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Just ran the calculator. As a single guy, income tax in Germany alone would exceed what I pay in federal, FICA, state, and local taxes combined. And that includes a reasonable estimate of sales tax by about 60%.
Did you add all your medical insurance and medical expenses to what you pay in the U.S.? You should probably use the full premium and not just the portion your employer asks you to pay because many people do not get any insurance benefit at work. And childcare is covered in some places, so consider that too since childcare is a huge expense for many people.
It's even worse in Sweden. Income above about $45K is taxed at over 50%. Under it's 32%. Their VAT is 25%.
They have a more much fair tax system then the US where we punish success. Everyone pays a lot there. Sweden also has a lower corporate tax rate than the US.
Could you imagine the class warrior American left running on the Swedish model? Bernie touts there system but never explains how it actually works.
Of course not, it's because it doesn't. The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.
The "working class" is paying for their own benefits out of their own pockets. And of course, they neglect to mention the fact that there's far less economic mobility in Sweden than there is in the US, even if we punish success.
And yeah, I agree. The poor need to pay their "fair share".
Last edited by albert648; 11-11-2022 at 08:36 AM..
Another question, if socialism is so good, why are the boats full of migrants only flowing in one direction between Venezuela/Cuba and Florida?
Socialism doesn't scale. Simple as that. You eventually run out of other people's money, but you run out of other people's money faster at scale.
With socialism the supply chain will fall apart. More people will be competing for fewer resources. Plus, there's no incentive to improve things when they aren't yours. I'm not going to go to and paint or do interior maintenance on government owned housing or a rental.
An incentive for profit and the ability to be rich via hard work and innovation is what drives society. Socialism goes contrary to basic scientific laws. The unproductive in society do not deserve the same standard of living as ANYONE who works, no matter if they are a Dentist or a grocery cashier. The woke left want to be paid to exist. No, it's not going to happen.
The right only want to ban certain books in schools! The kind of books that go back to my huge post early that explains how the left are pushing the woke Marxist style ideology in school rooms, books that PARENTS not only right leaning parents disapprove of but also many Democrat voting parents disapprove of.
What percentage of American schools are teaching marxist ideology? And how do you define marxist ideology?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lionking
Books that teach kids to believe the U.S.A is a horrible country, books that use explicit sexual text, books that teach them there are 50 different sexes and books that teach kids that if they want to identify as a cat or dog that's fine. Books that indoctrinate them to undermine their family and parents.
Not many right wing Republicans have called for book bans for adults, the left and the teachers unions tried to create the narrative that Republicans are right wing fascist book burners because the indoctrination power over kids is being taking away from the left wing because once again the far left want total control over the minds of kids.
Again what percentage of US schools are doing all the things you mention? My guess its a low percentage in very blue states. I don't agree with teaching that sort of stuff but it should be left up to local school boards and parents input as well as if the state approves what books are allowed. And if the state and local people want it, its their problem. We don't need congress or the feds getting involved. So its not a national issue.
Did you add all your medical insurance and medical expenses to what you pay in the U.S.? You should probably use the full premium and not just the portion your employer asks you to pay because many people do not get any insurance benefit at work.
By most calculators, Germany's taxes are still higher by a significant margin. Btw, in most of Europe, and even in countries like South Korea, my "health insurance" expenditure would equal or exceed what my employer pays for the full suite of insurances here. This ranges between "about equal" (South Korea) to 2-3X (UK, Scandinavia, etc).
AND comparable jobs in Germany pay half of what they do here. Last I checked, it's basically impossible for my effective tax rate in this country to exceed 50+%.
Did you add all your medical insurance and medical expenses to what you pay in the U.S.? You should probably use the full premium and not just the portion your employer asks you to pay because many people do not get any insurance benefit at work.
Sure but then you should increase salaries by the amount of the employer contribution as it's part of compensation.
In Europe they certainly would have. We essentially came in for the victory lap both times. But more of Europe would have been under Soviet control after and there would have been a lot more British and Soviet casualties. In essence we didn’t save them from speaking German, but rather Russian.
With socialism the supply chain will fall apart. More people will be competing for fewer resources. Plus, there's no incentive to improve things when they aren't yours. I'm not going to go to and paint or do interior maintenance on government owned housing or a rental.
An incentive for profit and the ability to be rich via hard work and innovation is what drives society. Socialism goes contrary to basic scientific laws. The unproductive in society do not deserve the same standard of living as ANYONE who works, no matter if they are a Dentist or a grocery cashier. The woke left want to be paid to exist. No, it's not going to happen.
China figured that out. When you let people own their own businesses and move up the ladder with their jobs they work harder when they money as a reward for their efforts. With Cuba they don't have that legally. But there is a huge black market. So people find a way to have capitalism even where it is illegal. There is no under the table socialism.
Fact is I've posted the 2022 Freedom Index, 'others' on here have just stated something that their mates told them at school! Fact is Switzerland is the worlds 'most free' nation and Switzerland is in Europe.
New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland and Canada are the next most 'free' countries, the US is the 15th 'most free' nation on the planet, one behind the UK at 14, so still 'pretty' free but lets stop this chest thumping 'freeist nation on earth', 'if it wasn't for us you'd be speaking German' propaganda rubbish shall we.
New Zealand and many other western nations has government monitor it's citizens actively and censor books, internet and information.
The U.S does also but the U.S explicitly has a bill of rights limiting the governments ability to do so, however now the far left are trying to change that.
Many of the things we say and topics we discuss here on CD would be red flagged in other western countries, and it's posters possibly fined or prosecuted. For instance if I say "80% of men in jail are black" or "there are only two sexes" I may be wrong, I may be correct, but just having open dialogue like this can be considered a crime in other western countries for disturbing the harmony , but the thing is open dialogue on controversial subjects is crucial to seeking truth, and censorship squashes truth and the ability for someone to have all sides of the issue to form a educated opinion.
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