3 ms·
>A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up
by 0_____0 6y ago
>A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up sharing a limousine to the theatre district with a southern US senator and his wife. This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat, asked my acquaintance about Sweden and swaggeringly commented about "all those taxes the Swedes pay". To which this American replied, "The problem with Americans and their taxes is that we get nothing for them." He then went on to tell the senator about the comprehensive level of services and benefits that Swedes receive.
>"If Americans knew what Swedes receive for their taxes, we would probably riot," he told the senator. The rest of the ride to the theatre district was unsurprisingly quiet.
- redis_mlc 6y agoIt's true that tax-paying Americans don't get much from the government, at least directly (our 3%-4% of GDP spent on military has maintained global peace for 75 years, and VA/Medicare is awesome if you qualify.) But you have to be factual when quoting Sweden as a paradise. Sweden already had one welfare reset a few decades ago, and 90% (or more) of the recent migrants are on welfare, rapidly draining the Swedish welfare programs. (The reason migrants target Sweden (and Canada) is because of the juicy welfare programs, which lets them have 4 wives, all subsidized by the state.) > This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat That's a new one. lol.