I ran across an interesting article on Bloomberg.com that provides food for thought especially for our politicians and friends on the left.
And keep in mind, unlike the bogus rhetoric we are being fed about the 1% and who is paying his fair share, Mr Reinfeldt is talking about higher taxes for everyone. If you are a person who would like to trade more and more of his income for a welfare state, hey, no problem. If you think you can enjoy cradle to grave benefits at someone else’s expense, think again.
The U.S. will never be able to afford the kind of welfare benefits enjoyed by Europeans unless it raises taxes, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said.
“It’s not sustainable for a country to try to have European levels of expenditure with taxation levels like the United States has,” Reinfeldt said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua in Davos, Switzerland. “That’s not possible.”
Cradle-to-grave welfare doesn’t need to erode public finances provided a sustainable revenue policy is in place, Reinfeldt said
Sweden is the largest Nordic economy, which has the second-highest tax burden of industrialized countries after Denmark.
Does the U.S. want “the kind of welfare benefits enjoyed by Europeans?” Liberal politicians who in fact may see this as a worthy goal don’t have the guts to tell Americans the truth about what it takes. In fact, they don’t have the guts to tell people the truth about the programs we already have.
Ah, let me see, the last time I was in Europe the VAT alone was up to 21% and by the way average Europeans don’t live in homes comparable to average Americans or drive cars like average Americans or have wardrobes to fill walk-in closets like many Americans…or spend money on guns and ammo like all to many Americans.
This is absolutely right on target!