What Americans don't understand about Nordic countries

[Amazing Larry]

Spain and Greece is a red herring. It has nothing to do with applying Scandinavian-like approaches to the US.

 

And yes, I agree that we need to cut spending in some areas.

 

As for Scandinavian, I've already explained my view and you other don't understand what I'm saying or disagree. Cool beans.

 

Are you talking about Scandinavian countries or Nordic countries?

 

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/scandinaviatripplanning/p/scandnordic.htm

[Amazing Larry]

[IEAngelsfan]

This is all I need to understand......

 

http://coed.com/2012/06/06/sexiest-swedish-models-actress-photos/

[nate]

He is talking about the Nordic Model.

 

Here is an excellent article about how it is failing.

[red321]

He is talking about the Nordic Model.

 

Here is an excellent article about how it is failing.

 

Except...you know...it doesn't actually say that. It talks about some challenges it has faced, and has moving forward.

[Angelsjunky]

LOL. Nate posts an article that actually refutes his point.

 

Here's an excellent quote from your excellent article, nate:

 

"We and they may now be able to learn from each other in a much richer vein than was possible when the Nordic model was viewed from afar as an unreachable Holy Grail."

 

That's pretty much what I've been saying - let's learn from the Nordic model. We don't have to adopt it whole-sale.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Angelsjunky

[nate]

Sure, you could take it that way.  Or that you could take it as something that isn't sustainable.

 

By the way, the chart in this excellent article refutes how high taxes in the US has ruined our economic growth.

[nate]

By the way, immigration is the thing that is destroying the Nordic Model according to this excellent article.

[Angelsjunky]

OK, we get it, Nate. You hate immigration and income tax. Good luck with either of those ever going away.

[nate]

And you continue to ignore the point

[Angelsjunky]

Because you're not really making a point, except that you believe taxes should be lower and we should only accept Mexican PHDs to pick almonds.

[nate]

Nope, that the Nordic model doesn't work with immigration but you insist we take queues for it when we have a huge rate of immigration.

 

Anyway, I agree, we need to completely shut down immigration for probably 10-25 years if not a full generation and then only re-open it to well educated people.

[Angelsjunky]

Again, I don't think we can cut-and-paste the Nordic model, but that we should look into implement aspects of it that work for the American system. I've said this tons of times but you seem to ignore it, insisting that I'm saying we should adopt the Nordic model. Learn from it, not adopt it. Comprende?

 

Anyhow, it sounds like Trump's your man.

[nate]

Lol with your last sentence.

 

People make shutting down immigration into a race issue.  It is a population growth issue.  The most successful economies have low population growth leading into economic success.  We already are burdened by huge poverty rates and lack of jobs, adding more people to the pool will only exacerbate the issue.

 

The US's first job should be creating a sustainable economy, then it should be letting other people live here.

 

I guess we could implement a China style single child policy.  I think that is far less empathetic than closing borders.

Edited March 24, 2016 by nate

[HaloMagic]

Nate, how do you reconcile the immigration expansion of the 1990s with the extreme growth of our economy in the same period?

[nate]

Nate, how do you reconcile the immigration expansion of the 1990s with the extreme growth of our economy in the same period?

 

If you read what I said it is the period after the immigration that it becomes a problem.  During major economic expansion all countries experience high rates of immigration.  In the years following they experience a crash due to having a larger population than it can support.

[HaloMagic]

We had extreme immigration in the 1980s, too.

[Amazing Larry]

We had extreme immigration in the 1980s, too.

 

I'll bite.

 

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[HaloMagic]

I'll bite.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Maybe we should let them pay taxes.

[Blarg]

What first caught my eye in the excellent article.

For starters, they show that the crisis is hurting still in terms of increased unemployment – especially among Swedish young people. Second, employment rates have fallen quite dramatically since the 1990s. They were around 80% then and getting back to that level would require 1.3m new jobs between now and 2030 – a tall order. So, a key pillar of the Nordic model is showing symptoms of collapse – and, with rising inequality, its philosophical fundaments are undermined.

The other key item was the populace losing faith in unions, a socialist mainstay.

But the second shared experience is more worrying from a trade union point of view. Nordic countries traditionally enjoy high rates of union density – up to 80%. These remain pretty high by European standards but are down to around 65% on average. If this continues, only half the labour force will be unionised by 2030. Indeed, if the Norwegian trend is followed generally, membership among wage- and salary-earners would be down to 45% and the unions would have lost a collective 2.1m members.

Unemployment and workers shunning unions, even leaving to find employment in other countries sounds like a failed national policy.

[Amazing Larry]

Maybe we should let them pay taxes.

I'm With you on that HM. I'm just stating why all this has worked up until this point.