Awful Swedish Socialists Now More Capitalist Than American Democrats

[Wehrwolfen]

by Jim Hoft
March 4, 2013

For years American Democrats, Socialists and Communist Party members pointed to Sweden as evidence that socialism works. This was despite the fact that socialism failed miserably everywhere else.

But, the Swedish argument will no longer work for the American left. Today, even the Socialists in Sweden are more capitalist than American Democrats.
The Freedom reported, via Free Republic:

The Economist on “Northern Lights”

Interventionists in the United States could learn something from what’s going on now in Sweden (although I fear they won’t). According to a recent spread in The Economist magazine:

Sweden has reduced public spending as a proportion of GDP from 67 percent in 1993 to 49% today. It could soon have a smaller state than Britain. It has also cut the top marginal tax rate by 27 percentage points since 1983, to 57%, and scrapped a mare’s nest of taxes on property, gifts, wealth and inheritance. This year it is cutting the corporate-tax rate from 26.3% to 22%.

Compare these rates with the U.S. tax rates, under the 2013 tax law, of 39.6 percent on incomes above $400,000 (filing single) and 35 percent on corporations.

But in some sense the current dramatic policy changes in Sweden are just a continuation, after an interruption of several years, of a dis-interventionist trend that began in the 1990s. The “new” Swedish model is not really that new. Indeed, Sweden has climbed to 30th out of 144 countries in economic freedom according to FreetheWorld.com, compared to the United States, which has fallen to 18th, just ahead of Germany (31st) and far outpacing France (47th) and China (107th).​

[Excerpt]

Read more:
Awful? Swedish Socialists Now More Capitalist Than American Democrats | The Gateway Pundit

 

[editec]

Name any major corporation that paid 35% of its profits in taxes.

Go ahead try and find one.

 

[tooAlive]

Excellent article!

Liberals and progressives will surely be avoiding this thread like the plague. Realizing that the Swedish socialism you've been raving about isn't socialism after all is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[tooAlive]

Name any major corporation that paid 35% of its profits in taxes.

Go ahead try and find one.

There isn't one.

Because the US govt. isn't stupid enough to force a company to pay 35% of their income. Socialism doesn't work.

High tax rates are merely symbolic to keep the lefties quiet.

 

[Old Rocks]

The top marginal rate in Sweden is 57%? Well, now since you believe that we Democrats are more socialistic than Sweden, I think that we should adapt that tax schedule for the very wealthy.

I might note also that Sweden has a fine health care system, and we would do ourselves a service to copy that. Since you are admiring Sweden, I am sure that you would agree.

 

[NYcarbineer]

by Jim Hoft
March 4, 2013

For years American Democrats, Socialists and Communist Party members pointed to Sweden as evidence that socialism works. This was despite the fact that socialism failed miserably everywhere else.

But, the Swedish argument will no longer work for the American left. Today, even the Socialists in Sweden are more capitalist than American Democrats.
The Freedom reported, via Free Republic:

The Economist on “Northern Lights”

Interventionists in the United States could learn something from what’s going on now in Sweden (although I fear they won’t). According to a recent spread in The Economist magazine:

Sweden has reduced public spending as a proportion of GDP from 67 percent in 1993 to 49% today. It could soon have a smaller state than Britain. It has also cut the top marginal tax rate by 27 percentage points since 1983, to 57%, and scrapped a mare’s nest of taxes on property, gifts, wealth and inheritance. This year it is cutting the corporate-tax rate from 26.3% to 22%.

Compare these rates with the U.S. tax rates, under the 2013 tax law, of 39.6 percent on incomes above $400,000 (filing single) and 35 percent on corporations.

But in some sense the current dramatic policy changes in Sweden are just a continuation, after an interruption of several years, of a dis-interventionist trend that began in the 1990s. The “new” Swedish model is not really that new. Indeed, Sweden has climbed to 30th out of 144 countries in economic freedom according to FreetheWorld.com, compared to the United States, which has fallen to 18th, just ahead of Germany (31st) and far outpacing France (47th) and China (107th).​

[Excerpt]

Read more:
Awful? Swedish Socialists Now More Capitalist Than American Democrats | The Gateway Pundit

The idiot whose idiotic pieces you inexplicably keep posting fails to remind us that Sweden has a VAT tax that is 25% on general goods, 15% on food, and 8% on transportation.

So we raise the top rate in the US to 57% and impose a national VAT tax on top of all our other taxes,

throw in universal government healthcare,

and voila!!! we'll be capitalists just like Sweden!!!!!!!!!

god you're stupid. Shouldn't you be somewhere else?

 

[NYcarbineer]

Excellent article!

Liberals and progressives will surely be avoiding this thread like the plague. Realizign that the Swedish socialism you've been raving about isn't socialism after all is a hard pill to swallow.

Consider yourself owned, below, genius.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Awful… Swedish Socialists Now More Capitalist Than American Democrats

You need to get outta your bunker, more often.....

The Stockholm Syndrome I

*

The Stockholm Syndrome II

 

[tooAlive]

Excellent article!

Liberals and progressives will surely be avoiding this thread like the plague. Realizign that the Swedish socialism you've been raving about isn't socialism after all is a hard pill to swallow.

Consider yourself owned, below, genius.

Read the article.

Today, even the Socialists in Sweden are more capitalist than American Democrats.

And if you consider walking off a cliff to be forward, I'll stick to being a conservative.

 

[ScienceRocks]

lol

 

[tooAlive]

by Jim Hoft
March 4, 2013

For years American Democrats, Socialists and Communist Party members pointed to Sweden as evidence that socialism works. This was despite the fact that socialism failed miserably everywhere else.

But, the Swedish argument will no longer work for the American left. Today, even the Socialists in Sweden are more capitalist than American Democrats.
The Freedom reported, via Free Republic:

The Economist on “Northern Lights”

Interventionists in the United States could learn something from what’s going on now in Sweden (although I fear they won’t). According to a recent spread in The Economist magazine:

Sweden has reduced public spending as a proportion of GDP from 67 percent in 1993 to 49% today. It could soon have a smaller state than Britain. It has also cut the top marginal tax rate by 27 percentage points since 1983, to 57%, and scrapped a mare’s nest of taxes on property, gifts, wealth and inheritance. This year it is cutting the corporate-tax rate from 26.3% to 22%.

Compare these rates with the U.S. tax rates, under the 2013 tax law, of 39.6 percent on incomes above $400,000 (filing single) and 35 percent on corporations.

But in some sense the current dramatic policy changes in Sweden are just a continuation, after an interruption of several years, of a dis-interventionist trend that began in the 1990s. The “new” Swedish model is not really that new. Indeed, Sweden has climbed to 30th out of 144 countries in economic freedom according to FreetheWorld.com, compared to the United States, which has fallen to 18th, just ahead of Germany (31st) and far outpacing France (47th) and China (107th).​

[Excerpt]

Read more:
Awful? Swedish Socialists Now More Capitalist Than American Democrats | The Gateway Pundit

The idiot whose idiotic pieces you inexplicably keep posting fails to remind us that Sweden has a VAT tax that is 25% on general goods, 15% on food, and 8% on transportation.

So we raise the top rate in the US to 57% and impose a national VAT tax on top of all our other taxes,

throw in universal government healthcare,

and voila!!! we'll be capitalists just like Sweden!!!!!!!!!

god you're stupid. Shouldn't you be somewhere else?

You found the Democrat Christmas wishlist?

 

[rdean]

Wasn't the gateway pundit the same group the listed the top ten countries in "capitalist and economic freedom" and 9 of the 10 had government health care with the US being number 10? Or was that the Heritage Foundation?

 

[Decus]

The top marginal rate in Sweden is 57%? Well, now since you believe that we Democrats are more socialistic than Sweden, I think that we should adapt that tax schedule for the very wealthy.

I might note also that Sweden has a fine health care system, and we would do ourselves a service to copy that. Since you are admiring Sweden, I am sure that you would agree.

You can also say that every working person in Sweden pays taxes. According to the Swedes:

"Workers who earn 25,000 kronor ($3,810) per month end up paying 69 percent, or 17,200" (I note that is $2,621 using the above calculation of 1 USD = to about 6.56 krona - today's exchange rate shows the Krona to be at 6.44 to 1 USD) "kronor per month, in taxes, according to an analysis carried out by Swedbank."

"Meanwhile, two-child households earning 55,000 kronor ($7,622) per month contribute 38,000 kronor" ($5,793 per month) "in taxes, Swedbank found."

In other words, a family of 4 earning (assuming 12 rather than 13 months) $91,464 pays for that 12 month salary, $69,516 per year. After paying for utilities, rent, food, fuel and clothes what are you left with??

Read the comments to the linked article and you will see that some Swedes don't seem too happy about that. How many middle class Americans would opt for this kind of taxation?????

Swedes pay 70 percent of salary in taxes: study - The Local

 

[bendog]

Sweden is a neoliberal state. It's high tax rates reflect that politically speaking the conservatives had no choice but to leave worker benefits realitively high. But the govt long ago got out of the socialism business, largely on their own banking crisis of the early 90s. And the game now is allowing workers to keep the money the govt spends on health and housing, but no longer have the govt as the provider.

But essentially, Sweden is a highly educated export economy ... and we have a class that simply is not eductated ... or employable. Perhaps we should have let the South leave. (-:

 

[Decus]

The top marginal rate in Sweden is 57%? Well, now since you believe that we Democrats are more socialistic than Sweden, I think that we should adapt that tax schedule for the very wealthy.

I might note also that Sweden has a fine health care system, and we would do ourselves a service to copy that. Since you are admiring Sweden, I am sure that you would agree.

You can also say that every working person in Sweden pays taxes. According to the Swedes:

"Workers who earn 25,000 kronor ($3,810) per month end up paying 69 percent, or 17,200" (I note that is $2,621 using the above calculation of 1 USD = to about 6.56 krona - today's exchange rate shows the Krona to be at 6.44 to 1 USD) "kronor per month, in taxes, according to an analysis carried out by Swedbank."

"Meanwhile, two-child households earning 55,000 kronor ($7,622) per month contribute 38,000 kronor" ($5,793 per month) "in taxes, Swedbank found."

In other words, a family of 4 earning (assuming 12 rather than 13 months) $91,464 pays for that 12 month salary, $69,516 per year. After paying for utilities, rent, food, fuel and clothes what are you left with??

Read the comments to the linked article and you will see that some Swedes don't seem too happy about that. How many middle class Americans would opt for this kind of taxation?????

Swedes pay 70 percent of salary in taxes: study - The Local

This article is dated October 12th, 2012; some five months ago. Seems this shift to a more capatilistic approach still has some way to go.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

The top marginal rate in Sweden is 57%? Well, now since you believe that we Democrats are more socialistic than Sweden, I think that we should adapt that tax schedule for the very wealthy.

I might note also that Sweden has a fine health care system, and we would do ourselves a service to copy that. Since you are admiring Sweden, I am sure that you would agree.

Read the comments to the linked article and you will see that some Swedes don't seem too happy about that.

Yeah.....some.....ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

November 15, 2008

60%
....And, Everybody's Happy Paying It!!!​

"But for most Swedes paying high taxes is a benefit, not a problem. 'I am very happy to pay high taxes because I know I am getting value for the money later on,' says Valentina Valestany, a 39-year-old legal adviser. She is especially pleased with the school her daughters Westa, 15, and Anastasia, 13, attend. 'Lunches are free, it was no problem getting in. My daughters receive a very good education and they have great teachers.'

Overall though, he says, 'Swedes are very attached to the idea of the state as the People's Home. Everyone in society is under the same roof, everyone will be protected. Sweden is now a more diverse society, but this idea still persists.'

And Swedes are well provided for. Year after year Save the Children puts it at the top its league of countries where it is best to be a mother; the country is sixth on the UN Development Programme's human development index (the UK is 16th); and Unicef ranks it second in its table of child wellbeing in rich countries. Maybe Sweden proves that it's worth paying high taxes."

​

 

[waltky]

Swedish youth go a-wilding...

Sweden's riots raise questions about inequality
May 23,`13 -- Sweden has long been a bastion of generous social welfare and an egalitarian political culture. So many people were shocked when scores of youths hurled rocks at police and set cars ablaze during rioting in several largely immigrant areas near Stockholm this week.

Few dispute that the violence was probably touched off by the fatal police shooting of an elderly man who had locked himself in an apartment wielding a knife. But some residents in the area accused police who responded to the violence of racism. For some, the real reason for the unrest is the high unemployment and isolation of youths in the southern and western Stockholm suburbs where the violence occurred - ones who see little future for themselves or access to Sweden's prosperity. "The segregation in Stockholm increases all the time, and it's happening fast," said Nina Edstrom, a social anthropologist who promotes integration at a center for multiculturalism in Fittja, where some of the violence occurred. "There are very large social differences. There are many unemployed, frustrated young people. I'm not surprised something like this happens," she said.

Still, Edstrom added, it would be a mistake to see the youths involved in the riots as political activists. Overall, about 15 percent of Sweden's 9.5 million people were born abroad, compared to 10 percent 10 years ago. The influx has mostly come from war-torn countries such as Iraq, Somalia, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Syria. In 2012 alone, Sweden accepted 44,000 asylum seekers, up by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier. During the rioting, 15-year-old Sebastian Horniak said he saw police firing warning shots in the air and calling a woman a "monkey." Quena Soruco, a representative for Megafonen, an organization that represents citizens in Stockholm's suburbs, said she heard police say "rats, hobos, Negroes." The unrest in Fittja and the Husby area is a challenge for the center-right government of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, which after seven years in power is trailing in polls and has come under fire for failing to address social problems.

The rioting also has added fuel to arguments from the far-right Sweden Democrats party, which polls now show as Sweden's fourth biggest party. Some say that one reason such immigrant areas can feel isolating is the growing disparity between the haves and have nots in Sweden, as in many other Western countries. Despite Sweden's high living standards and its egalitarian ways, the country has seen the biggest surge in inequality of any Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country over the past 25 years, according to a recent OECD report. The difference is striking between native Swedes and the fast-growing immigrant population.

MORE

See also:

Restaurant torched in 4th night of Sweden riots
May 23,`13 -- Groups of youths have burnt down a restaurant, torched more than 30 cars and injured three police in a fourth night of riots in suburbs of the Swedish capital that started following a fatal police shooting.

Police spokesman Kjell Lindgren says at least 30 cars were set ablaze across western and southern Stockholm early Thursday. Firefighters said they have "never before seen so many fires raging at the same time."

Fire also destroyed a restaurant in Skogas, south of Stockholm. Lindgren says a 16-year-old girl was briefly detained on suspicion of preparing an arson attack, but was later sent home to her parents.

The unrest began Sunday in response to the May 13 shooting, in which police killed a 69-year-old, knife-wielding man in a northwestern suburb.

Source

 

[Agit8r]

lol. Outside of Belarus, all of the countries in Europe have been capitalist for a couple of decades now.

and a 57% top marginal tax rate? Sure let's have at it.