> I guess you get what you pay for - higher taxes, great welfare state. Seems a fair trade to me. Actually, the taxes paid per person isn't significantly highe

> I guess you get what you pay for - higher taxes, great welfare state. Seems a fair trade to me. Actually, the taxes paid per person isn't significantly higher in sweden than the US. The US just delivers fewer services, and no, the military isn't the reason. At the same time, US income is higher. Sweden can do certain things because it's dominated by Swedes. It does about as well as US states with comparable demographics. Other US states aren't as lucky.