographic size, population and population distribution that we have.

But in realizing that, how can we get a system closer to what was discussed, Sweden's?

How do you pay for and ensure access to a HealthCare system of 300M people?

How do you spend to have State of the Art mass transit across the entire area (not every city and town obviously, but general "Transportation Hubs")?

How do you spend ensure there are no homeless?

How do you spend to ensure no crime?

All of those things are much easier when you are dealing with an area (Sweden) roughly the size of California with the population of North Carolina.

PatriotsReign

EASY....just set the minimum tax rate at 60%!! It not really YOUR money ya know!

Drewski

I'm on record here as stating that I think our Tax Code is FUBAR'd and should be redone and also on record as saying (something to effect) that each person should pay the minimum which the government states it needs from each person - I don't know what that percentage is.

I personally am in favor a flat tax; above a certain income floor, and doing away with most deductions. You made X, you owe X*.09 (or enter your % here ).

It would not be 45 or 50 or more percent though - simply because we have 33 times the population Sweden does.