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L4mppu

* Scandinavia is huge when compared to it's population.

* We (everyone in this planet) could live without armies.

* Universal healthcare and school system wouldn't work because corporations don't want it.

* US is corrupted.

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Points 2 and 4 are frankly just wrong. I know the idea of a peace loving utopia is a fun one, but claiming that there is no need for a military and just out of hand dismissing the US as "corrupt" without any quantifiable evidence is frankly just lazy and ignorant.

I think that if every NATO country reduced their army by half, no one would really notice, even in the long run.

I'd say that in a pure numbers game. i.e. 1 mil to 500k troops you may be right. The military as an idea is undergoing a dramatic transformation that's been happening since the dawn of the nuclear weapon. The challenges we face now are quite different than the ones we faced throughout any other time in history. We need to look at the military like a startup of sorts. How do we tear down the big bloated corporate structure and enable to act quickly and derisively in a global battlefield where a small group of determined individuals has the ability to inflict the same amount of damage that used to take tanks and a large standing force. I don't know the answers to these questions, but I do think it's important that we acknowledge that the danger has changed not simply gone away.

Although according to Transparency International[1] US isn't any more corrupt than an average European country and does damn well compared to the southern countries, although tailing nordic countries quite a bit. Still, doing very good in comparison to the rest of the world.

Of course, there can never be too little corruption in a country, so everyone has room for improvement on that part. Even us nordics.

[1]: http://transparency.org/cpi2012/results

Corrupted in sense of companies ruling it. Most of those countries that are red are military controlled.

In 2009, 16% of Finland's exports were from Nokia, and they employed a good percentage of the population of the entire country. Would you say Finland is corrupt? Or do you think you are simply biased against the US?

But how much did they pay for politicians? Do you know how bad light they get if they take any money? Do you know how much corporations on US pay for politicians so they only do good things for them?

Provide evidence. I hate hearing this claim without any quantifiable proof being provided at all.

That is because the definition of corruption is corrupted by the corrupt!!!

A lot of people see all that lobbying as corruption. But it will never ever figure in statistics for corruption.

Where would you draw the line between "lobbying" and "talking to relevant parties to gather input on new legislation"?

What do you think "lobbying" is?

I think that the difference between talking and paying is quite clear.

I'd like to see a European country openly invade Middle East ignoring the UN Charter and get away with it.

I'd also like to see a European country poison the markets with loads of toxic assets causing massive turmoil around the world and, again, get away with it (with a hefty bonus).

The kind of changes we see in social-oriented countries today are forced upon by American neoliberals who wish to expand their influence. They operate in the name of capital, not people.

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