excellent piece from the WAPO on Bernie, AOC, socialism, and Scandinavia. (Sanders, economic)

[travis t]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.8f50e0ad3e81

This is an excellent, brief article from yesterday regarding Bernie, AOC and the nature of socialism. True socialism can be defined as 'government ownership of the means of production.' AOC's 'Democratic Socialists of America' (DSA) are adherents of this model. Bernie's history suggests that he is too.

But this is the model followed by Venezuela, Cuba, etc., not by the Scandinavian nations that Bernie and AOC like to cite.

“I think that countries like Denmark and Sweden do very well,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told an Iowa audience in April. “My policies most closely resemble what we see in the U.K., in Norway, in Finland, in Sweden,”

But a new report says otherwise:

Drawing on data from the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and other reputable sources, the report shows that [the Nordics]— protect property rights somewhat more aggressively than the United States, on average; exercise less control over private enterprise; permit greater concentration in the banking sector; and distribute a smaller share of their total income to workers.

The article is very worth reading for those who wish clarity on the difference between the vision of Bernie/AOC, and the Scandinavian economic systems. The latter are more properly termed 'social democracies,' or as a CD poster aptly put it, 'capitalism plus.' They are indeed capitalist, NOT socialist.

[Clarallel]

Thanks, Travis. I'll print it out to read later. I'm pleased that Bernie is managing to take the curse out of the word "socialism."

I wonder if they mention that the Scandinavian countries have a very high ranking for happiness, higher than the U.S., and I believe a higher ranking for health, too.