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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:11 am Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| the Swedes invest in their people a lot, and that has an effect on how they deal with things. |
Sweden vs. US: equal levels of taxation.
Sweden vs. US: Far more for your taxes in Sweden.
Hmm.... |
You must be talking about a different Sweden than the country in Scandanavia.
Taxes in Sweden consume more than 50 percent of GDP
Personal taxes are high. Corporate taxes are low. Lower than America's. Most disgusting, Sweden taxes any wealth just above $200,000 at 1.5%. That means that if you have money sitting in the bank, tax will cancel out the interest. Their VAT is 25% on many items.
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WHY THE TAX SYSTEM IS GOOD
Sweden's tax system has few virtues, but they are worth noting. It was reformed, generally with good intentions, back in 1991, but a relentless search for more tax revenue has since then created a patchwork of different tax rates and costly regulations. But at least marginal income tax rates today are still lower than they were in the 1980s. The strongest aspect of the system is its relatively lenient treatment of large corporations - if they were taxed and regulated the way small businesses are, Sweden would rapidly lose even more jobs abroad than it already has.
WHY THE TAX SYSTEM IS BAD
Simply stated, the aggregate tax burden in Sweden is too high and marginal tax rates on productive behavior are very onerous. The high tax burden finances a costly public sector that misallocates capital and labor. The high tax rates discourage work, saving, and investment. The result is that Swedish economic performance is sluggish. Real growth has remained below 3 percent per year, on average, for most of the time since Sweden's tax burden reached record levels in the late 1970s. |
And to Adventurer as well, higher taxes or 'investment in people' has not made the Swedes richer.
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| The tax burden in the Swedish economy tripled between 1950 and 1980. In 1970, when taxes were not much higher than they are in America today, Sweden's GDP per capita ranked fifth in the world. Since taxes passed 50 percent of GDP the country's overall prosperity has dwindled, and the downturn has been most dramatic in measures of the standard of living. In 1970 Sweden ranked third in OECD for individual consumption, 39 percent above OECD average. By 1995, Sweden barely beat the OECD average, ranking 14th with an individual consumption 1.4 percent above OECD average, and has been stagnant since that time. |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
| I see. So you know the situation better than he did, eh? Nothing presumptuous about that, is there? For your information, buster, even the school headmaster visited him one evening apologizing for the overtures of some of the students. None were prostitutes. They were enamored with him; he was witty, friendly, kind and held a certain exotic attraction. And they were screwing around with one another (this in the 1980s) more than hamsters on crack. |
Fair enough. I wasn't there so I can't really comment.
But I would be careful with you assumption that race played a role in "eagerness" of the students to sleep with the nerdy Americans.
Lack of a family structure and poverty are better assumptions in my opinion. Of course it's a chicken and an egg argument here, cause unwise social practices are a root cause for poverty in Africa.
I knew a trio of cheerleaders back in Canada who could also fit the mold of the students in Africa. And they were all white upper-middle class.
But I think we kinda of actually agree here.  |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| khyber wrote: |
| I wonder what rates of infidelity are like in the Muslim world? |
Depends on how many women are prepared to risk being stoned to death. |
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Vicissitude
Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Chef School
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
| khyber wrote: |
| I wonder what rates of infidelity are like in the Muslim world? |
Depends on how many women are prepared to risk being stoned to death. |
I can't say much for the women, but I know very well that Muslim men oftentimes come to S.E. Asia and Bahrain in order to frequent various prostitutes. This is not a secret among those of Islam, nor is it condoned. Most clerics at mosque speak out against this, so it's all hush hush. |
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