Sweden and United States: Equal welfare?

On the Freakonomics blog over at The New York Times we are told that, all things considered, the United States and the Nordic countries spend about the same on social welfare services. According to Price Fishback, an economics professor, the Nordic system of redistributing the wealth is so inefficient that it seems more generous when in fact it's just more obtrusive. When you consider that Nordic welfare recipients pay more in taxes (including that regressive 25% VAT) and live in a higher cost environment, they're supposedly no better off than the poor in Detroit. One problem with the analysis is that so many poor Americans fall through the net completely and don't get what the statistics suggest.