Life ain't about nice... life is full of slaps in the face and doses of reality
I know, yet another reason why certain welfare systems - just like the Swedish one - are a welcome break in the never-ending shit cycle... at least after 9 years in US where I paid my way through school and worked most of the time 40 hrs a week while taking 12 credit hours at the University...
At the expense of others? Have you ever read anything of the Swedish welfare state? The famous middle way? Do you know anything of how it works and how its main financier - the tax system - works? Everyone - every single one - living and working in Sweden pays exuberant (not only by US standard) amounts of money into the tax system (sometimes reaching over 50% or the income tax, but hardly anything on the capital tax - which is one of the lowest in the world and way lower than in the US - smart move on the part of Sweden if ya ask me) and EVERYONE gets THE SAME 'entitlements'. Examples? Education, child-care, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, generous maternity leave, health-care... might be forgetting something. Yeah, so maybe Swedes maintain this welfare system out of purely egotistic concerns... hardly any crime, hardly any homelessness...great education system... pretty much one of the highest quality of life in the world (what was it - second in the world?) Yet, they maintain some of the most competitive and inventive economic systems as well... I'm sure you've heard of IKEA, H&M, Saab, Skanska, etc...
You may think that a mom that still takes care of every last thing for her 30 year old son living in her basement is "giving two shits"... .in actuality it is truly control and it is pitiful... truly "giving two shits" would be allowing people to be responsible for themselves
I'm sorry you feel this way... That just makes me glad I don't share your sad view of the world... If everyone felt like you, this would certainly be one miserable world... Fortunately, it's not so. I'm sure you can find proof of that in your everyday life... the question is whether you invite it or push it away...
Am I a disgusting optimist/idealist? Be glad I am. The cynical, anomie-ridden attitude towards life won't get anyone anywhere and will **** it up for the rest of us as well...
PS: Man, I talk too much! Ok, nap time before going out on the Stockholm town!