America r0xx0rs! Europe suxx0rs!

The Wall Street Journal's Opnion Journal has an interesting article on income in the U.S. vs Europe.. Some of the interesting conclusions of the Swedish study are that 25% of Americans are considered low income, while applying that same standard to the Swedish (well known for their heavily socialistic government, as well as their fine meatballs) would have 40% as low income. Americans can also buy more stuff, having a "standard of living which the majority of Euopeans can never come near."

The study also notes that it measures GDP, which doesn't count "output in the black economy, which is significant in Europe's high-tax states." Interesting... didn't the USSR have the same black-market problem? This to me illustrates the fallacies of high taxes - sure, you might get a larger %, but it's a larger percent of a smaller chunk. There is, after all, some wisdom to the Laffer curve and trickle-down.