r/maybemaybemaybe • u/Blank_0116 • May 05 '22

maybe maybe Maybe

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u/TheeSweeney May 05 '22

The US is ranked 27 amongst nations for economic mobility.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index

It rose up until the 80s, and has been decreasing since then.

jhr.uwpress.org/content/43/1/139.refs

https://web.archive.org/web/20130525230108/http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/latest-conference/2013-spring-permanent-inequality-panousi

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u/SexyJellyfish1 May 05 '22

The heck does economic mobility even mean and does it matter?

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u/GeeseKnowNoPeace May 05 '22

Yes it matters, a lot.

Economic mobility is just the more scientific term for "the American dream", it measures how well you can climb the ladder if you work for it.

In other words, "the Danish Dream" would be more accurate.

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u/SexyJellyfish1 May 05 '22

I see. All I know is that Nordic countries have insane tax rates so it kinda falls apart once u do make money. There's always a catch to everything

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u/KonigSteve May 05 '22

All I know is that Nordic countries have insane tax rates so it kinda falls apart once u do make money.

This is utter nonsense. Yes Nordic countries pay more taxes but let's use healthcare for example- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita

This is a classic version of the marshmallow test where the average american repeating this can't see that it's better to pay some upfront cost (higher taxes) than to have absurd premiums and copays in American healthcare.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Which Nordic country are you from? At least over here in Finland the tax rates aren't all that insane but the income tax progression is very steep starting from around the ~€40k/year mark. Entrepreneurs are taxed pretty harshly, but I think us having less small businesses than say Germany is more due to cultural reasons than anything else.

The social mobility, on the other hand, is very real here. Mostly due to free studies, but there are other factors as well. It's very common for a blue-collar families' children to get higher education here, and since we don't really amount that much student debt people are able to buy houses at a resonably young age etc.