Fox News: fair and balanced

[Iraqgunz]

Except for Denmark. The Danish soldiers I spoke with a Camp Bastion told me that he Danish pay some of the highest taxes in all of Europe. I did some snooping around and they weren't kidding.

Honestly, having been to Europe more than a few times, it seems like quite a nice place to live. I'd rather live there than Los Angeles. That said there are a LOT of places in Europe I wouldn't want to live and I sure wouldn't want to pay most of their taxes.

But I think it is the Scandinavian people and culture that are responsible for that high qualify of life rather than their socialism.





Looks like Finland is about 8% and we are currently about 10%, the important part is the huge difference between the population of Finland and the US and the disparity in actual numbers that those percentages actually represent.

For example it is a lot easier and cheaper to feed, clothe and house 1% of Finland's population compared to 1% of ours.

[Redmanfms]

Fun fact, Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

Studies that "rate" countries are essentially meaningless because, as Steyr alluded to, the protocol is entirely subjective. What are the individual criteria for the benchmark metrics? That has no small bearing on the outcome of the "study." When practically every nation in Western Europe (that is quasi-socialist) is rated higher than the United States it should be pretty obvious how the criteria were arranged.

What these studies really show are the prejudices and motives of the "study" designer, not any real world valuation of the nations analyzed.

Sweden used to sit at the top of these "best places to live as rated 'scientifically and objectively' by (insert mainstream editorially center-left publication)." It doesn't anymore. It's usually 4th or 5th when these rankings come out now. Why is that? Fundamentally nothing has changed politically or economically in any of these nations in close to 60 years.



On a personal note, I've been to Scandinavia many times. I lived in Norway for 5 months working on a contract. Norway, Sweden, and Finland are effectively interchangeable (with the notable exception that Finland has practically zero immigration), and they were all depressing, bleak places to be and not because of the weather (which was actually beautiful when I was there). It really put America in perspective.

If you want the opportunity to try new things, excel and possibly bust and then try again, America is the place for you.

If you want to work at the same place, doing the same job, making essentially the same wage and not have more or less than anybody else in your neighborhood from the time you enter the workforce until you die, Europe is probably where you want to be.

[Redmanfms]

On the Fox News riff, eh, could have been an editorial mistake and not an intentional attempt to deceive.

This doesn't quite rise to the level of outright deception that has been exhibited by other news outlets for decades. Hell, we lost a war partially because of the intentional, continuous deception perpetrated by a handful of reporters and newsreaders. No less than Edward R. Murrow (a paragon in that industry to this day) intentionally mislead the American people about the HUAC hearings and the role and threat of Communists in the State Department. Decades before all of that we were dragged into a colonial war over blatant misrepresentation. The truth is, the 4th Estate has never been a neutral and "fair" arbiter of information for the people, and the people who have been pushing that trope were/are usually trying to sell snake oil.

I get most of my news from the internet, cross-sourced and then (if it's important) researched. It's the only way to do it if you want a relatively clear view of any issue.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Look at net flows of people. That tells you what are the best countries to live in. Vote with their feet.

[ChicagoTex]

Look at net flows of people. That tells you what are the best countries to live in. Vote with their feet.

Doesn't work. Many successful nations very tightly control immigration, and there's no way to measure "people who want to get in, but can't".

[SteyrAUG]

Objectively, yes, but theoretically our larger population is supposed to have larger tax revenues to offset the larger cost and it should all balance out...

Except we've nickel-and-dimed ourselves to death by sending manufacturing overseas and making Wal-Mart king of America and thus most of our employed pay little to no taxes because they don't make anything, forcing a smaller percentage of the population to shoulder the tax burden.
The key to economic solidity is protective tariffs on imports. The U.S. has GOT to stop playing the free market game when every other nation in the world cheats.

And I alluded to those economic differences earlier.

[SteyrAUG]

Fun fact, Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

Perhaps that is why it has the best "quality of life" in the world. Maybe we should do that here.

[SteyrAUG]

Doesn't work. Many successful nations very tightly control immigration, and there's no way to measure "people who want to get in, but can't".

But wouldn't a criteria such as "gives immigrants a chance" be just another example of a "best country in the world." Certainly better than those Nazi Swiss or Fascist Mexican bastards who won't let anyone in.

[ChicagoTex]

But wouldn't a criteria such as "gives immigrants a chance" be just another example of a "best country in the world."

Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. I was responding to the notion that you can judge solely by immigration numbers.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Doesn't work. Many successful nations very tightly control immigration, and there's no way to measure "people who want to get in, but can't".

We 'tightly control' immigration and people still get in.

Interesting way to do it might be to do a survey where you offer people so much money or the ability to move to a country and see what kind of responses you'd get.