[lbo-talk] European Welfare State

[Eric Beck]

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Government social spending as percent of the GDP:
> http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG
>
> Germany 26.7%
> Belgium 26.4%
> France 29.2%
> US 15.9%
> Mexico 7.4%
>
> The US is closer to Mexico (+8.5%) than to Germany (-10.8%).  Need I say more?

Only if you don't think the wage relation is important and that state
redistribution is always neutral. Otherwise, yes you need to say more.