A UBI would kill the military

That the Anglo-American countries do less well on many of these welfare state measures than their European counterparts, with the United States standing out as the extreme outlier, is well-known. But Kenworthy persuasively argues that there are no plausible reasons, of either economic necessity or existing institutional design, that would prevent any country – including the United States – from eventually getting to the same place as Scandinavian social democracies. What blocks such a development 13 628 Theory and Society (2023) 52:625–639 is politics, not economic or fnancial necessity. But even here, Kenworthy is optimistic in a novel way. In the second half of the book, focused on the United States, Kenworthy estimates that devoting an additional 10% of GDP to social programs would be required to bring the U.S. up to Scandinavian levels. The vast increase in income security this would provide could be funded, as all European countries do, with a range of taxes including a value-added tax on consumption and other under-taxed forms of income and wealth (and perhaps, he might have added, a signifcant reduction in the exceptionally high levels of military and counterintelligence expenditures unique to the U.S., which spends 2–3 times as much of its GDP on the military as any European country). Middle class households would pay more in taxes than they do at present – Kenworthy correctly notes the unpleasant fact that although it is very popular right now, new taxes on the rich will not generate nearly enough revenue – but they would also receive far more security and roads to opportunity for themselves and their children then they presently do (as Democratic Party politicians continually struggle to convince voters).