Most Americans Want Wealth Distribution Similar to Sweden

[annabanana]

http://www.alternet.org/rss/1/569425/study%3A_most_americans_want_wealth_distribution_similar_to_sweden?akid=6881.71875.6_j6-t&rd=1&t=29

When you TAKE THE LABELS OFF Americans are in remarkable accord. The "big divisions" in our society are a

FALSEHOOD, ginned up by the beltway media in support of powers-that-be. You and your tea party neighbor should really sit down for a cup of coffee.

According to research carried out by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University, and flagged by Paul Kedrosky at the Infectious Greed blog, 92 percent of Americans would choose to live in a society with far less income disparity than the US, choosing Sweden's model over that of the US.

What's more, the study's authors say that this applies to people of all income levels and all political leanings: The poor and the rich, Democrats and Republicans are all equally likely to choose the Swedish model.

(more at above link!)

Of course it no longer matters what Americans want....

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. When the needs of "the people" are ignored

for too long and they give of hope of ever having being able to meet their needs, then hopelessness will turn ot rage and then there will be hell to pay. I fear that if this is not turned around we will have something similar to the French Revolution. I've been watching it build for years.

[liberal N proud]

2. Our government does not answer to the peoples needs or desires

It only does what the corporations and ultra rich are telling them.

[Yo_Mama]

3. Well then we need a similar tax structure

http://www.taxrates.cc/html/sweden-tax-rates.html
Sweden
Income Tax Rate 57.77%

Sweden
Corporate Tax Rate 26.3%

Sweden
VAT Rate 25%

If Americans are willing to do that, then we can talk. The problem in the US is that people want things but don't want to pay for them.

Sweden cut its corporate tax rate to foster jobs. (Sweden's 2010 15-24 unemployment rate was 28%.)

That 57.77% is the AVERAGE income tax rate, which is more than half municipal. Municipalities cover health care and a lot of services.

The VAT tax is the sales tax by value added.

[murphyj87]

4. Americans pay the equivalent of a VAT

Americans pay the equaivalent of a VAT, except Americans hide it in the listed price and you have no idea how much of the price you're paying is really tax. The American VAT is the tarifs and duties and other taxes on corporations which are added to the price tag without letting you know how much they are. In nations with a VAT, the price tag is lower, and the taxes you Americans hide in the price are actually tranparently displayed as a separate item on the sales receipt.

[Progressive_In_NC]

5. Here's the problem I will not work 75 hours a week for 43% of my salary

without the corresponding benefits and days off.

Most employees in Sweden are able to choose when to have their vacation, but most people have at least a three- or four-week vacation during the summer, often in July and early August. These weeks may in some sense be considered as de facto holidays with few employees at work.

In most corporate american jobs you are expected to work 65-75 hours a week and you get three to four weeks vacation for the whole year if you are lucky. The benefits would have to be equal, and the idea of becoming wealthy enough to pay for your own retirement years would have to be beaten out of folks.

It could work, but not at current expected "productivity" numbers which drive our economy.

[murphyj87]

6. Canadians work...

Canadians work 40 hours a week and get 2 weeks vacation with pay for the first 4 years and then an extra week of vacation with pay for every 5 years they work, until they have 6 weeks vacation with pay after 19 years until they retire. Most Canadian companies (even Walmart Canada) are unionized. Canadian workers average having 82% of their pay in their pockets after taxes (which include health care) while Americans average have an average of 81.9% of their pay in their pockets after taxes and then, after that, Americans have to pay 1.5 times what Canadians pay in taxes for American health costs (insurance, deductables, and copays, all of which are included in those Canadian taxes already mentioned) over and above their American taxes. Most Canadians retire at ages between 55 and 60, get Canada Pension (like your Social Security) at age 60, and Old Age Security Pension added to that at age 65. The total of my company pension, Canada Pension, and Old Age Security Pension give me pension income as if I were working for almost $25 US an hour.

[rurallib]

8. What do Americans pay when you add up all the various

taxes we pay? Income taxes and sales taxes and property taxes etc? Got to be over 50% for some.

[murphyj87]

10. The real question is...

The real question is, what do Americans GET for those taxes. Canadians get Family Allowance ($100 a month per child under 18), Old Age Security (about $600 a month, over and above Canada Pension), and universal health care for their taxes, among other things, but those are the main ones. How much do you get in return for your taxes compared to that?

[rurallib]

11. right - we get less bang for our gummint buck by far than anyone

unless you count the military hardware we each buy.

[MineralMan]

7. Most Americans haven't a clue about either our economic

system or the system in Sweden. This is bogus research. We, as a nation, understand bupkus about economics, so it's impossible that "most Americans" prefer the Swedish system.

[annabanana]

12. The article doesn't say the "Swedish system". .it says the same

distribution of wealth as in Sweden.

[subterranean]

13. That was basically the point of the research findings.

In the survey, people were shown the distribution of wealth in three countries, and asked which one they prefer to live in. One represented the U.S., where the top 20% control 84% of the wealth; another was the wealth distribution in Sweden, where the top 20% control 33% of the wealth; and the third had a perfectly equal distribution of wealth. However, the countries were not identified. Most chose the Sweden-like distribution.

The point of the findings was that the actual distribution of wealth in America is far more unequal than Americans perceive it to be. And it's even more unequal than most Americans say would be ideal.

However, that doesn't mean that most Americans are willing to do what's necessary to achieve such a wealth distribution.

This report came out last year, incidentally. It's old news.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. Giant kick, Giant rec

I'd love to move to Sweden!
wonder how one does such a thing??

Women's Human Rights are good there too

[marions ghost]

14. We have wanted it for a long time

:applause:

But that is not allowed by our corporate masters. :mad: