I'm not saying this to be deliberately combative, but when you say things like "With all of this said, there can't possibly be that much social mobility." you'r

I'm not saying this to be deliberately combative, but when you say things like "With all of this said, there can't possibly be that much social mobility." you're favouring a theoretical model over actual reality. The data in the links I posted say, unambigiously, that if you're born in a poor family in the US, you are more likely to stay poor than someone who is born in poverty in Sweden. That's not a theory, that's what the data says; and it's not controversial data - all they have to do is look at your income tax records and then your parents to see if you've escaped poverty. You make an argument about the amount of regulation, the disincentivizing force of taxes, the lack of investment, the difficulty in starting new companies. Sure, I can see how that makes sense as a concept. But the concept is clearly flawed, because if you look at the black and white numbers (as opposed to what you've observed anecdotally) it doesn't reflect what's actually happened on the ground. Despite the high taxes, despite all of the companies that are apparently fleeing the country, despite all of the regulations, poor Swedes with gumption and drive actually have a better chance at escaping poverty than poor Americans. There's any number of theories about why that is: it's easier to take chances on starting a company when you know you're not risking homelessness when you fail; very low cost higher education is actually helpful in improving your lot in life; having high quality nutrition and primary education regardless of your parent's income helps poor children do better, etc. But those are just theories - who knows if they're right? They're just possible explanations for how things got to be the way they are. Bottom line is that Sweden (and many other leftist countries) are doing well at making sure the average person living there is being rewarded according to who they are and not who their parents are. The US, though it has many impressive qualities, and though people talk a lot about hard work being rewarded, isn't doing as well. In terms of your link about immigration, "tens of people" rioting is not the kind of numbers that people should look at when deciding policy. Riots involving thousands of people often happen over sports, yet there's no call for legislation around that. Also, an article describing problems that muslims cause from a site called "United With Isreal" is clearly not a good source of unbiased opinion on the matter.