[angularly]

I agree, thinking the politicians can handle anything is naive. Politicians seldom make the situation better, mostly they make it worse while enriching themselves.

Socialism don't work in the Nordic countries either. In Denmark where I am from we were in the top 5 richest countries only 60 years ago, before we introduced the Welfare State. Back then we actually had lower taxes than in the US.

Since then we have been sliding fast down that list, so we are today around 20th place. We now have an absurd situation where a small minority of ~33% in the private sector has to pay for ~66% of people on welfare or working in the public sector. And we are past the point of no return, we can not make any reforms to cut the public sector or welfare, because the majority is obviously against.

A high earner often pays 80% counting both taxes and levies/duties. It has killed almost all initiative in Denmark. People prefer time off instead of working extra hours, we are one of the countries with the lowest amount of entrepreneurs percent wise, like in France young people and entrepreneurs are fleeing the country in hordes.

I myself moved to Switzerland to start my startup.

[dikdik]

We're on a website called "Hacker News." We have the ability to make innumerable improvements to the way governments work. There is no reason to pick 1, 2, or 3. We can have anything in between. We can make something new, we can figure shit out. Not that it'll be easy, but we can...and we should.

All I'm reading in this thread is:" ______ system of government isn't perfect, so our only option is to keep doing what we have been doing even though we know it sucks."

[wstrange]

Interesting that the OECD ranks Denmark quite well: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/denmark/

But they specifically call out inequality as an issue:

"..there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest – the top 20% of the population earn close to four times as much as the bottom 20%"

[douche]

60 years ago, Denmark was one of the few industrialized countries other than the United States which was not extremely devastated and still in the rebuilding process after WW2...

[adamlett]

I'm also from Denmark, and I find it hilarious that you think it's a problem that people prioritise free time. Do you think that all a society should aspire towards is to have people working as hard as they possibly can? To what end? So that a few people can get so rich that they (and their heirs) don't have to work hard while the rest of us do? Isn't it a testament to the success of the nordic model that most people, not just the elite few, can afford to prioritise leisure?

Your statement about how 66% of the population is payed for by the private sector is not only not right, it's not even wrong. It assumes that the public sector does not create any wealth at all. But obviously it does. And all the money that is spent in the public sector, eventually ends up in the pockets of private citizens or companies in the private sector. The public sector is as much a boon to the private sector as it is a burden.