Sorry Wee Wee, but A) it's Newsweek and B) the chart is wrong. The US is the best country in the world, end of statement.Originally Posted by Wei Wu Wei
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09-20-2010, 07:14 PM
Sorry Wee Wee, but A) it's Newsweek and B) the chart is wrong. The US is the best country in the world, end of statement.
09-20-2010, 07:53 PM
Literacy alone is overrated. You've been typing here for months and said nothing of substance.
09-20-2010, 07:58 PM
What's "best" is subjective, of course.
It's difficult to compare an ethnically/racially multicultural nation of 300 million with a racially and culturally homogeneous nation of less than 6 million.
If you just look at college-educated Swedish Americans in the U.S. (a population much closer to the Finnish population in demographics), you will find that they, too, have a 100% literacy rate, great financial stability, a solid middle-class economic position, and access to excellent health care. They also have comparable longevity, maternal death, and infant mortality rates. Not to mention a higher rate of marriage and a lower divorce rate than Finns.
What have we learned about the U.S.? Not much. What have learned about Finland? Not much.
09-20-2010, 09:51 PM
Finland Income Tax Rate 51.5%
Finland Corporate Tax Rate 26%
Finland Sales Tax / VAT Rate 22%
Hmmm, you have a point WeeWee...very low corporate tax rate, so business friendly, and they use tax dollars to support the church. I have to agree, Finland is impressive! :D
09-20-2010, 10:08 PM
Answer me this: If Finland is so great, why don't they have people coming from all around the world to live there?
09-20-2010, 10:12 PM
What makes you think they don't?
09-20-2010, 10:45 PM
They don't. Finland takes the smallest number of "asylum seekers" possible and most of those move to Sweden or Norway at the first opportunity. The Finns (like most Scandinavian countries) have done virtually nothing to integrate non-Scandis into their society and their society is much less friendly to non-Western, non-secular cultures.
These people spend roughly 50 hours "working" a week and the rest getting drunk in naked saunas. How inclusive is that? Seriously, that's a pretty accurate picture of Finnish life for the under 50 crowd. They also feel very possessive about language since theirs is not Scandinavian and they like it that way. No hot and cold running translators for you!
09-20-2010, 10:49 PM
This wasn't my experience at all. As far as I know, all of Scandinavia has a ton of Asylum seekers. They take in numerically less than the USA sure, but in terms of % of existing population it seems like a lot (at least, to me). No, they don't integrate... which means infinite public welfare. For some cultures, this is the height of good living - don't have to work, everything provided for you.
09-21-2010, 09:33 AM
Because it's too damn cold?
09-21-2010, 09:44 AM
More tax revenue for the socialist utopia of Finland
Government to implement planned tax on sweets, ice cream and soft drinks
Biscuits, buns, and pastries are to be exempt from taxation
On Thursday, the government decided in its general session that a tax is to be levied on candies and similar sweets, chocolate, cocoa products, ice cream, and popsicles or ice lollies.
Initially the tax on sweets was supposed to be the equivalent of almost one euro per kilogram, but now the tax has been set at 75 cents a kilo.
The tax on sweets was last in force in 1999. At that time (still in the markka era) the tax was the equivalent of EUR 0.58/kg of sweets.
The planned tax will increase the prices of sweets by some 1 to 15 per cent, while the price of ice cream could rise even more than that. The tax is to come into force from the beginning of next year.
Biscuits and sweet buns and pastries will be exempt from taxation.
At the same time, the excise tax imposed on soft drinks will be increased from 4.5 cents to 7.5 cents per litre. In addition to juices, lemonades, and mineral waters, the tax will be extended to natural mineral waters and milk coffee drinks as well.
The tax increase in this case will raise the prices of soft drinks by about 0.5 to 5.0 per cent.
A group of special diet products, including nutrient fluids used in hospitals, infant formulas, certain weight loss products, and withdrawal products will all be exempt from taxation.
The aim is to increase the revenues from taxes, particularly in order to cover the gap caused by the abolition of the employer contributions to the basic pension insurance scheme. The planned increase in energy taxes is attributable to the same reason.
The higher taxes on sweets, ice cream, and soft drinks are estimated to bring additional revenues of about EUR 135 million into the state coffers every year.
The government decided to restore the tax on sweets and to increase the tax on soft drinks already in its budgetary talks in the summer of 2009, after which officials started to prepare the details of the planned taxes.
On Thursday, the government made an official decision on the issue in its general session.
Whole story here
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