Thanks, John.

I'm going to take you at your word and assume that it is quite possible for a nation to have billionaires AND have a deep social safety net. If we had a deeper social safety net her in the U.S., I'd complain a lot less about our extreme wealth gap. My best guess is that the U.S. is a little more religious than Finland when it comes to practicing religion in daily life. Pew, for example, has data on this:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/least-religious-countries

Gallup probably has data on this, too, but I couldn't find such data quickly.

At any rate, I don't see being religious as incompatible with supporting a government that is committed to reducing poverty. I hope we agree that most world religions teach compassion and empathy for the poor. I'm not saying we disagree,. I'm just trying to see how you are connecting religiosity and social safety nets.

I also hope it is possible to adopt more progressive policies here -- even though it will surely be a huge political challenge.

Thanks!

BP