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Originally posted by Adonis
Everyone says this and that but then they go right ahead and take SS, Medicare and other government services that they didn't necessarily pay for. I say that as someone sitting in a very high tax bracket.
Secondly, the states complaining the most about taxes are the states who get the most in free handouts from the federal government. As soon as you start taking away people's benefits away or limit them in any fashion you end up in a situation where you can't even get elected in "conservative" districts. Social security exists to enable those who specialize in manual labor to do that as a career and allows them to have income when they are physically unable to do that line of work anymore. The same exists for high stress environments etc. We all know how hard it is to transition into a completely new field when you are 50 and 60 years old. It's just not likely or realistic.
Everyone won't be able to work forever that much we know. People should be allowed to take SS and Medicare when they are unable to work or don't want to in their twilight years. If we are lucky we will all reach that that point. SS also pays for the disabled and children in extreme circumstances.
Paul Ryan was taking SS but now thinks it stops people from wanting to work. Michelle Bachman takes farm subsidies to the tune of tends of thousands of dollars. Be careful about listening to people complaining about government funds most of those people are taking the government aid themselves and are hypocritical on these issues. The numbers show this over and over again. The people complaining the most about taxes don't pay any.... (hello Mitt Romney who paid nothing in taxes for over a decade back in the 90's and very little relative to his income compared with everyone else...all while taking loans which he ultimately bankrupted from the US and European governments)
Scandinavia has a far better quality of life compared to people in the US. The countries with the most problems in Europe are those countries who refuse to pay the taxes but want all the benefits. That sounds just like the path the US is on.
There is a rule in finance. There is no free lunch. This means there is a consequence for not doing thing things you should be doing.
Going on an on about culture means nothing. That's simply a denial of reality. The reality is conservatives can't get their hands on blue state tax dollars fast enough. There is a reason why the finance and tech and other intellectually based industries are housed in the most liberal of states. That is no mistake. That is the result of liberal policies in those states which allowed these things to happen.
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I really don't agree with you.
I'll start with culture.
The Nordic cultures have a culture that calls for every person to think of the greater good of their nation. To put down your differences and see yourselves as equales.
This is not an American thing, America has a culture of putting yourself first before everyone else. It's a sink or swim society.
Which is why Western countries with largely homogenous populations have a much easier time implementing certain welfare policies. A country like France or Japan will have it much easier than the US. There's a bad side to being too diverse, this is one of them.
Those policies of welfare passed by the US were passed under certain tough times when the country was largely more united. And they both were passed during a time of disparity that called for a leap forward. The Great Depression and the social heat of the 1960s.
Had the Depression never happened SS may not even exist or it would've appeared much later under another dire situation.
So no. You can not apply a one size fits all method to every country it's not how things work.
And like I said before it seemed like you skipped it. The Nordic model is not sustainable. How will they be able to afford it when the population drops? This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. The one exception may be Norway who invested money in their oil.
And besides many Americans have a hard time putting forth any social plan. Do you think they'll agree to free public University, a wider safety net, higher wage, etc? Nope and raising taxes will cause rich people to find more loopholes or leave the country.
America is not a country for the middle man but the rich. You should know this by now.
They don't realize all they're doing is hurting themselves.
Like come on. That still does not to stop college costs from rising. Even in Europe the govt is involved in college costs and prices are ten times less. Taxing stocks is not going to pay for college for everyone with college costing 20k per person.