"The real reason European style Benefits programs are never proposed in the US is Because the "Donors" don't want Another set of "Entitlements" jacking up THEIR Tax Rates."

You do know that the poor in the US would pay far more under a European model, do you not?

Do you know what a VAT is?

"In 2018 the lowest fifth of earners on average paid no net federal taxes at all. The top 1% paid a total rate (ie, after all deductions) of 30%, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Include state and local levies, and high earners face a marginal tax rate on each extra dollar they take home"the rate that matters for work incentives"which is middling by rich-country standards. Tax refunds for poor families are exceptionally generous. In 2019 a single parent of two children earning two-thirds of average pay faced total net labour taxes of only 10%, according to analysis by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. In egalitarian Sweden the rate was nearly 33%."

"America will never have a European-style welfare state without a VAT"

And to be clear, I've never-not once, seen a US politician proposing any sort of European-style economic model. I doubt I ever will.

Maybe centuries of war shaped European nations into what they are today. The US has not learned those lessons, or learned from them.

Progressives claim they want to be more like European countries. When they say that, they're telling me that they've never been to Europe without telling me they've never been to Europe.

To clear up any confusion, European countries are not Marxist. There is no "to each according to need, to each according to ability" mantra in Europe. The poor pay taxes, just like the rich. Rights are afforded by the responsibilities of the populations.

And that's the BLUF. Europe is about rights couples with responsibilities. US progressives want rights decoupled from responsibility.

If USans want Universal healthcare...cool. Do it. But if you take away private options, the country is ------.

"In fact, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are the only Americans who understand universal healthcare, as enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people in Israel, Germany, Canada, Cuba, Taiwan, tiny Albania, or Denmark, as did our US Merchant Mariners from 1798 to 1981."

That's not entirely true.

If you're based in the US, you rarely, if ever, go to a government healthcare provider. You go to the same clinics you would go to if you had Cigna or BCBS.

Overseas, it's different. You're restricted to seeing on-base providers. And it takes months to get an appointment. If you have a private plan, it takes days.

I guess I survived, but knowing what I know now, I should have gotten a private plan for my family while I was still on active duty.

"If the rich wish to stay in America they best learn to be nice to the folks they are fleecing."

Fleecing?

How?

"What if the poor decided to eat the rich? They easily could."

And then what?

When you bite the hand that feeds, you no longer get fed.

"Why isn't anyone think about how his policies are affecting multimillionaires and billionaires!!!"

It's a great question, considering that Mamdani is relying on them to fund his pet projects.

What if they choose not to, which they easily can.

I seriously considered taking a job in Norway. Love the people, but the weather where I would have been in unreal. I don't know that I could do that year round. My buddy is sailing around Lufoten right now, and he sent me pictures. You think they would have been in Antarctica or something.

"The United States is considered a capitalist country, not a democratic socialist one. Its economy is primarily driven by free markets and private property ownership, though the government utilizes certain social programs like Medicare and Social Security, making it a mixed-market economy."

Dude, I've never been to a country that didn't fit this same description. Including the Scandinavian countries.

"Millionaires, billionaires and especially the "worlds first trillionaire" have done nothing beneficial for society and are actively destroying the world."

Really? Starlink, Tesla, and SpaceX have not benefitting society?

I think there are a lot of Ukrainians who would disagree with that statement.

And I could care less about millionaires, billionaires, and trillionaires. You're the one who gets yer panties in a wad over their existence.

"If you provide good schools and healthcare to poor people, they can grow up to do amazing things for society."

Like Larry Ellison?

I guess you're right. The US is a Democratic Socialist country.

"Nor has any poor person done anything beneficial for society. Nor has any government official done anything beneficial for society and are actively destroying the world you used to know."

I would start by saying that the vast majority of us all started off poor. I didn't have a single friend in college who didn't live in an apartment. State school guy.

I would direct you towards the socioeconomic J-Curve, which is basically the delta between what people think they deserve, and what they can achieve through their own merits. Revolutions start when those who think they deserve something don't recieve it. It's generally not the poor. It's the so-called "educated class" that resents that society has not rewarded them in the way they think they deserve to be rewarded.

"His desires to prevent Americans from gaining the benefits he's had is laughable."

I do?

My daughter is following in my footsteps. Are you suggesting I am against that? Or that any of her fellow cadets shouldn't be allowed?

Or...are you saying that anyone with the rare talent of being able to draw breath should be entitled to the same benefits as someone who joins the military?

Ready? Go!

"He collects a paycheck from the democratic socialist system he signed up for when he was a kid."

In the US?

If the US is already a Democratic Socialist country...why do you keep whining?

"It was obviously needed. Showing the way for other democrats."

To do what? Win in the primaries and lose in the general?

"But Mamdami is obviously a different kind of Democrat. Shaking up the party. Trying to and actually helping people."

Do you think Mamdani's proposed and/or implemented policies are hurting some while helping others, or is it helping all with a neutral effect?

"If they have the work available and choose to work longer then that's called "overtime"."

OK, but even that has an effect on the unit cost structure. I'm a salary guy, so I don't know how it works, but it used to be that overtime was 150% of hourly rate. What does that do for labor costs, particularly with in-demand professionals?

For doctors and nurses, it would seem like it would only drive up the cost of healthcare. And it's not like you can easily recruit more of either. Same with airline pilots.

"32 hour work week? That's probably the most interesting part of anything in the article. Not sure how that can be implemented but like with anything...you have to start somewhere."

I'm guessing this is shift-workers only. I can't imagine that high-demand workers like doctors, nurses, airline pilots, etc, would be limited to 32 hours per week.

"Beautiful places, generous government programs... but beautiful in the frozen wasteland for long periods of time kind of way."

Love the people, it's pretty, but it has the worst weather on earth. No kidding.

I was up there in may and booked a cabin in the mountains I was going to hike in to. My buddy said "nope. you'll die."

He has told me that on several occasions.

"Norway over Ivory Coast as we speak. I wonder if Megan Kelly does not mourn the lack of immigration from Ivory Coast to the US?"

ROW!!!

"Then move ---- ----. We won't miss you at all."

Norway needs people. You could likely get a job in Tromso or Vardo with little problem.

Most of the low-skilled people working in Norway are from Africa. At least in Northern Norway. I don't really like it up there. I think they probably like it even less.

"Is it illegal in Germany? Or is it just certain historic homes not allowed (without heavy permit fees)?"

No. It is not illegal.

A lot of the new builds have A/C. It's the older ones, those built prior to the last 3-5 years that don't. And European homes don't have central heating, which means they can't have central cooling.

I do question why a house with heated floors couldn't have cooled floors though.

Anyone here eaten whale? I think it's more popular in NOR than Lutefisk. Stockfish seems to be the most popular.

I have a chunk of smoked whale in my fridge right now.