I became much more progressive after living in a “blue state” for much of my adult life. It’s hard to miss that the most successful economies in the us are also the ones who pay most attention to quality of life. We can look at the contrast in our neighboring states, and see the advantages brought by near universal healthcare, investments in an excellent education system, care about the environment, higher minimum wage, support for unions, and so much more

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If you're referring to Nordic Social Democracies, they fund their safety nets via Imperialism, they can't exist without impoverishing and exploiting the Global South. It's the epitome of the Labor Aristocracy.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

No, sorry,I was being us-centric - it seemed like that’s where the thread was.

As one very specific example, when COViD funding for school lunches ended, some us states decided to no longer provide free school lunches. Massachusetts passed a “millionaire tax” and funded free school lunches out of that

As a slightly older example, Massachusetts passed effectively universal healthcare coverage, signed into law by governor Mitt Romney, and later served as the model for the Affordable Care Act

Looking at school system ratings by us state, I see what looks like a strong correlation between excellent schools and a stronger economy.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago

It's the same issue as the Nordics, the US is a de-industrialized nation that makes the bulk of its profits off of Imperialism.