Posted on 06/09/2018 2:37:04 PM PDT by Mafe
One of the most common fallacies of the new populists is to say that their model is the “Nordic” one and that those countries are successful examples of how “socialism works”. When I mentioned it to the Finnish Finance Minister Petteri Orpo at a recent ECR dinner, he could not believe it.
Expropriations, massive tax increases, appropriation of savings and subordinating the growth model to political control is what populists defend. The same as Venezuela, which all of them praised — from Bernie Sanders to Owen Jones or Corbyn and Chomsky — until it collapsed. Then they moved on to the fallacy of “the Nordic model”. Do you know what interventionists forget about the Nordic nations?
They are leaders in the economic freedom index (Heritage) and ease of doing business according to the World Bank.
Private property is guaranteed by law and citizens’ savings are fully private and free of government control. All Nordic countries have been lowering the tax wedge and — until the recent US tax cuts — had lower corporate tax rates than the US.
The state does not dictate or impose schooling and healthcare (most have co-payment schemes). It simply administers and promotes choice between private and state-run services.
They are leaders in private banking, which finances the vast majority of economic activity (80%).
They are leaders in attracting capital, guaranteeing legal security and private investment. Nordic countries are also leaders in the privatization of inefficient state-owned entities and applying world-class private company corporate governance and defending shareholder interests in semi-state owned companies (Statoil, etc).
The public sector does not dictate the growth pattern or the way in which the economy should be run, it is generated from the private sector, which finances more than 60% of research and development, and government applies private-sector best practices of efficiency and transparency in the management of public services. In addition, public officials do not have a life-long position. The opposite of the political control these populists defend.
Nordic countries have carried out successful privatizations of state sectors, from telecommunications to electricity generation and distribution. Even the postal service and some forests were privatized. They have a labor market that is among the most flexible in the world.
In these countries, private education is encouraged through school vouchers, not forced state-run schools. There is also the fact that it is virtually impossible to copy in the US a model used in countries with fewer inhabitants than New York, but the most important difference is that choice, freedom and private initiative are the cornerstone of Nordic nations, pillars of a society that none of the populists want to implement.
No, socialism is not the model of the Nordic countries. And the interventionists that use these countries as their “model” have a completely different system in mind. State control.
I recommend you read Scandinavian Unexceptionalism by Nima Sanandaji or “The Secret of their Success” in The Economist.
The success of the Nordic countries has been to take pro-market measures, privatize inefficient sectors and guarantee private property, wealth creation as well as legal and investment security.
The Nordic countries know that there is no welfare state without a thriving private sector, economic freedom, and private investment and that the public sector is there to facilitate, not absorb the country’s economic activity. They know that there are no tax revenues without a flourishing private sector. And they know, because they made the mistake in the past, that multiplying state intervention only leads to failure. That’s why they rejected socialism.
There is nothing Socialist about the Nordic Nations. Being leaders in Economic Freedom, free enterprise, defense of private property, leaders in private banking and entrepreneurship promotion is the opposite of socialism. Interventionists willingly want us to confuse a welfare system in a capitalist society with socialism. Socialism is the political and economic theory which defends that the means of production, distribution, and financing should be owned or controlled by the state. Nordic countries are NOT socialist. They are capitalist societies with a welfare state, like most capitalist nations have, by the way. The US as well. And they are the first ones that understood what we all know: socialism never works.
>>There is nothing Socialist about the Nordic Nations.
Socialism is a broad spectrum. This is the typical Progressive argument that Progs aren’t Communists by claiming, “I can’t be Communist because I believe in (insert one or two capitalist things here).”
It is also their gun control argument: “I’m pro Second Amendment because I believe that you should be able to own a double barrel duck gun.”
The Nordic nations are plenty Socialist, but not fully Socialist because a nation that is fully Socialist is Communist. Socialism is the pathway, not the destination and Marx said that.
On the geographic edges, Iceland and Finland are fairly reasonable.
I remember back in the 90s Tony Blair gave a speech to the Socialist Internationale where he proudly stated that he was the head of the oldest socialist political party (Britain’s Labor) and the old socialist model was dead. He was part of a new wave of socialist who realize they need a thriving capitalist economy to tax in order to provide the social programs they all want.
Their ‘model’ also doesn’t permit open discussion about immigration, with Sweden now something like 20% foreign born.
If you have an issue with the major parties on immigration...you go to jail.
Not many, to the best of my knowledge. Nordic countries do have much higher tax rates, which they use to pay for healthcare and retirement. But in terms of ease of hiring and firing, starting businesses and special-interest influence in spending and regulatory decisions, by my understanding the people in Nordic countries are at least as free, and maybe freer, then Americans.
The US may have an advantage in terms of the freedom to provide housing and charge what the market will bear for it, but there are many parts of the country (the West Coast, notably) where that freedom is increasingly under assault.
“Expropriations, massive tax increases, appropriation of savings and subordinating the growth model to political control is what populists defend.”
Really? I thought Trump supporters were “populist”. That’s certainly not what they support. Trump was properly described as a “nationalist”. The people referred to above are socialist. Populist simply means appealing to the ordinary people. It’s meaningless in terms of describing a political agenda.
Norway and Finland both have a voucher system for child education. You can “spend” your voucher at the public school or the private/religious school of your choice. A lot freer than here. We home schooled; I picked up the bill for that and still paid my taxes to keep the teacher’s unions fat, dumb, and happy.
The Scandinavian programs can work in a relatively homogenous country where personal ethics would frown upon trying the cheat the system.
In a multi-cultural country, that breaks down.
>>Norway and Finland both have a voucher system for child education. You can “spend” your voucher at the public school or the private/religious school of your choice. A lot freer than here. We home schooled; I picked up the bill for that and still paid my taxes to keep the teacher’s unions fat, dumb, and happy.
The difference is that Nordic nations are full of Nordic people. Drive through the poor side of town and you’ll see all sorts of scams, such as “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips” and some really crappy looking “Free VPK” places (free is paid for by the state here). How long do you think it would take for “schools” to be set up that take the voucher and warehouse the kid for the day?
I did not say in my post that US was NOT partly Socialist. I was refuting the nonsense that Nordic nations are NOT Socialist. I did this by saying that people will argue one or two points and claim that there is no Socialism because of these points.
Thank you for making that point.
BFL
Too bad most of the claims are conflated
Tell home schoolers that schooling isn’t imposed. The Swedes have none left due to government crack down
Health care? Until obozo screwed it up the us was waaaay ahead of the rest of the world.
Statistics and damned lies thanks but no thanks. Take a look at how the mussies do in these ou tries off the backs of others
Break the cultural uniformity and you suddenly get people seeing "I and my people are paying a lot in and getting much less out, while they are producing nothing but consuming from the country's smorgasbord." Watch for Nordic socialism to break down in the next generation.
They are Islamic
“Socialism” or diversity. You can have both. The Western European model worked a lot better than many of us want to admit, right up until they opened their borders to 3rd World hoards. Game over. A relatively homogeneous population in a high trust society will be willing to pay quite a bit into the commons. It’s all going to fall apart, but at least they can all feel better about being diverse.
They are welfare states not socialist. There is a difference. But then we are also a welfare state. Just to a lesser degree.
I worked in Norway in the seventies and eighties. The taxes were very high to support the social system of which the Norwegian voters approved. That is good as that is their choice. However the government both left and right understood that capitalism is what supported their semi socialistic state.
In many cases capitalism was less restrictive in Norway verses the USA. Norway realized they must compete in the world market and thus were very pro business. They taxed the hell out of internal profits and wages, but did everything they could to give breaks to external profits and business. They realized if they taxed international business out of existence they would lose.
Norway is not my cup of economic tea but it works for them.
ps
Their ladies are absolutely drop dead gorgeous. I wish I were 27 again instead of 70.
Bookmark
Do not confuse Finland with the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Scandinavians are much more socialist than the Finns for a lot of reasons. A good primer on how they differ is
The Almost Nearly Perfect People: The Truth About the Nordic Miracle
by Michael Booth
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