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I would like to know why/how European social democracy would work in the United States. How would it work on a nation with 313 million people of different races, creeds, ethnicity, languages and backgrounds including 20 million or so, illegal immigrants?
I would like to know why/how European social democracy would work in the United States. How would it work on a nation with 313 million people of different races, creeds, ethnicity, languages and backgrounds including 20 million or so, illegal immigrants?
I personally don't believe it would work well. I'm a Republican, so I won't deny having a bias.
Taxes would have to increase dramatically. The effective tax wedge in most successful Western European Social Democracies (Belgium, France, Austria, Netherlands) is around 50%. Keep in mind, that is for nations that tend to have lower unemployment, lower portions of illegal immigrants, and lower populations in general. On top of that these nations have higher median incomes and fewer people as a percentage of the population SOLELY relying on the "system."
Further...these countries also operate their regulatory system differently. The Democrats have tied higher taxes to increased regulation of the industiral and financial sector. While nations like Sweden, Norway, and Finland have remarkably high tax wedges, they are also REMARKABLY easy to start a business in. If you look at the Economic Freedom Indicies...Scandanavia is always on top despite having very high taxes.
If the Democrats would support increased personal taxes, low corporate taxes, and decreased regulation on the financial, industrial, and tech sectors...it may work out ok....but they won't because that isn't their M.O.
Last edited by AZcardinal402; 11-05-2013 at 10:58 AM..
You could have a debate on what exactly European Social Democracy is, so answering your question is impossible. You should try to narrow things down next time instead of asking something so broad.
It does seem to work fairly well in the Nordic countries, but they are significantly smaller than the US and much more homogeneous (racially and otherwise). Still, it's interesting to speculate about it, for leftists like me. Sadly, since it's never been tried, nor is it ever likely to be, we'll probably never know.
Why would first, second, and third generation European immigrants here in the U.S. want to create a system our ancestors fled?
After WW1 and WW2 those powers in Europe are no longer, are no longer the same families screwing everything up. Europe after those major wars has become much more democratized. I would venture to say we the U.S. are the old boys on the block.
I personally don't believe it would work well. I'm a Republican, so I won't deny having a bias.
Taxes would have to increase dramatically. The effective tax wedge in most successful Western European Social Democracies (Belgium, France, Austria, Netherlands) is around 50%.
Yes, and they would increase the most on those who won't want to pay them, the low- and middle-income earners. European Social Democracies have highly regressive tax systems:
Keep in mind, that is for nations that tend to have lower unemployment, lower portions of illegal immigrants, and lower populations in general. On top of that these nations have higher median incomes and fewer people as a percentage of the population SOLELY relying on the "system."
Further...these countries also operate their regulatory system differently. The Democrats have tied higher taxes to increased regulation of the industiral and financial sector. While nations like Sweden, Norway, and Finland have remarkably high tax wedges, they are also REMARKABLY easy to start a business in. If you look at the Economic Freedom Indicies...Scandanavia is always on top despite having very high taxes.
If the Democrats would support increased personal taxes, low corporate taxes, and decreased regulation on the financial, industrial, and tech sectors...it may work out ok....but they won't because that isn't their M.O.
Very good points.
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