And did you know there are actually more billionaires-per-capita in Sweden than in the USA [1]? Norway as well. So it's actually possible to have both an amazing welfare system and loads of billionaires at the same time.
So again, each time you hear "high taxes and social welfare are bad because they hurt business" - its BS.
Tax is a country subscription fee. It can be high and worth it if the value provided is high (good work ethics and social trust, educated and healthy workforce, good infrastructure, clear law and business regulations).
Actually, the 5 Nordic countries are identical to the top 5 countries for social mobility in the World Economic Forum's Global Social Mobility Index [1].
I call bullshit on this one. I know and have seen many people become successful in Sweden growing out of lower/middle-class. It's much easier to do it when you have free access to quality education, regardless to your current social standing, where people have safety nets so they are able to take risks instead of having to cling to their job that also provides their health insurance.
The US seems to suffer of some kind of fetishisation of suffering, where you see those heart warming stories that look great on the surface (poor kids getting scholarships because of some sport, single parents making their way out of poverty juggling 2 jobs and getting an education and so on) but that shouldn't ever be a great story for the richest society in history...
Social mobility in the US is a fight against odds, not a possibility, people still have some social mobility DESPITE American society policies, not because of them.
Imagine how many people in the US could be contributing with an idea to a great product/company if they knew they could run out of their savings and still not be homeless, without health insurance and not starving? If the US allowed normal people to take risks when they see opportunities it'd be an even richer society, not even accounting for the overall happinness, lowest levels of stress and all of the ill side-effects of the current state of American society.
(US 6th, UK 8th, Sweden 10th... and Denmark 4th)
So again, each time you hear "high taxes and social welfare are bad because they hurt business" - its BS. Tax is a country subscription fee. It can be high and worth it if the value provided is high (good work ethics and social trust, educated and healthy workforce, good infrastructure, clear law and business regulations).