Sweden

Bernie Sanders often talks about the utopian life in Sweden where health care is free, college tuition is free and childcare beginning at age 3 is free. The question is, who pays and the answer is everyone. Swedes who earn a salary on par with the average municipal worker contribute the equivalent of 70 percent of their monthly salaries in taxes, a new study has found. This means that if you earn $50,000 per year your take home pay is $15,000. Swedes have decided that the government knows how to spend their money better than they do and in many cases that may be true but do Americans what to give up that right. Here, if you want to go without healthcare and buy a Cadillac you can do that. It may be foolish but you have the right to make personal decisions. People like Sanders believe that the average person cannot care for themselves and they need the government to take care of them. Whether this pays off is challenged by the fact that the average Swedish student graduates with more debt than an American student. This is because other expenses like food, rent and transportation are so much more costly.