Posted on 10/18/2015 6:52:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
WHEN BERNIE SANDERS was asked during CNN's Democratic presidential debate how a self-proclaimed socialist could hope to be elected to the White House, he gave the answer he usually gives: Socialism has been wonderful for the countries of Scandinavia, and America should emulate their example.
"We should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people," Sanders said. When the moderator turned to Hillary Clinton, she agreed that America has to "save capitalism from itself" and that, yes, Scandinavia is great. "I love Denmark," declared Clinton. It was the only time in the debate a candidate uttered the verb "love."
Liberals have had a crush on Scandinavia for decades. "It is a country whose very name has become a synonym for a materialist paradise," observed Time magazine in a 1976 story on Sweden. "Its citizens enjoy one of the world's highest living standards. . . . Neither ill-health, unemployment nor old age pose the terror of financial hardship. [Sweden's] cradle-to-grave benefits are unmatched in any other free society outside Scandinavia." In 2010, a National Public Radio story marveled at the way "Denmark Thrives Despite High Taxes." The small Nordic nation, said NPR, "seems to violate the laws of the economic universe," improbably balancing low poverty and unemployment rates with stratospheric taxes that were among the world's highest.
Such paeans may inspire Clinton's love and Sanders's faith in America's socialist future. As with most urban legends, however, the reality of Scandinavia's welfare-state utopia doesn't match the hype.
To begin with, explains Swedish scholar Nima Sanandaji, the affluence and cultural norms upon which Scandinavia's social-democratic policies rest are not the product of socialism. In Scandinavian Unexceptionalism, a penetrating new book published by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Sanandaji shows that the Nordic nations' prosperity "developed during periods characterized by free-market policies, low or moderate taxes, and limited state involvement in the economy."
For example, Sweden was a poor nation for most of the 19th century (which helps explain the great wave of Swedish emigration to the United States in the 1800s). That began to change as Stockholm, starting around 1870, turned to free-enterprise reforms. Robust capitalism replaced the formerly agrarian system, and Sweden grew rich. "Property rights, free markets, and the rule of law combined with large numbers of well-educated engineers and entrepreneurs," Sanandaji writes. The result was an environment in which Swedes experienced "an unprecedented period of sustained and rapid economic development." In fact, between 1870 and 1936 Sweden had the highest growth rate in the industrialized world.
Scandinavia's hard-left turn didn't come about until much later. It was in the late 1960s and early 1970s that taxes soared, welfare payments expanded, and entrepreneurship was discouraged.
But what emerged wasn't heaven on earth.
That 1976 story in Time, for example, went on to report that Sweden found itself struggling with crime, drug addiction, welfare dependency, and a plague of red tape. Successful Swedes — most famously, Ingmar Bergman — were fleeing the country to avoid its killing taxes. "Growing numbers are plagued by a persistent, gnawing question: Is their Utopia going sour?"
Sweden's world-beating growth rate dried up. In 1975, it had been the 4th-wealthiest nation on earth (as measured by GDP per capita); by 1993, it had dropped to 14th. By then, Swedes had begun to regard their experiment with socialism as, in Sanandaji's phrase, "a colossal failure."
Denmark has come to a similar conclusion. Its lavish subsidies are being rolled back amid sharp concerns about welfare abuse and an eroding work ethic. In the last general election, Danes replaced a left-leaning government with one tilted to the right. Loving Denmark doesn't mean loving big-government welfarism.
The real key to Scandinavia's unique successes isn't socialism, it's culture. Social trust and cohesion, a broad egalitarian ethic, a strong emphasis on work and responsibility, commitment to the rule of law — these are healthy attributes of a Nordic culture that was ingrained over centuries. In the region's small and homogeneous countries (overwhelmingly white, Protestant, and native-born), those norms took deep root. The good outcomes and high living standards they produced antedated the socialist nostrums of the 1970s. Scandinavia's quality of life didn't spring from leftist policies. It survived them.
Sanandaji makes the acute observation that when Scandinavian emigrants left for the United States, those cultural attributes went with them and produced the same good effects. Scandinavian-Americans have higher incomes and lower poverty rates than the US average. Indeed, Danish-Americans economically outperform Danes still living in Denmark, as do Swedish-Americans compared with Swedes and Finnish-Americans compared with Finns. Scandinavian culture has been a blessing for native Scandinavians — and even more of one for their cousins across the ocean.
No, Scandinavia doesn't "violate the laws of the economic universe." It confirms them. With free markets and healthy values, almost any society will thrive. All socialism does is make things worse.
Scandinavians-—blond and blue-eyed!
Why Public school systems cannot be run efficiently once they reach a size where the superintendent/his deputy does not know every principal in his schools and they share his views of doing things. Scale.
Manipulism and the Weapon of Guilt: Collectivism Exposed. Link
Scandina finds welfare habit too costly. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-08-30/scandinavia-s-weakest-nation-finding-welfare-habits-unaffordable
Any country where people pay 25% sales tax, $5 per gallon gasoline tax, $20 per pack cigarette tax, and a whole bunch of other outrageous taxes is utopia to a Socialist like Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama.
The Scandinavian countries are nearly the same as the rest of Socialist Europe countries with high taxes and huge government bureaucracies to redistribute the wealth.
I do hear some younger folks in the USA who say they want to live in Europe because health care is free. But these same dingbats do not realize free healthcare and a whole bunch of other free stuff is paid by them via huge taxes on everything.
Welcome to Sweden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KSJY0c8QWw
Good old Mises and Hayek — two of my favorite guys, although it’s been so long since I’ve read them that I can’t remember which one made which argument either. The gist of both was similar but they had slightly different angles. There was a great article posted here a few years ago that compared them and IIRC concluded that Mises’s argument was a little stronger, although I can’t remember why.
If Sweden Left The EU and Joined the US, It Would Be the Poorest U.S. State, Below Even Mississippi
“Swede and Sour,” by Swedish author and blogger Johan Norberg, here are some excerpts:
If Sweden left the EU and joined the U.S. we would be the poorest state of America. Using fixed prices and purchasing power parity adjusted data, the median household income in Sweden in the late 1990s was the equivalent of $26,800 compared with a median of $39,400 for U.S. households - before taxes. And then we should remember that Sweden has the world´s highest taxes.
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/11/sweden-mississippi-if-sweden-joined-us.html
But these same dingbats do not realize free healthcare and a whole bunch of other free stuff is paid by them via huge taxes on everything................................................ My cousins think its great, sure the money goes out but after it goes out they still have enough for themselves to spend on what they need. ??? I don’t know why they like it, but they do feel secure with it. When you only have a population of 6 million I guess its easier to work with?
Bernie is woefully behind the times. Socialist utopia Sweden, for instance, is beset with problems stemming from its socialism attracting Muzz immigrants, resulting in burgeoning welfare, burgeoning rape,burgeoning debt, and burgeoning who knows what else.
Actually in Norway the sales tax is 28% but 15% for food. Norway is the 4th largest exporter of oil in the world but we pay $8-10 a gallon.
RE: If Sweden Left The EU and Joined the US, It Would Be the Poorest U.S. State, Below Even Mississippi
SOURCE: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/28000.html
Mississipi Demographics:
White alone, percent, 2014 (a) 59.7%
Black or African American alone, percent, 2014 (a) 37.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, 2014 (a) 0.6% 1.2%
Asian alone, percent definition and source info Asian alone, percent, 2014 (a) 1.0%
Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2014 (b) 3.0%
__________________________________________
Sweden on the other hand is over 90% native Swede. The population is CULTURALLY HOMOGENOEUS ( so far, but it’s changing with immigration ).
http://www.clrsearch.com/Sweden-Demographics/ME/Population-by-Race-and-Ethnicity
There are many questions to ask regarding Mississippi vs Sweden. First — what would the former be like if the population were over 90% white like Sweden?
That’s not a PC question, so it’s not supposed to be asked.
Excellent observation!
The five countries commonly considered "Scandinavia" had a total population of 15 million in 2012.
Viewed as a State in the U.S. it would be collectively ranked as #5!
Bernie has a pair of distorting socialist utopia glasses, and evidently total ignorance about the world and the social dynamics of national identity and politics.
Until recently, every one of those countries had homogeneous populations and, most importantly each are autonomous (unlike the U.S. States which have all been hijacked, held prisoner, and robbed blind by an overreaching central government and its colossal corrupt bureaucracy.)
Any comparison of the U.S. with Scandinavia is an exercise in gross ignorance. Not a good quality in a presidential aspirant.
Nokia?
First successful canard jet fighter?
Nokia is HQ’d in Finland
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