I’ve often heard President Trump lament that so many of our immigrants are Latinos. “Why not Norway, or Sweden?” he complains. Perhaps the better question is, “Why would anyone want to move here from Norway?”
These democratic socialist countries have so much more to offer their people, while here we seem on a fast track to kleptocracy. Their governments have stability, something we had until Trump. And they enjoy respect from the rest of the world, something we also enjoyed until Trump.
Finland, Norway’s neighbor, was recently voted “happiest people in the world,” and the reason offered was the government safety nets. My daughter lives in Finland, and she says she would never move back here. Sure, taxes are higher, but a small price to pay for so many benefits: free health care, college assistance, one-year parental leave, five weeks of vacation, strong labor protections (while Republicans continue to chip away at labor unions here).
Think of the taxes as an insurance premium to ensure equal access to essentials for all. Medical bankruptcies are very rare in those countries. Here we just doubled/tripled insurance costs for many, pricing them out of the market. What happens to these families when just one gets sick?
Why are we the only major country in the world without universal health care? Why do we have so many homeless people on the street and a few billionaires hogging so much of our wealth? Without poor people to build roads and sweep floors etc., the rich wouldn’t be rich.
Fred Durig
Delmont