I think we're doing a lot of stuff right in Scandinavia/Norway, if optimizing for the average quality of life rather than personal freedoms is what you consider

I think we're doing a lot of stuff right in Scandinavia/Norway, if optimizing for the average quality of life rather than personal freedoms is what you consider right. (I do, but not without critical analysis -- if it happens to appear otherwise from this post, I am actually very happy living here, but the lack of a critical eye in national media feels a bit oppressive sometimes). What has become clear to me reading HN and other US-centric news sources, is that this is in fact a deliberate tradeoff. Certainly it's a multi-dimensional continuum that can be better or worse in certain areas, but it's not just a question of other countries not discovering the path to such a society. It's also a deliberate choice that has consequences many voters in other cultures would not accept. The flip-side of the equality question is that the ability to excel diminishes. Everyone gets good (although rarely best-in-the-world) free healthcare and a strong social safety net, but taxes are very high. If you have the means, there are many things you might want to do that are not allowed to. E.g. building/expanding your property the way you want, or living off investment income (requires >50% more capital than elsewhere due to taxes, and that's assuming a low middle-class consumption). Society is not without its issues, and there are certainly some power struggles going on in various areas - e.g. regarding the employment terms for public-sector employees, the ability of large worker groups to get good employment terms etc. There is some degree of hidden institutional corruption, and I suspect that there is a degree of wage collusion that would not be accepted in the US. The tax system strongly favors real-estate investments, which means that property is very expensive and average household-debt-to income ratio is >220%. The oil, energy and fish industries are certainly strong enablers the social safety net, e.g. with oil companies paying 78% tax on profits, and with similar scheme for the hydropower companies. I've written about some details of the Norwegian economic system and welfare net on HN before, if you happen to be interested. Consulting vs. being securely employed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17001133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17001133 Summary of taxes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14828357 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14828357 Begging and homelessness: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15169167 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15169167 Taxation of real estate vs. company ownership: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14828227 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14828227 The law of Jante, or the skepticism towards people who try to excel: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13914084 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13914084 Balancing capital gains tax and taxes on company earnings: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17277429 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17277429 Free health care and the social safety net, in the context of whether "making the free choice" to "rent out your body" should be legal: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17475051 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17475051