How do countries like Sweden and Denmark provide so many social programs and carry so little debt?
Now I know most European countries like Greece, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany etc. are all about high taxes and spending money on programs that are very socialist in nature. This is fine if everyone in the country is down for it, and will pay for it, but the thing is most people don’t want to pay for it and so a lot of these countries have debt loads that are like more than 100% of their GDP sometimes in the 2s and 3s depending on the metric, or their bankrupt apparently (i.e. Greece). Those big spending european socialist countries are all like way up there compared to the rest of the world in debt, they make the U.S. look pretty efficient spenders in fact. I don’t think countries like Sweeden or Denmark are any different from the rest of western Europe as far as socialist spending priorities are concerned, but they seem to carry a far lower debt load, lower than the United States in fact. How do they do it? Is it because they spend basically nothing on defense (because who the hell is going to attack Sweden? The Pittsburgh Penguins?) Have they figured out a way to get people to pay for socialist programs that put a disincentive on them to make enough money to fork over the money necessary to do that? Do people just make a lot of money there anyway, and there aren’t as many poor people leeching off the system in comparison? Really, what are the Scandinavians doing that the rest of the world can learn? I’m not dissing socialism here, this is an honest question, because they might be on to something.
You answered your question in the first sentence. High taxes and lack of personal choice. Don’t worry America is on it’s way to making every decision for you, you wont even have to think about questions like this for very much longer they’ll makes sure you know what question you can ask and what the answer has to be.
F u ck the Gov! Gimme my freedom back!
June 7th, 2010 at 4:37 amSome clarifications are in order … NONE of those countries are flat out socialist, at least not in the way that many Americans interpret socialism. Some of those are countries with Democratic Socialist tendencies, but not all, certainly not the UK. The only major public service most European countries have, in addition to nearly every country on the planet, that the US does not, is access to a public health care.
"but the thing is most people don’t want to pay for it …" — Everybody in most of the world supports public access to universal health care. Period. That is something Americans must understand, and must be made clear. Nobody where I live would stop paying our contributions to the public insurance, because that would be a disservice to our fellow citizens. That said, Belgium, Denmark, France, etc do not have debts that are more than 100% of GDP. The only exception is Greece, which obviously has problems. They have issues with corruption and inefficiency in government, bad spending, which contributes to the problem .. partially why some EU countries were hesitant to bail them out.
"How do they do it?" – I’ll tell you how …
- The richest of the rich pay their fair share, bank bonuses are heavily taxed, corporations pay their fair share. Example, corporate tax rate in France is 33%. In America, big corporations and the richest of the rich get a free pass, because Americans frequently elect politicians into office who get in bed with Wall St.
- The public is aware of what taxes are for, why we need them, why they benefit us and therefore pays the taxes. The mindset in the US is generally that taxes are the root of all evil. In France, people equate moderate to high taxes (within reason) to be good, as there are many benefits from it, such as well maintained schools, infrastructure, etc.
- The minimum wage in most European countries is much higher than in the US. Minimum wage in France is €8.27 an hour. That’s about 12 U.S. dollars. We make sure companies here pay workers what they deserve, so that workers are not left struggling.
- With the exception of the UK, most of these countries don’t go to war all the time like the US and UK do. USA and UK spend billions on warfare. They suffer domestically because of it and have to make spending cuts everywhere whenever they start new wars.
So ultimately, to sum it up, what many Europeans do that most Americans don’t, is stand up for workers rights and ensure that the bankers, CEO’s, are paying their fair share, and ensuring that our politicians serve the people, not just bankers. Do the rich in most of Europe pay high taxes? Yes, they certainly do and that helps pay for the public services that benefit us all, including them. If a top earning American moved from the US to an EU country, would they have to down grade from a Ferrari to a Porsche? Probably. Poor thing eh?
Hopefully my answer gives you some insight, from my perspective.
June 7th, 2010 at 4:37 amHere, let a Swedish Economist explain it to you:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonTV#p/u/10/vG51uCrYxVM
June 7th, 2010 at 4:37 amEuropean countries have growth rates that have been about half of the US. That is because government diverts more resources toward less economically productive uses — such as a giant welfare state. This may seem benign in the short run, but take an Excel spreadsheet and start with a dollar in two columns. Grow one column by 4% per year and the other column by 2% per year. See what happens after ten years, Then twenty. Then 50. Eventually these little differences amount to big differences. Ultimately you don’t do well in a world where you are producing at half the rate of your competition.
June 7th, 2010 at 4:37 amBut you are right about one thing. European countries outsource national defense to the United States. You’ll also notice that Scandinavian countries do not have open borders and have a very homogeneous population. Those things save a lot of money.