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Sweden Provides Free Higher Education, Universal Healthcare, Free Daycare — Why Can’t the U.S.?

Yep. Lots of people with heads in the sand.

And angry. Don't forget angry.

France was basically shut down today by the unions because of the mere mention of trying to reform their ultra-generous and uber-complicated pension system.
 
Workers wouldn’t take any shit and stood up for themselves?

The horror.

They were protesting against a vision that would reduce the complexity of the system, put everyone on the same plan, and make it fairer. But no specifics on how to do that, yet. But, let's take to the streets!

That would be like saying, "we need to reform our tax system" and everyone runs out in the streets and shuts down all the roads and trains.
 
And angry. Don't forget angry.

France was basically shut down today by the unions because of the mere mention of trying to reform their ultra-generous and uber-complicated pension system.
Just wait until workers in the states finally realize just how bad they are being jobbed.
The time will come.
Real pay is stuck in a ‘70s time warp.
No real increase in pay during most US citizens life span, but we need to cut taxes for the wealthy.
Trickle down, of course. Just wait, coal is gonna rebound and manufacturing is soon to follow.
 
Just wait until workers in the states finally realize just how bad they are being jobbed.
The time will come.
Real pay is stuck in a ‘70s time warp.
No real increase in pay during most US citizens life span, but we need to cut taxes for the wealthy.
Trickle down, of course. Just wait, coal is gonna rebound and manufacturing is soon to follow.

That's bullshit. Wages are rapidly rising, especially for the lowest paid. The media isn't reporting this, but I'm witnessing the relentless upward pressure on labor costs.

Of course, the pinch now is on the first-level supervisors. They all want raises because the starting wages of the line staff are rising.

Next will be the middle managers bitching and moaning, even though they're perfectly well-paid.

And on and on it goes.

In any case, the media narrative about wage stagnation is an old story that's simply not true today.
 
That's bullshit. Wages are rapidly rising, especially for the lowest paid. The media isn't reporting this, but I'm witnessing the relentless upward pressure on labor costs.

Of course, the pinch now is on the first-level supervisors. They all want raises because the starting wages of the line staff are rising.

Next will be the middle managers bitching and moaning, even though they're perfectly well-paid.

And on and on it goes.

In any case, the media narrative about wage stagnation is an old story that's simply not true today.
You are in some wierd spot that shows an alternative picture. Of course there is relentless upward pressure. Costs are relentlessly upward.
“... even though they’re perfectly well-paid.”
You have no real insight.
Pay has not gained in real buying power for decades. You are the bull shitter.
Whining about paying the minions a bit more, while corporate laughs and obfuscates...
How many homeless are just down the road from Trad manor? How many die too soon due to unaffordable health care?
You obviously don’t give a squat, so drop the pretense.
 
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You are in some wierd spot that shows an alternative picture. Of course there is relentless upward pressure. Costs are relentlessly upward.
“... even though they’re perfectly well-paid.”
You have no real insight.
Pay has not gained in real buying power for decades. You are the bull shitter.
Whining about paying the minions a bit more, while corporate laughs and obfuscates...
How many homeless are just down the road from Trad manor? How many die too soon due to unaffordable health care?
You obviously don’t give a squat, so drop the pretense.

I'm not talking about over the past decades. I'm talking about over the past 18 months. We've been having to revise our wages scales at a furious pace. Just STFU because you're just parroting crap you read in the media. I read our actual company financials.
 
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The US spends two thirds of a TRILLION dollars every year invading, occupying, (sometimes)destroying and playing overlord to sovereign nations all over the world.

I imagine that kind of money would pay not only for college, but health insurance and a myriad of other niceties as well - like paying down the debt, perhaps?

Oh well, fu*k it........amiright?:rolleyes:
 
The US spends two thirds of a TRILLION dollars every year invading, occupying, (sometimes)destroying and playing overlord to sovereign nations all over the world.

I imagine that kind of money would pay not only for college, but health insurance and a myriad of other niceties as well - like paying down the debt, perhaps?

Oh well, fu*k it........amiright?:rolleyes:

Soooo, Make America First?

Trump removed 100 soldiers from Turkey and the left acted like the world was going to end.
 
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I'm not talking about over the past decades. I'm talking about over the past 18 months. We've been having to revise our wages scales at a furious pace. Just STFU because you're just parroting crap you read in the media. I read our actual company financials.
You are just another pitiful kid parroting the party line.
The fact that true purchasing power has not increased in decades goes right over your little pin head.
My god man. The terrible burden imposed by a “furious pace” of wage increases is comical in the grand scheme. Your crowd is pretending to be under such stress from the mean spirited workers demanding raises. Are these financials from just this year, or is there any long term perspective? Do like all the rest do... pass the costs along to the end user or, gasp, make less profit.
You are such a clown show telling others to STFU, and acting like you give a fat rats ass about anything but yourself.
Sure, I read the media, but more importantly, I have watched your type operate for a long time now.
 
Soooo, Make America First?

Trump removed 100 soldiers from Turkey and the left acted like the world was going to end.
It did end for Kurdish people who had been stalwart allies, and you don’t give a shit. What a dip stick you are.
 
You are just another pitiful kid parroting the party line.
The fact that true purchasing power has not increased in decades goes right over your little pin head.
My god man. The terrible burden imposed by a “furious pace” of wage increases is comical in the grand scheme. Your crowd is pretending to be under such stress from the mean spirited workers demanding raises. Are these financials from just this year, or is there any long term perspective?
You are such a clown show telling others to STFU, and acting like you give a fat rats ass about anything but yourself.
Sure, I read the media, but more importantly, I have watched your type operate for a long time now.

Average wage for a CNA 18 months ago was about $11 an hour.

Today it's about $15 an hour.

Tell me that's not wage "growth".

Hell, we have nurses and CNAs who saw cumulative increases greater than 15 percent this past year.
 
1. They have one of the most taxed populations in the world.
2. They have some serious GDP per capita.
3. Their population is the size of the state of Ohio.
 
Average wage for a CNA 18 months ago was about $11 an hour.

Today it's about $15 an hour.

Tell me that's not wage "growth".

Hell, we have nurses and CNAs who saw cumulative increases greater than 15 percent this past year.
Do they get health care and retirement benefits?
How long had they been at $11 per hour, which is below the poverty level? $15 is barely above that level for a single person in lower cost areas, not in metro situations.
 
I did not say all of the Kurds died. Paint with a small brush, don’t ya?

You said "it did end for the Kurdish people"...

Well, no. They just got pushed out of the buffer zone that Turkey wanted to establish.

Imagine if ISIS occupied Tijuana Mexico. Would it be bad to push them back a few dozen miles from San Diego?
 
Do they get health care and retirement benefits?
How long had they been at $11 per hour, which is below the poverty level? $15 is barely above that level for a single person in lower cost areas, not in metro situations.

Of course they get those benefits if they choose to participate. We do offer them, but admittedly, many can't afford it even though it's considered "affordable" under ObamaCare rules.

The $11 an hour average was 18 months ago. At three years ago, the average was closer to $9 an hour.
 
Okay, there is no "victim" class. Does that help?

I would say it relates to having more common shared values. Part of that might being a homogeneous via race but I think more culture which could mean the same thing to many. I think having a small geographic footprint really helps lead to that common shared identity.

It is harder to hold that shared identity in geography territories as large as the US. So you end up having people in CA with very different values than those in IA or FL or NY, etc. That is why federalism is important in large geographic democracies.
 
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You said "it did end for the Kurdish people"...

Well, no. They just got pushed out of the buffer zone that Turkey wanted to establish.

Imagine if ISIS occupied Tijuana Mexico. Would it be bad to push them back a few dozen miles from San Diego?
Always the dip stick.
Nope. I posted that “it did end for Kurdish people who had been stalwart allies...”. Not THE Kurdish people.
You seem to lack comprehende skills tonight.
 
1. They have one of the most taxed populations in the world.
2. They have some serious GDP per capita.
3. Their population is the size of the state of Ohio.
Look what they get for the taxes paid. You would love to realize those benefits.
 
The US spends two thirds of a TRILLION dollars every year invading, occupying, (sometimes)destroying and playing overlord to sovereign nations all over the world.

I imagine that kind of money would pay not only for college, but health insurance and a myriad of other niceties as well - like paying down the debt, perhaps?

Oh well, fu*k it........amiright?:rolleyes:

Americas Military Budget = $700B-ish/yr
America’s Annual Deficits = $1T-ish/yr

We are effed.
 
The US spends two thirds of a TRILLION dollars every year invading, occupying, (sometimes)destroying and playing overlord to sovereign nations all over the world.

I imagine that kind of money would pay not only for college, but health insurance and a myriad of other niceties as well - like paying down the debt, perhaps?

Oh well, fu*k it........amiright?:rolleyes:
yes for what we spent on the Iraq war we could have national works program, new infrastructure and health care.

who were the liars that pushed us into war with Iraq ? controlled corporate media and neoliberals/neocons of both parties. Tulsi says one word against our meddling in Syria and MSNBC and the other demonrat candidates scream and accuse her of "appeasing assad the evil dictator"....what a crock of $ht
 
No, I wouldn't trade 60 percent of my income for those benefits. Are you freaking insane?

Low income households love these proposals.

Higher income household don’t want to be the primary finders for these programs.

Why don’t higher income earners want to fund these things via higher taxes: 1. They can already fund these types of things themselves 2. It costs less for them to fund this by themselves 3. They get greater freedom of choices when they fund these types of things themselves.
 
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Of course they get those benefits if they choose to participate. We do offer them, but admittedly, many can't afford it even though it's considered "affordable" under ObamaCare rules.

The $11 an hour average was 18 months ago. At three years ago, the average was closer to $9 an hour.
$9 per hour (and $11 as well) is comical pay for anyone who breathes, walks, and provides the type of services that your corporation offers. Were you not embarrassed to offer that pay scale?
Does your Corp pay for the benefits, or does that come out of the wages?
You guys complaining about the mean spirited workers demanding more are so 18th century.
Jeez man, if they have dependents, your workers qualify for food stamps, but you diss those on the dole.
 
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No, I wouldn't trade 60 percent of my income for those benefits. Are you freaking insane?
You just made up that number and don’t compare apples to apples based on current costs/gain to all of the benefits furnished in the Swedish situation.
 
Low income households love these proposals.

Higher income household don’t want to be the primary finders for these programs.

Why don’t higher income earners want to fund these things via higher taxes: 1. They can already fund these types of things themselves 2. It costs less for them to fund this by themselves 3. They get greater freedom of choices when they fund these types of things themselves.
They don’t want to help others, but do want to bitch about them needing better wages and health care options.
 
$9 per hour (and $11 as well) is comical pay for anyone who breathes, walks, and provides the type of services that your corporation offers. Were you not embarrassed to offer that pay scale?
Does your Corp pay for the benefits, or does that come out of the wages?
You guys complaining about the mean spirited workers demanding more are so 18th century.
Jeez man, if they have dependents, your workers qualify for food stamps, but you diss those on the dole.


Yet requiring higher pay just might put those
people completely out of a job so you have to ask yourself, what are the consequences of higher pay for lower skilled labor? Then you need to determine if making the change is worth those potential consequences.


 
They don’t want to help others, but do want to bitch about them needing better wages and health care options.

It isn’t that they don’t want to help others, these people are often some of the most giving. It’s just that they don’t want to help other families more than they help their own.

I don’t blame anyone for that, it is a natural and very human instinct. And YES if you are paying 60% of your wages in taxes you are likely being forced to help others more so than taking care of your own family.
 
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Yet requiring higher pay just might put those
people completely out of a job so you have to ask yourself, what are the consequences of higher pay for lower skilled labor? Then you need to determine if making the change is worth those potential consequences.


And when they are out of work, they go on the dole.
The money siphoned off by the Corp leadership is where the would be wages are going.
 
It isn’t that they don’t want to help others, these people are often some of the most giving. It’s just that they don’t want to help other families more than they help their own.

I don’t blame anyone for that, it is a natural and very human instinct. And YES if you are paying 60% of your wages in taxes you are likely being forced to help others more so than taking care of your own family.
You are not taking a hard look at what the taxes in Sweden does for their citizens compared to what US taxes produce for our citizens.
 
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Compare what you get for your taxes to what they get.
Don’t forget the longer life span, happier citizenry, and healthier life style.

Yet we all are a part of the same system, maybe operating at different levels but still within the same system (sadly though not all operating under the same rules, that is the ish we need to get fixed).

The most important things we need in place are:

1. Everyone has the ability to succeed and move up to a higher wealth/income class. Doesn’t need to be guaranteed but that ability needs to be there.
2. That ability needs to be there and it needs to be honest. Doesn’t mean everyone gets the same amount opportunity (that will never happen) but that we all play by the same rule set. It’s why criminal justice reform and drug law changes are desperately needed in our country bc they create a different and much harsher set of rules for POC and lower economic people in general (regardless of race).
 
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You are not taking a hard look at what the taxes in Sweden does for their citizens compared to what US taxes produce for our citizens.

You can’t operate a country like the US in the same way you do a country like Sweden. It’s like trying to compare apples and oranges. Go up and read my thread on why federalism is the better approach for large land mass countries w diverse cultures. What works here won’t work in Sweden and what works in Sweden probably won’t work here (on a national level).

Now some of those things could absolutely work at a state level but that won’t happen bc the federal govt sucks up so much of the tax resources of the country.

like I have said 100 times, I’d rather give the state of Iowa 25-30% of my money in taxes and the fed 7.5%. With this approach we would be able to start doing some of the things Sweden is doing. We will never do it as effectively at the federal level though bc of the cultural differences in a country as large and diverse as ours.
 
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