Sweden: - Capitalist Nation ??? (2009, school, taxes)

[bluepacific]

"The Stockholm Syndrome"

Enjoy!!!

Video: The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

Video: The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

Friends have been emailing this to everyone here. Just humorous, that's all.

[Shizzles]

HA, he musta been one happy dude! Anyway, even as a conservative, it was funny .

Edit: Sweden actually is pretty capitalist. They rank higher than the US even in terms of economic freedom.

[Thomas R.]

I'd agree they're fairly capitalist, but I don't know of a ranking that places them higher than the US on economic freedom.

http://www.heritage.org/research/fea...08_execsum.pdf
http://www.freetheworld.com/2008/Eco...eWorld2008.pdf

The Fraser Institute puts Canada ahead of the US and both tend to put New Zealand ahead of us. (Although for 2008 Heritage placed the US above New Zealand) Sweden is usually in the 24th to 33rd place in the two indices. Going by the two indices I guess Israel is the least economically free of developed nations. Or Greece or France depending on standards of what counts as "developed"

[Shizzles]

/\ The austrian school is a better ranking. Both the groups you mentioned are filled w/ neo-conservative BS.

This is the issue I have with this whole debate. Nobody I know who is a conservative says places like Sweden are hellholes, that's only in the warped minds of Bill Mauer and Jon Stewart. The argument is what works there may not necessarily work here. Lemme propose an experiment: Place a white trash trailer park or the city of Detriot into Stockholm and come back in a year to see how "Peaceful and socially enlightend" the place had remained.

[Thomas R.]

I did not know the Austrian school had a ranking. Those were the only ones I found, where would one find their ranking?

[wanneroo]

I don't think Sweden is that free when they take most of your earnings for taxes.

[Hasdrubal]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

I don't think Sweden is that free when they take most of your earnings for taxes.

Swedes don't seem to care as they enjoy some of the highest standards of living

[Shizzles]

/\ But that doesn't necessarily mean it's because nor in spite of socialism.

Correlation does not equal Causation

[DrVanNostrand]

Originally Posted by Shizzles

/\ The austrian school is a better ranking. Both the groups you mentioned are filled w/ neo-conservative BS.

This is the issue I have with this whole debate. Nobody I know who is a conservative says places like Sweden are hellholes, that's only in the warped minds of Bill Mauer and Jon Stewart. The argument is what works there may not necessarily work here. Lemme propose an experiment: Place a white trash trailer park or the city of Detriot into Stockholm and come back in a year to see how "Peaceful and socially enlightend" the place had remained.

When have Bill Mauer or Jon Stewart called places like Sweden "hellholes" or anything remotely similar? It is conservatives who frequently bash the European model, especially those evil Socialist Scandinavian nations. Did you even watch the linked Daily Show segment where O'Reilly, Cavuto, and Beck demonized the place? Do you honestly believe Stewart was trying to bash Sweden with that segment? Seriously?

Also, I'd say white trash trailer parks and Detroit are a consequence of socioeconomics, not geography. The trailer parks and Detroit weren't here when the colonies were established. They are as American as apple pie.

Countries like Sweden don't have areas like that because they have economic safeguards in place that prevent certain levels of poverty from manifesting.

[City of Rain]

hahaha great videos.

i really love how americans are so scared of socialism (or communism as you like to call it).

its all very plausible

imagine living in any scandinavian country: it'd be just like living in america, just you would get healthcare and education for free and pay more tax.. but all of the scandinavian countries are also more succesfull than the US in terms of economy, so people there generally make more money.

so basically, imagine getting free healthcare, education and whatnot and STILL have more money to spend.. welcome to europe some other pluses would be: lower crime, obesity rate and barely any hobos at all (because of our socialism..)