(Dismantling Scandinavian Socialism?) Key parties will press for new social welfare changes

"Lars Barfoed, a leading Conservative MP, said: 'We either need to come up with another welfare reform in the coming term, or we need to adjust the old one.'

Negotiations leading to the 2006 reform were accompanied by a number of popular demonstrations protesting the changes. With those scenes in mind, parliament's two largest parties, the Liberals and the Social Democrats, appeared unwilling to re-open a discussion about further reform."

- Today, Scandinavia is Socialist. Socialist and rich!

That didn't sound too good.

Let's try again.

Today, The Nordic countries probably have more successful companies per capita than any other part of the world.

Work ethics, educational levels, technological know-how, international and competetiveness is at an amazing level.

Scandinavian GDP/capita dwarfs every other part of the world (unless you reckognize places like Manhattan, Inner London and Lichtenstein as being 'parts of the world')

Today, Nordic corporate taxes are at a very attractive level, venture capital flock to Scandinavia and even Scandinavian unions agree that work itself is a rewarding and benign aspect of being employed.

Greater Stockholm + Greater Helsinki, apart from being one of the richest corners of the world, rivals the American West Coast in being the ICT Capital of the World (the main issue here; the only corporate alliance strong enough to shape the basics of our common digital future is that of Ericsson, Microsoft and Sony) and the country you're most likely to end up a millionaire in is Norway (more dollar millionaires/capita than any other economy).

I didn't mention Iceland above, but check out any statistics and you'll find out the most Viking nation isn't exactly lagging behind their Nordic brothers in terms of wealth, entrepreneurship and productivity.

But, have the Scandinavian countries departed from the once so (in)famous Socialist route?

Yes, to some extent. By and by, the Scandinavians have become aware that Capitalism is a good thing.

No, some would say. The inhabitants of ol' Thule still belive in Egalitarianism and in 'leaving no one behind'. This is one of the explanations to why the majority agree to pay high taxes (not on income, but on purchases, through high sales taxes).

In terms of national concepts for achieving broad scale high standards of living, the US and the Scandinavian countries are some of the best examples in world history.

They are different examples, but this circumstance alone is one of many reasons why I think they both are interesting and ought to be studied. We all want to get rich, don't we.

I'm not saying the US should become like Scandinavia or vice versa. The bottom line here is that there might be a point in sticking to national traditions like Nordic Egalitarianism as well as American Individualism, as long as it doesn't hurt Capitalist enterprise. In Scandinavia, Egalitarianism seems to work. In the US it probably wouldn't. Both systems, evidently, promote steady, long term economic growth and yearly Capitalist success stories and that is worthy of some attention.

“The Scandinavian nations may be slowly going in a new direction.”

- I would say so myself. I believe Scandinavia will try and maintain its cradle-to-the-grave welfare system while simultaneously trying even harder to gain access to the lucrative cash flows of the world economy.

Some would say this policy at best represents the last breath of Socialism.

In return, Scandinavians might ask why the ‘leading’ Capitalist nations of the world are taxing their companies to death.

To begin with, Welcome back whenever you feel like it!

I haven’t been to North Carolina, but I’ve visited Florida once (sadly enough, that’s the only part of the US I’ve been to) which is somewhat close from a geographical point of view and perhaps, to a certain extent, similar to Florida from a cultural perspective, or?

I could be wrong in assuming this. I’m well aware every state has an identity of their own that they, rightfully, are proud of.

Anyhow, I had a great time in fla and USA will, forever, have a special place in my heart. For many reasons.

Greetings from Göteborg/Gothenburg

“I’m not saying the US should become like Scandinavia or vice versa. The bottom line here is that there might be a point in sticking to national traditions like Nordic Egalitarianism as well as American Individualism, as long as it doesn’t hurt Capitalist enterprise. In Scandinavia, Egalitarianism seems to work. In the US it probably wouldn’t. Both systems, evidently, promote steady, long term economic growth and yearly Capitalist success stories and that is worthy of some attention.”

Hmmm... I recall a study a couple of years ago that said that the average Swede’s standard of living was not equal to the average black person in America. I love to see the Scandinavian countries return to Capitalism, but I think we will see a large decline as the Islamisist invade under cover of political correctness. They have no desire to retain scandinavian egalitarianism.

“I recall a study a couple of years ago that said that the average Swede’s standard of living was not equal to the average black person in America.”

- I’m not saying that the US is a poor country, but that study didn’t employ adequate statistical methods. It focused solely on median Swedish WAGES versus median US HOUSEHOLD income (which often include the incomes of TWO persons). Secondly, it neglected the fact that the US has much more of really poor people than the US. However, the most important thing here is that it relied on statistic material from a time when the US dollar was worth around 10-11 Swedish crowns (SEK). Today it’s worth about 6, 40 Swedish crowns.

Personally, I think comparing incomes, wages and things like GDP per capita doesn’t reveal much about standards of living. It’s better to ask questions like “What does a typical Swedish/American house look like?”, “What kind of car does the typical Swede/American drive?”, “How much of computers/flatscreen TVs/leisure boats” and other fairly expensive consumer goods does the typical Swede/American own? and so on.

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