Socialism has a bad day in the U.S.

Angela

Angela

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IronSide said:
It's not Communist, nor Socialist like Venezuela, but like Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy

The word Social in Social democracy is frightening to many Americans.
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It was the policies people didn't like once these candidates actually explained them in detail: single payer health care, free college tuition, $15.00 minimum wage, in some cases free child care up to five. Where was the money going to come from? That's where they went wrong. Bernie kept it nice and general, all fuzzy feel good words. That's how he got away with it. A lot of Americans, particularly in certain areas like the upper midwest where a lot of these races were held don't want to be Sweden, not if they have to pay for it with huge increases in taxes.
 
Angela said:
It was the policies people didn't like once these candidates actually explained them in detail: single payer health care, free college tuition, $15.00 minimum wage, in some cases free child care up to five. Where was the money going to come from? That's where they went wrong. Bernie kept it nice and general, all fuzzy feel good words. That's how he got away with it. A lot of Americans, particularly in certain areas like the upper midwest where a lot of these races were held don't want to be Sweden, not if they have to pay for it with huge increases in taxes.
Click to expand...

Well, the American government is already spending a lot of money on its military, some of that can go to these welfare programs.

closing the loopholes to avoid taxation should also help.
 
Maybe if the rest of the west had been paying or were to pay for their own defense it would be more feasible.

Regardless, once Americans know that Sweden has its level of social services by taxing its middle class people at very high rates, it suddenly doesn't look as attractive. Only very high earners are taxed at those rates in the U.S.

This is a few years out of date but it gives you the general idea.
https://taxfoundation.org/how-scandinavian-countries-pay-their-government-spending/

"A lot of the spending-side programs in Scandinavian countries cost a lot. Taxes would definitely need to be increased in the United States if it were to adopt them. If the U.S. were to raise taxes in a way that mirrors Scandinavian countries, taxes—especially on the middle-class—would increase through a new VAT and high payroll and income taxes.

It isn’t a mistake that taxes in Scandinavian countries are structured this way. In order to raise a significant amount of revenue, the tax base has to be broad. This means higher taxes on consumption through the VAT and higher taxes on middle-income taxpayers through high payroll taxes."

People aren't willing to pay those kind of taxes and then see the benefits through social programs go to so many people who pay no taxes at all because they don't work.

Plus, now that Sweden has its own underclass of people who drain from the society instead of contributing to it, we'll see how long it lasts. They're already starting to feel the pressure. What would it be like for them if 50% of their citizens paid no tax at all, not income tax or high VAT taxes either, just the lower sales tax. Or let's see how they would do if as high a percentage of their population was on public assistance as ours or had as many drug addicted and totally non-functioning human beings.

That's why most of the comparisons statistically between the U.S. and the rest of the world are so ridiculous. If people want a real comparison, compare how an educated or highly skilled worker lives in the U.S. (lower prices impact it too) compared to other places in the world.

Now that would be a meaningful comparison.

Oh, sorry about the downvote: my computer froze and I was impatiently hitting keys

Ed. This goes for me personally too. I waited to have children until I had an education, until we could afford a decent place to live. In the beginning we were both working 12+ hour days. Why, when we finally started making some money should we give it to some nineteen year old drug user who already has three children. No thank you. It's one to provide basic services, because it's not the fault of the children, but no more, and I resent that we even have to do that. People should take responsibility for their own lives.

 
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