TEA: Stats tell different story

The TEA Partiers (Taxed Enough Already) have nothing to complain about.

At 48.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product, the Danes pay the highest taxes in the world. The Economist regularly ranks Denmark as the most business friendly country in the world.

Sweden's top income tax rate is 60 percent. In 2009, taxes took 46.4 percent of the Swedish GDP as opposed to 24 percent in the U.S.

According to the World Economic Forum rankings for 2010-11, Sweden is in second place for economic competitiveness while the U.S. stands in fourth place. The Danes come in ninth.

At 7.3 percent, Sweden currently has the largest increase in GDP growth in Europe and the second lowest budget deficit of .8 percent. Comparable U.S. figures are 2.8 percent growth and an 8.8 percent budget deficit.

Americans who refuse to be levied for investment in human capital and physical infrastructure will assure their country's decline in the 21st Century. American health care is so poor that it ranks last among 19 advanced countries for preventable deaths.

This statistic gives new meaning to Patrick Henry's demand, "Give me liberty or give me death." Is maximum personal liberty, regardless of the consequences, really what most people want?

NICK GIER

Moscow