The CATO Institute’s index that people use to say how capitalist Norse countries are includes mostly things that have nothing to do with distinguishing capitalism from modern democratic socialism.
Even looking at the economic freedom indicator, only four percent of it is looking at the state’s ownership of assets, which is core to what socialism is.
Yet, this is used again and again to say how capitalist these countries are.
In the US, the state owns around 4% of total national wealth, for Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, this is: 11.2%; 24.1%; 31.7%; and 57%.
There are many different types of Socialism. Just determining that a country isn’t a fully topped down planned economy, doesn’t mean it’s not Socialist.
Low-wage workers in the US pay HIGHER taxes than the Nordic countries if you count healthcare premiums as taxes. Healthcare premiums come right from your paycheck and go a bureaucracy that pays for healthcare. It’s the same in the US as Nordic countries, except in the US it goes to a private company and in Nordic countries, it goes to the government. In both cases. health insurance is provided…except out of pocket costs are also lower in the Nordic countries.
If you need a family plan, then the US average wage worker also pays more!
The focus on taxes is silly. What matters is what are the cost burdens on Americans. Whether it is a tax from government or a healthcare premium from an insurance company, it’s a burden! Only looking at taxes is highly misleading, especially when taxes are instead of a premium, so when you look at the US, you ignore the cost of that premium.
That the US is a larger country, means we have more economies of scale, meaning it should be easier for us to provide healthcare for its people. We don’t do it based on ideology.
The problem with childcare fraud in Minneapolis wasn’t simply a problem with Somalis, but with private companies providing government services while being paid by the taxpayer. That wouldn’t have happened if the government did it itself.
The Nordic countries have universal welfare states and high levels of state ownership. They are examples of more successful “socialist” policies.
Trump’s tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy do not sunset. His financial benefits for the middle class and below do sunset. If he really thought these programs were good and were helping people, he and the Republican Congress that passed them would have made them permanent, instead, he made them temporary to use as an election issue.
Trump Accounts mostly benefit those wealthy enough to take advantage of them as tax deductions (ways to avoid paying taxes, making the deficit, debt, and inflation worse).
Anytime the government does something through tax deductions instead of checks, it’s a sign that it will mostly benefit the wealthy.
Japan has lots of assets like a massive sovereign wealth fund. When you subtract these assets from their debts, their debt to GDP ratio is 77%, which isn’t that high.
Japan takes money from its people in the form of taxes and then invests in assets like US treasury bonds. Because their currency depreciated over time, their debt has become worth less, while their foreign assets have become worth more.
This has benefited Japan a lot, but may backfire if the Yen goes up, foreign interest rates lower, or Japanese interest rates rise. If Japan has inflation, this could force them to raise interest rates or live with inflation.
The very wealthiest of Americans are not making money from work. Their wealth grows by capital appreciation, and they pay very little tax on that income. The estate tax is supposed to capture this at death, but it is riddled with loopholes.
It’s extremely unfair and makes the national debt worse.
“Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department for $10 billion in January, accusing the agencies of failing to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information during his first term.
The DOJ is now holding internal discussions about potentially settling the case
…
This is a novel case given that Trump oversees the IRS, and two parties in a lawsuit must be on opposite sides.”
We’ve got to be able to have fair, reasonable ways to tax the super wealthy without demonizing them.
The wealthy pay a lot, however, due to how incredibly much they have, and inequality, they still don’t pay their fair share. The goal of taxation is to pay for government in the least harmful way possible, not to liquidate the rich. Fair taxation and reasonable welfare policy is good. Class warfare is evil. A society that taxes in order to end billionaires, or that uses rhetoric that endangers the wealthy, will be a violent and repressive society–either because the masses will turn authoritarian and violent, or because the wealthy will out of fear.
“the president and his political allies flooded the ordinarily sleepy state legislative primaries — where the spending is typically in the tens of thousands and primary votes cast number about 10,000 to 12,000 — with millions of dollars in advertising casting the incumbents as disloyal to Trump and blaming them for voters’ various frustrations, particularly property taxes.
Trump’s approval rating has slipped nationally, and his support among independents has evaporated. But very conservative voters — those who make up his base — are still with him. And they are the voters who decide contests like state Senate primaries in deep-red Indiana.”