Yes, Europeans provide more generous social insurance/social welfare benefits than in the US. They also understand that the population as a whole, not mythical millionaires and billionaires, must pay.
Forbes post, “What Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren Get Wrong About Wealth Taxes”
While it isn’t erroneous to point out that Sanders and Warren might tout Scandinavian-style socialist democracy while actually proposing something a bit different (that perhaps might weigh more on the super rich), you fail to acknowledge the gross corruption of the American political system that exists as a direct result of super rich people and corporations having too great a hand in government policy.
For the majority of Americans, the political system is broken. It supports ordinary people to a minimum and could be improved a thousandfold, while it caters to the wealthy and allows them to become even wealthier.
I suggest you take a step back and evaluate your perspective.
The American system is ridiculously corrupt. You’d have to be both: A: blind to that, and B: directly benefitting from said corruption. People like you are so out of the touch with the average, everyday working class person, like myself and many others. You view is that of “Oh, the markets are doing well, so everyone and everything is fine and peachy”. That couldn’t be further from the truth for people who don’t live up in the ivory tower. Good luck getting ahead in life when you come from an unstable, unsupportive home, and spend over 50% of your pay on just shelter and food.
Also, Warren has nothing on Bernie. He’s the true progressive. The one who wants to dismantle the garbage contributed by both of your parties, and rebuild your ceasepool that is Washington.
Eat the rich. They can pay more. And implement Medicare for All. You know, the thing EVERY OTHER first world country has.
Spoken like a champion. I was about to write the exact same response and include that she commented that other countries tax everyone higher…. Those countries ALREADY have socialized medical too.
I find it ironic that everyone that says we have it SO good hasn’t actually checked into what others are doing successfully.
The disparity of wealth distribution is a problem which needs to be addressed but confiscatory methods are not the solution. We do not want to impede the accumulation of wealth, the entrepreneurship and capitalism model which has in many ways has served the country well. The bigger issue is not wealth accumulated but rather what is done with it. Luxury consumption taxes may better address the vulgarity of the ostentatous display of wealth which divides the country and sows resentment. Inheritance taxes and new trust laws may better address the detrimental formation of an aristocratic class that impedes the rise of the lower classes . We need policies that facilitate the re-creation of a larger and more egalatarian middle class. Redefining our accounting methods to account for externaliities, both social and environmental may mitigate profiting at the expense and harm of others. We need cheer and be proud of the wealthy that have benefitted society and ostracize those that believe ” greed is good”. We need an American dream which pulls people up rather than ” schadenfreude” which focuses on pulling them down.
I am curious whether you have any solutions to offer for income inequality, or if your critique is limited to identifying the limitations of Sender’s and Warren’s proposals. The comments you’ve received imply you don’t see the problem as (a) a problem, or (b) as fixable. Can you offer anything better to counter these criticisms? Or, how can they adjust their proposals to make them more pragmatic. It would have made your article seem less protective of extreme income disparity if you had said “hang on for part two: how they could achieve their goals sensibly” . Thank you.
Hi, Thomas,
I took a few steps towards addressing this question at this link: https://janetheactuary.com/2019/09/27/from-the-mailbag-some-replies-to-readers-on-retirement-taxation-and-inequality/. Don’t really have many answers, and got a bit sidetracked with BLS data, but take a look anyway.
Jane
While you point out some interesting tax figures for European nations, what you fail to discuss or call out is –
Everyone has universal medical coverage
Everyone has a higher baseline tax rate
European countries dont have loopholes to hide excess wealth and its taxed at the time that the gains are realized.
This is the crux of crony capitalism. It always bites on key bits to support their argument but NEVER tells the whole story. Anyone who lives outside the US feels sorry for just how uniformed and uneducated your country is.
Before you start rattling off numbers, perhaps you should step back, look at the broad picture and get a better understanding of what is ACTUALLY happening in other countries.
Dear Jane,
Bas from the Netherlands here. The Reticle is a summation of details that do not matter. Because your starting points are different.
1. The U.S.A. has a tremendously high wealth gap compared to most other European countries.
2. Europe has a much stronger middle class.
3. The U.S.A. has a much larger volume of low Income unprotected workers.
You need to fix the wealth gap one way or another. You need the biggest large scale Robin Hood operation ever seen.
This will solve all your problems.
Another issue we never talk about is our wasteful, bloated military industrial complex (is that term too archaic?). We are paying to defend every other nation with our tax dollars, while claiming we are unable to pay for basic health care for ourselves. We could raid our military budget to pay for health care and still have the largest military on earth and not raise taxes at all (that’s just how huuuuge it is!).