Q&A: Why can Canda, Germany, and Sweden afford universal health care, and we can’t?
Question by gws35: Why can Canda, Germany, and Sweden afford universal health care, and we can’t?
Take your pick from the following list of nations, and decide which ones have a successful form of socialism, in your opinion:
Switzerland
France
Germany
Canada
Denmark
Finland
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Japan
China
Russia
Ireland
All of these countries, other than France, have a trade surplus. France had a trade surplus up to year 2000.
Successful socialist nations DO NOT depend on imports, like the USA does. Or if they do, they export even more to pay for them and maintain a positive trade surplus.
Socialism is a LUXURY reserved for nations that successfully sell their products to the rest of the world.
Which is oddly a very capitalist thing to do for such supposedly socialist nations.
Euro/Canadian “socialism” is a social agenda, not an economic policy.
This brand of “socialism” relies on a healthy CAPITALIST economy to pay for the social programs.
They need the income from exports to sustain the high taxation of their citizens.
And the citizens depend on the trade surplus to generate enough income for them live on after the high taxation.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Balance-Of-Trade.aspx?Symbol=NOK
The USA has way too many imports to adopt this style of socialism. To afford the luxury of such generous social programs, there must be a net flow of money into the nation to pay for it. Instead, we have a net flow of money out, to the tune of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS a year. The USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand have had much less generous social programs, but they are deeply in debt because they all have a trade deficit.
Why do so many people advocate universal health care or even socialism, when we have such a staggering trade deficit?
apeman, yes that was kind of my point.
Their “lopsided” trade balance is a SURPLUS.
Our trade balance is a DEFICIT.
It’s the difference between positive and negative.
We couldn’t possibly afford it with a negative trade balance, so it’s pointless to debate it anyway, from a purely mathematical perspective. The numbers just don’t add up because our trade balance is negative, while theirs is positive.
Best answer:
Answer by RJC
62% income tax rate.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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July 3rd, 2012 at 11:39 pm
why is premier danny williams com to the u.s. for heart surgery? canadian system sucks, that’s why.
July 4th, 2012 at 12:11 am
Health care lobbyists stuff Republican lawmakers pockets.
July 4th, 2012 at 12:36 am
first off who said we can’t afford it,it is unconstitutional,and substandard. why would anyone want an inferior health care like those countries have
July 4th, 2012 at 1:10 am
Those countries also have extremely high taxes. That’s no luxury.
July 4th, 2012 at 1:33 am
Because Canadians, Swedes, etc. don’t mind paying higher taxes. The USA has some of the lowest taxes in the world. Americans keep demanding less and less taxes, while demanding more and more spending (i.e. Military), this is the reason the US has such a massive deficit.
I think it’s sheer stupidity when Americans claim that having affordable healthcare is giving up their “liberty”. So many Americans keep voting against the American people’s own interests, and instead vote for Corporate interests, when those interests don’t even benefit the nation in any way. It’s so sad and at the same time so angering to see.
July 4th, 2012 at 2:03 am
Most of the nations you mention have a much more lopsided balance of trade as a percentage of GDP than the USA. But don’t let a lack of knowledge get in the way of your strong opinion. And it isn’t so much a matter of not being able to afford a single payer system. It is the liberty most Americans would have to surrender if socialized medicine was enacted.