'The Scourge of European Socialism'

A piece on Inc.com today brings us a tale of the horrors of how Norway struggles to cope under the tyranny of 50% marginal tax rates and a generous social welfare state. Riots, demonstrations, famine, disease, and gnashing of teeth threaten to tear the very fabric of their fragile nation asunder:

Norway is also an exceedingly pleasant place to make a home. It ranked third in Gallup's latest global happiness survey. The unemployment rate, just 3.5 percent, is the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. Thanks to a generous social welfare system, poverty is almost nonexistent.

[...]

Every Norwegian worker gets free health insurance in a system that produces longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than our own. At age 67, workers get a government pension of up to 66 percent of their working income, and everyone gets free education, from nursery school through graduate school. (Amazingly, this includes colleges outside the country. Want to send your kid to Harvard? The Norwegian government will pick up most of the tab.) Disability insurance and parental leave are also extremely generous. A new mother can take 46 weeks of maternity leave at full pay—the government, not the company, picks up the tab—or 56 weeks off at 80 percent of her normal wage. A father gets 10 weeks off at full pay.

Wait, that can't be right. That sounds like a relatively prosperous and stable democracy. Surely with all those generous benefits and excessive taxation, the poor Norwegians are wallowing in squalor, doubling-up with friends and family, or taking out second mortgages on their cardboard boxes in these harsh economic times:

Norway, which in 2009 had the world's highest per-capita income, avoided the brunt of the financial crisis: From 2006 to 2009, its economy grew nearly 3 percent. The American economy grew less than one-tenth of a percent during the same period.

Okay, so they seem to be doing relatively well. Highest per capita income in the world is nothing to scoff at. But anger and unrest at the government usurping 50% of their income must be widespread:

Norwegians don't think about taxes the way we do. Whereas most Americans see taxes as a burden, Norwegian entrepreneurs tend to see them as a purchase, an exchange of cash for services... "The tax system is good—it's fair," he tells me. "What we're doing when we are paying taxes is buying a product. So the question isn't how you pay for the product; it's the quality of the product." Dalmo likes the government's services, and he believes that he is paying a fair price.

It's a crazy principle really - establish a progressive tax code, use tax revenues to provide services that people need, and people don't bitch and complain whenever the word 'tax' is uttered by an elected official. Funding healthcare, education, and retirement are intrinsically much more valuable to your average citizen than decades of endless war in the middle east, subsidizing tax breaks for corporations and millionaires, and propping up the ever expanding Police/National Security state in the name of keeping us Safe from Evil Terrorists.

But there's little point in discussing this, because this Evil Socialism would NEVER work here in America - it would be unconscionable, un-American, and unconstitutional. We could always ask the new GOP majority to re-read the Constitution on the floor of the House just to double check, that is, if they aren't too busy skipping their own dog and pony show to attend fundraisers.