read it below.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053088/-An-open-letter-to-the-people-who-h**e-Obama-more-than-they-love-America?detail=emailclassic&link_id=10&can_id=61feb3a670c1c1875bb7007aef53280d&source=email-donald-trump-gets-into-twitter-war-with-modern-family-writeris-obliterated-2&email_referrer=donald-trump-gets-into-twitter-war-with-modern-family-writeris-obliterated-2___197747&email_subject=an-open-letter-to-the-people-who-h**e-obama-more-than-they-love-america

It is impossible to try and compare Scandinavian countries to the U.S. For one, they are all small and homogenous. Also, to be more accurate they are socialistic versus socialist, because all maintain private ownership of productive assets.

They all have high income tax rates, around 50-60% today, to promote massive social spending, but they aren't truly socialist. They do spend money on defense, but it's minimal at best (Norway is the biggest spender at 6 bil/yr, with Denmark and Finland spending tip money! The recent upswing in Russian aggressiveness has woken the Scandis up to the the need for more (finally), but they are starting behind the eight ball. Reasons for their low military spending include just depending on NATO and the U.S. To handle their security needs.

Now, here's a little secret........Scandinavian income taxes raise a lot of revenue because they are actually rather flat as they tax most people at these high rates, not just high-income taxpayers. As an example, the top marginal tax rate of 60 percent in Denmark applies to all income over 1.2 times the average income in Denmark. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $60,000 (1.2 times the average income of about $50,000 in the United States) would be taxed at 60 percent!

Did I mention they are homogenous? Scandinavians follow "the law of Jante," or Janteloven, which they are taught from birth, that they, as individuals, are in no way special, that they are are inferior to society. This is a complete 180 from the U.S. where the right, power, and existence of the individual takes a strong precedent.

Janteloven has 10 commandments:

You’re not to think you are anything special.
You’re not to think you are as good as us.
You’re not to think you are smarter than us.
You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than us.
You’re not to think you know more than us.
You’re not to think you are more important than us.
You’re not to think you are good at anything.
You’re not to laugh at us.
You’re not to think anyone cares about you.
You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Can you imagine even thinking U.S. parents would/could EVER raise their little darlings like

Well - you may be right, but that does NOT make the comment to which you are referring wrong.

We have a lot of socialistic programs that serve as equalizers and safety nets. Without them we would have people dying in the streets. We would have r*******n and ongoing civil war. In one country I spent time in one of the mottos of the revolutionaries was something like: "I will be strong than you: you with your army and I with my hunger".

Consider: public education, social security, Medicare, laws that require hospitals to provide care for you whether you can pay or not, minimum wage laws, worker protection laws, child labor laws, environmental protection laws, food safety laws, and on and on. Money begets money. Power begets power. And without some brakes on that fact of life the poor and weak get stepped on and will eventually rise up. They generally do not win, but they force change that is so much better to develop peacefully.

Hugo Chavez, whom we all think of as a tyrant, and in some ways he was, used to refer to Socialism as being "Christianity in Action" - taking care of the poor. Providing health care, food, and education to those in need. Even China, Vietnam, and Cuba have adapted to the inherent failings of c*******m (people willing to work hard need incentive to do so or at least should not be actively discouraged from doing so!) and have allowed some aspects of capitalism to sneak in. A stable society needs some aspects of both. The "happiest" societies when surveyed are the Scandinavian countries who have a Democratic Socialist form of government. Of course, they also do not spend all their money on war.