Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
Anyway, just a curious question here... But how do you feel about your taxation? And do you feel it's justified by the benefits you receive? And finally, do you feel that there is any danger of [physically] able workers placing exceedingly less emphasis on having jobs when government support will virtually guarantee their stay?
|
Yes, I'm definetly happy and I've been very much on the recieving end of government funding my whole life. Much of my free education has been government sponsored beyond the fact it's free for example by including cruises up in the arctic to the north pole ice for a value of hundreds of thousands of NOKs - a lot of money. When I was a teenager, I worked and helped run a cafè which was basically run by teenagers and young adults in a government building, the old post office in the town I'm from. We didn't pay rent for it, it was borrowed to us for free and the office of culture actually gave us money, a rough equivalent to 2000 USD one year to spend on arranging concerts. The idea from their point of view was of course to get more gigs for local bands.
Next year, I might study pedagogy for a year so I can get work as a teacher as something to fall back on if I can't get work as a biologist. The government wants more teachers, so if I pass all my exams that year, that means I'll
get taxfree about 15000 USD to see me through that year. Since me and my GF are already living in student housing, rent is relatively cheap compared to living elsewhere, so that means I can get by on government funding without having to get a job .. which is basically what I'm doing now as well.
I've also recieved a lot of free health care which includes simple surgery and a number of other little things. When I was a kid, my mother got paid time off work to take care of us for example.
To americans, I bet I sound like quite the freeloader
The way I feel is that the taxes I'll be paying when I'm hopefully working as a biologist will give back what the government has already given me. Once I've payed back what I owe society, and that might take a while, I'll gladly pay my taxes so that my kids and other people as well can live in the kind of society I grew up in. My father who's been working most his life and has paid back many times over in taxes what the government has spent on him feels the same way.
In a functioning socialist country, the government is a benefactor. Here, it helps people get the education they want, give them free medical care under pregnancy, lots of time off to young parents to take care of kids, make sure there are activities to partake in. Basically, it nurtures the people in the society. I think in return, people want to nurture society too. People here seldom complain about the high taxes.
You'd think we got a lot of freeloaders, but the relative unemployment rate in the US is actually 3 times higher than in Norway, from a little over 3% here to just under 10% in the US this year.
This is not the source for that statement, but it shows a simple map which shows unemployment in countries. We're doing rather well in comparison to a lot of countries it seems.
I think to americans, socialism and it's benefits are not really appearant. I believe most don't
really know what they are. If you read my post, you might read about something which seems unfamiliar. You've never really had socialism. Your government hasn't been a benefactor who gives you a top education for free or free health care. If it was possible to make a sudden shift to socialism, that would make some people net losers because they would not have recieved much in the past and are suddenly forced to give. Years after the shift, ideally, everyone would be benefactors.
Norway is a good country for socialism because we have money, but a lot of those oil cash are actually
tucked away for the rainy days when our oil is gone and we may not have other natural resources to sell. People were happy before we got this wealthy and I think it's possible for the US as well. It's just that it requires a total change in perception of what the government is and should be, something that would probably take a while.