Dave's thoughts
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
    • Blog
  • Finally!
  • Untitled
  • Untitled
  • Untitled

The Scandinavian System

2/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Bernie Sanders talks a lot about the Scandinavian political system. In a nutshell, it provides government sponsored cradle to grave care in return for really high taxes.
I spent three weeks there years ago and came away convinced that it works for them. Each country is small (Denmark has a population similar to Wisconsin). They are very homogenous ethnically, spiritually and economically. There are relatively few poor or rich. This is important since the people paying the taxes are the ones receiving the benefits. It’s like a group insurance plan in which the group is the entire country. The government encourages business since it knows that expanding the country’s wealth allows it to being able to afford the entitlements. I can’t speak for the system today but suspect it is heading for trouble. Scandinavia is seeing an increase in immigration. I suspect people might begin to rebel as they see taxes increase without an increase in benefits.
What Sanders is talking about is considerably different. We are much bigger and more diverse. Rather than proposing that people pay more to get more, he is saying that we can get something for nothing and a few wealthy people will pick up the tab. Margaret Thatcher once said “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of rich people”. At the same time he wants to everything he can to hurt their ability to create wealth. He talks of jailing Wall Street executives and saddling businesses with more and more regulation. If his proposals were put into effect, rising expenditure and falling wealth would turn us into Greece.
This may make me sound like a right-winger. Never fear, I will be skewering them really soon.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Hi! My name is Dave. I'm in my 60s and live in Indiana. I'll write about whatever is on my mind but most posts will be political. I'm a centrist who thinks both sides are on the wrong path.

    Archives

    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

At long last this idiotic shutdown is over. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and it doesn’t start up again.

The real story is that 800,000 government workers are back on the job and many millions of people are no longer inconvenienced.

Unfortunately, that is not the story we are hearing in the media. Their story is about how Speaker Pelosi beat President Trump. He got himself into this mess. She decided that all that mattered was winning. The harm done to the people involved was of no concern whatsoever. A good leader puts the good of the people over political gamesmanship,

it would be nice to think that both people have learned their lesson and will try to do what is best for the
country. I sure wouldn’t bet on it.
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
    • Blog
  • Finally!
  • Untitled
  • Untitled
  • Untitled