World's Happiest Countries? Social Democracies

Then why are the young people in America today turning toward socialism over capitalism? See this article:

Another recent survey, this one by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, found in the words of U.S. News’s Ken Walsh that “[58] percent of young people choose socialism over capitalism [which was chosen by 33 percent of young people] ... as the most compassionate system. Sixty-six percent say corporate America ‘embodies everything that is wrong with America,’ compared with 34 percent who say corporate America embodies what's right with America. A plurality of 28 percent say the most pressing issue facing the country is income inequality—one of [Senator Bernie] Sanders’ top themes.”


http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...ialism/471630/

Why? Because young people today do not see a happy future for themselves in a capitalist or corporate run America. Originally Posted by SassySue

They are being led into socialism by the globalists who want more control and less freedom. They are being told that our current system of "capitalism" has failed them, and it has. Except we don't have capitalism, we have crony capitalism, or better known as fascism. Our young people have no idea what free market capitalism is, or how much better off we'd all be if we could get back to that.

Funny how those "unhappy" young people today stare at their capitalist made iPhones using capitalist created aps as they chase capitalist created Pokemon go images onto busy capitalist made streets where their coddled capitalist asses are hit by sporty capitalist cars driven by capitalist on their way to their capitalist homes from their capitalist jobs.

Originally Posted by I B Hankering

People still have those things dummy. This is how a social democracy works:

Doesn't socialism mean that the government will own and run everything?


Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of people. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.


It's more of a decentralized government and it can work.

Full article:

http://www.dsausa.org/govt_run_everything

Yeah. Sure. Ask all those starving folks in Venezuela how socialism is working out for them.
A country that's bursting with oil and the government owns it all.

People still have those things dummy. This is how a social democracy works:

Doesn't socialism mean that the government will own and run everything?


Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of people. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.


It's more of a decentralized government and it can work.

Full article:

http://www.dsausa.org/govt_run_everything Originally Posted by SassySue

You'd be the dummy, Silly Suzy Simpleton. The taxes on an automobile and fuel in Denmark means most people in Denmark, in fact, do not own cars, Silly Suzy Simpleton. Similarly, houses in Denmark are typically very small in comparison to single family homes in the U.S., and home ownership is appreciably higher in the U.S. than in Denmark, Silly Suzy Simpleton. And Danes carry a greater personal debt load than Americans because their government takes so much of their income that they have to borrow money to buy those nice-to-have consumer products, Silly Suzy Simpleton.

Taxpayers in Denmark are subject to a progressive tax structure comprised of separate state, municipality and church tax obligations. Almost all personal income is subject to AM tax of 8%, but this tax is deducted from the income before the other taxes are calculated. The lowest tax rate is approximately 36% and ranges up to a marginal income tax rate of 51.95% exclusive of the nation’s church tax but in addition to the 8% AM tax (tax revenue comprised 48.6% of Denmark’s GDP in 2013).

People in Denmark also pay a sales tax (a Value Added Tax: VAT) of 25% in addition to the government income taxes. The VAT also applies to duties and fees. Because of government taxes, a gallon of gasoline costs about $6.40 per gallon. The government tax on a car is 180%; hence, a car that sells for about $25,000 in the United States (e.g., a Honda Accord) may cost an astounding $45,000 in Denmark. It’s no surprise that automobile and home ownership is higher in the United States than in Denmark.

Denmark is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world. As such, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has determined that the Danes have the highest percentage of personal debt based on percentage of disposable income. The average Scandanavian worker entering employment is only able to keep about 20% of his/her earned income due to the combined effect of higher taxes and lower transfers. By contrast, the average U.S. worker gets to keep 63% of his/her earnings when accounting for the full effect of the U.S. tax and welfare system.

(Snopes & London School of Economics)

They are being led into socialism by the globalists who want more control and less freedom. They are being told that our current system of "capitalism" has failed them, and it has. Except we don't have capitalism, we have crony capitalism, or better known as fascism. Our young people have no idea what free market capitalism is, or how much better off we'd all be if we could get back to that. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Read the definition of social democracy which I posted in a new thread. It's not what you think.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

You'd be the dummy, Silly Suzy Simpleton. The taxes on an automobile and fuel in Denmark means most people in Denmark, in fact, do not own cars, Silly Suzy Simpleton. Similarly, houses in Denmark are typically very small in comparison to single family homes in the U.S., and home ownership is appreciably higher in the U.S. than in Denmark, Silly Suzy Simpleton. And Danes carry a greater personal debt load than Americans because their government takes so much of their income that they have to borrow money to buy those nice-to-have consumer products, Silly Suzy Simpleton. Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Part of this is happening because of world globalization, due to deregulation of the multinationals moving to these other countries. See my new thread defining social democracy and how globalization is interfering with these other country's social democracies. It's causing lower wages, for one thing. Houses may be smaller so that more people can have a home; therefore, less homelessness. Look at all the homeless people we have in our country; yet we have all these empty foreclosed homes owned by the banks just sitting there! European countries have excellent public transportation and more bike paths than America. People ride their bikes a lot instead of driving cars. Yes, they probably do pay higher taxes, but everyone has health care and subsidized and/or free college education. It's been proven they are happier and more stress free than Americans. The globalization and multinationals moving to other European countries are interfering with these governments. That's why these multinational corporations need to be regulated.

See this article:

Bobby Scott says U.S. is No. 2 in income disparity among developed nations


http://www.politifact.com/virginia/s...rity-among-de/

Although politicians in many countries spent most of the period since 1980 talking about the need to reduce the role of the state in the economy, and in many cases introduced policies of privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation to help this happen, public spending has continued to increase as a share of gdp. Within the oecd, public spending accounted for a larger slice of GDP in 2002 than in 1990, which was in turn higher than in 1980. Indeed, it has risen during every decade since the start of the 20th century. One reason was that governments had to honour spending commitments on pensions and health care made by previous generations of politicians.

Corporate Accountability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: How Responsible Business Conduct could and should play a decisive role


http://oecdinsights.org/2015/09/28/c...decisive-role/

Part of this is happening because of world globalization, due to deregulation of the multinationals moving to these other countries. See my new thread defining social democracy and how globalization is interfering with these other country's social democracies. It's causing lower wages, for one thing. Originally Posted by SassySue

Your "new thread" doesn't change the fact that more Americans keep a greater part of their personal income affording them greater personal discretionary spending which includes more Americans owning personal cars and more and larger personal homes than their Danish counterparts, Silly Suzy Simpleton, and they do that without incurring the debt load their Danish counterparts carry.

Read the definition of social democracy which I posted in a new thread. It's not what you think.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.
Originally Posted by SassySue

I read it. Those leading toward socialism in the context you reference are using their converts to subvert freedom and accumulate more power for themselves. The definition is sound, but that is not what is happening in the real world.