(10-27-2011, 07:43 PM)kandrathe Wrote: And... Compared to low taxes, we are not the lowest. Compared to Denmark, we are a tax haven.
Big difference is that in Denmark and Sweden you actually get something back from your taxes. If you would have lived in one of these countries (which I am/were) your attitude towards taxing would probably also be different. My wife gets around 7 months of 100% payed leave when going on pregnancy/maternity leave. After that I get another 7 months at least at 80% (plus my employer tops that up to 90%) (up to a certain max of course) and a few months for a lower contirubution. Oh yeah, and whenever my child is ill I can stay at home (paid) to take care of him (no max there).
Agreed if you don't have kids you don't have this benefit.....but kids pay for the pensions later on.
Anyway people tend to be a bit milder here because of this. Also we don't have the idea we are living in a communist state here. We have the fastest internet, a high educated population, lots of very well running companies (multinationals) etc. etc..
edit: O yeah our econpomy is doing pretty good.....it is just because of all the other screw-up nations that we have to be careful a bit.
On the other hand if you take Italy (a country that I more than once compared to the US and will compare again now) you pay a lot, you get nothing. Whereas Sweden and Denmark are social, but meritocratic, Italy is nepotistic with politicians that only care about themselves.
So again, I really understand why you have the opinion you have, seeing you are living in the US, but this does not have to be a general truth.
(10-27-2011, 06:47 PM)kandrathe Wrote: How is China doing since the reforms?
Well they are owning you.
As I said before; capitalism is pretty cool if you are top dog and you can get cheap products from other countries with low wages. Let's just see how it works out for you now that China wants what you have.
I only hope you can solve your problems without using force.