Brad Delong's "Grasping Reality with Both Hands" weblog Upward Mobility: Reality and Illusion, has a link to Ezra Klein's blog take on Russell Shorto's discussion of the Netherlands, in Going Dutch (NY Times Magazine, Apr. 29, 2009).
You see, in the Netherlands, there is a fairly high (roughly 52% all in) tax rate. But there are also quite a few things that make life better for all, from prenatal to child care, from education to health care that is as good as in the US and available to all at a very modest cost compared to the US. Shorto sees all that, but suggests that the Dutch are nonetheless a bit bland for American taste--missing out on the juicy incentive to be the best that makes that individualistic streak correlate with upward mobility.
Klein, however, is having none of that last bit. You see, when there is a fairly good amount of opportunity for people to move out of the bottom economic class and up into a better life--health care, education, and such being well funded by those tax dollars--you don't have to be wealthy to get along. We Americans pride ourselves in having upward mobility, but we don't actually have as much as they've got. Klein offers this false pride as the likely reason that Americans are so easily fooled by suggestions about what tax laws would be good for us. We don't understand how bad things are, so we don't see the need for the laws we need to make them better. Makes sense.
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