Ever Wonder WHY Liberals Never Bring Up SWEDEN Any More?....

Remember when American Liberals could reliably be counted on to point to Sweden as “proof” that “democratic socialism CAN work”?

No more. It’s as though Sweden has fallen off the world’s map, lately.

Wonder why?

Well, the primary reason is that Sweden’s been running away from the Keynesian policies America’s Liberals have been embracing for over a decade now!

Sweden is a powerful example of the importance of public policy. The Nordic nation became rich between 1870 and 1970 when government was very small, but then began to stagnate as welfare state policies were implemented in the 1970s and 1980s. The Center for Freedom & Prosperity (CF&P) Foundation video explains that Sweden is now shifting back to economic freedom in hopes of undoing the damage caused by an excessive welfare state.

March 8, 2010) 5:17 minutes at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENDE8ve35f0

At Yahoo: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7112999/18512837

At Capitol Hub: http://capitolhub.com/video/9250/economics-101-learning-sweden%E2%80%9 9s-free-market-renaissance

Stefan Karlsson chronicled the economic history of Sweden back in 2006 in an excellent article. In that work Karlsson wrote the following:

"As a result of its free market policies, the resourcefulness of its people, and its successful avoidance of war, Sweden had the highest per-capita income growth in the world between 1870 and 1950, by which time Sweden had become one of the world's richest countries."

Karlsson also noted that, “there's a common misperception that the Scandinavian countries are borderline Cuban in terms of economic freedom, while the rest of the developed world (particularly the United States) is far more free-market oriented. However, the reality is that the Scandinavian countries are among the top 10 and 20 "most liberalized" economies in the world, even despite their massive welfare states.”

PLEASE, check out the following videos for some truth about Sweden;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENDE8ve35f0

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7112999/18512837

http://capitolhub.com/video/9250/economics-101-learning-sweden%E2%80%9 9s-free-market-renaissance

Comparing Sweden to the U.S. is Really No Different Then Comparing Wyoming to Detroit...

A common mantra among Liberal Americans has always been that “the Scandinavian nations are demonstrably better places to live than the U.S. because they are more socialistic.”

There are two major flaws with that reasoning. The basic difference between “socialism” and “capitalism” is that, while the former is predicated upon the abolition of private property (ALL property, businesses and industries) are owned by the state, the latter is predicated on private ownership of property.

And while detractors of market-based economies deride the “wide disparities in wealth and income” endemic to those economies AND the fact that “there can never be anything approaching any real economic equality so long as private property rights are respected,” it’s socialism that has ALWAYS failed and ALWAYS delivered far poorer economic results. In short, despite its flaws, market-based economies consistently deliver MORE prosperity to MORE people.

There are two majors flaws with the invidious “Sweden vs America” comparison. The FIRST is that the U.S. is NOT a “free market economy.” It hasn’t been since around 1912. Since that period, J P Morgan and Bernard Baruch moved the U.S. FROM its free market roots TO the regulated market it has had ever since.
Today, there are no “free market” (completely unregulated market economies) in the world and few truly socialist economies either.

Sweden, like the U.S., France, England, Germany, Japan, is a government REGULATED market-based economy. It respects private ownership of land, businesses, industry, etc. It also has a guaranteed retirement system (like America’s Social Security), a generous welfare system (like America’s) and even a graduated income tax (like the U.S.).

So why do some people erroneously insist on calling Sweden (where 90% of the industrial output is produced by the private sector) a “socialist nation?” Primarily for the same reason they call the U.S. “free market,” that is, because they’re misinformed.

Within the market-based economy there is a scale or continuum. On the right side of that scale, is Supply Side policies that limit regulation, lower tax rates, limit government and “let the market work its magic. On the left side of that market-based continuum is Keynesian policies that ratchet up regulation, raise tax rates and make sure that all aspects of the economy are supervised by a watchful government.

Keynesian policies are NOT “socialist” policies because they DO NOT allow for the abolition of private property, in fact, they are predicated on the viewpoint that “markets work best.”

The problem with Keynesianism is that it places too much faith in governments that are, in fact, even more corruptible than business and industry and that inevitable leads to the kind of economic malaise America had under Carter and Western Europe suffered over the last twenty years.

So, YES, Sweden, Iceland and much of Western Europe (France, Germany, etc.) are indeed MORE Keynesian than the U.S. is, at least right now, they are NOT demonstrably more “socialist” as they not only have a market-based economy (like America’s), they also have the SAME guaranteed retirement system, the SAME generous welfare system and the same sort of graduated income tax that the U.S.

So really, comparing Sweden to America is not demonstrably different than comparing Wyoming (above, top) to Detroit (above, bottom). Wyoming has a lower crime rate and a much better quality of life, despite having the same basic economic system as Detroit has.

In fact, that comparison is much more adept.

Sweden HAD a much lower crime rate and a much better standard of living BEFORE it had to deal with an influx of mostly Arabic and Muslim immigrants that have congregated around a few teeming ghettos in that country. Much of Sweden’s low crime rates of the past seem, in retrospect to be due largely to Sweden’s more homogeneous population. Likewise, Wyoming has always enjoyed a lower crime rate, better quality of life and higher standard of living than places like Detroit and probably for many of those same exact reasons, despite having the very SAME economic system as those places.