On July 27 and July 29, we talked about Asian-Americans, pointing out that they are, as an identity group, the richest and most successful ex-patriots in the world. Comprised of at least a half-dozen ethnicities and nationalities, the common denominator of their success, we concluded, lies in their culture. They place a high value on hard work, continuous education, and saving.

 Today, we continue to explore successful identity groups around the globe and ask: “What do they know that we don’t?”

Is Sweden a Good Model for America?

Is Democratic Socialism Where We Want to Go? 

“If we heard that somebody starved to death in Sweden, we would be shocked.” – P.J. O’Rourke

I like Bernie Sanders.

I know very little about him other than he came from a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn, spent his life as a crusader for blue collar America, worked his way up Vermont’s quirky political ladder to state senator, and ran twice for president as a “Democratic Socialist.”

I’m a free market Capitalist. And yet, whenever I catch a glimpse of Bernie on YouTube, I find myself smiling and thinking, “I like this guy.”

He reminds me of LF, a high school friend that drifted away from his privileged, upper-middle-class background and devoted his life to advocating for labor and the poor. I don’t agree with all of LF’s causes, but I write him a check every time he asks for one because he is earnest, humble, and plainspoken. Pretty much the opposite of most politicians.

I also like Sweden. It is a beautiful, civilized country, populated mostly with handsome, civilized people that are industrious, generous, courteous, and well-behaved. (I’m not sure how much they have contributed to the global scene over the years. There’s ABBA and Yngwie Malmsteen… but they’ve also given us Ikea and Skype.)

So you might think that if I like Bernie and Sweden individually, I should like Bernie-on-Sweden even more. But I don’t. Bernie’s idea of what Sweden is and represents – either out of naivete, ignorance, or deceit – is wrong.

Bernie’s Romanticized Idea of Sweden 

In 2015, when Bernie ran for president against Hillary Clinton, he presented himself as a Democratic Socialist. He called his vision for America a “political revolution,” and made it his goal to dismantle the current economic system and replace it with one like the Nordic Model of Sweden (and Norway and Finland).

He pointed out, correctly, that in Sweden – a country with 1/40th the GDP of the US – citizens and residents have access to publicly funded healthcare and education, as well as other welfare policies that do not exist at all or to the same degree for Americans.

For example, denizens of Sweden enjoy the following:

* subsidized doctor and dental care and free public hospital treatment

* subsidized prescription drugs and free life-saving drugs

* free maternity clinics, abortions, and sterilizations

* sickness and injury compensation for workers

* one-year paid leave for parents

* subsidized childcare and nursery school

* unemployment insurance that pays about 80% of previous income

* old-age pensions paid for by taxes and employer contributions

* full or partial disability pensions

* special payments to handicapped persons who are working or in school

* surviving spouse and orphan pensions

* housing subsidies for poor families and elderly pensioners

In the five years that have elapsed since Bernie started pushing the Nordic Model, it has been endorsed by many other politicians on the outer edges of the Democratic party. Just the other day, at the Democratic convention, AOC made the same point when she nominated him for president. She even suggested that her Green New Deal was based on the Nordic Model.

AOC can be forgiven for her ignorance of Sweden’s economy. She’s a sociologist, comfortable speaking with conviction about all sorts of topics about which she knows little or nothing. But Bernie should know better.

The Myth 

In recent years, many Americans have come to believe, as Bernie does, that America would be a better country if it eschewed Capitalism and moved towards Socialism. And since the Democratic debates, Bernie’s idea that Sweden is a model for modern, progressive, and prosperous Socialism has become widespread, too.

There are, no doubt, aspects of Swedish welfare that, on the surface, are very appealing. Universal access to healthcare and education are among them. A safety net for the sick, the disabled, and the poor could be added to the list.

But what Bernie and his followers don’t understand – or understand but don’t acknowledge – is that none of these social benefits are in any way free. And the way they are paid for in Sweden is very different from the way such services are paid for in the US.

In fact, to adopt the Swedish model in the US, we would have to dismantle both our welfare system and our tax system and replace them with structures that left-leaning politicians, media pundits, and even academics would consider to be anti-progressive, pro-Capitalist, anti-regulation, and systematically racist.

The Green New Deal is for raising taxes on the wealthy, increasing government spending, expanding government regulation, abolishing the voucher system for schooling, and nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels as an energy source.

So, what, exactly, is the Nordic Model? And if Sweden is an exemplum of it, how, exactly, does its economy work?

You may be surprised to learn that among Swedish economists, political scientists, or even political leaders, there is no argument…

 Sweden is not a Socialist country.

 Nor does it have a Socialist economy.

It’s not even close.

Sweden has a free-market, open-trade, Capitalist economy that is, in many ways, freer, less burdened by regulation, more friendly to business, and kinder to the top 1% than the US.

Sweden has more free trade, a less-regulated product market, no property taxes, no gift or inheritance taxes, no requirements for occupational licensing, no minimum wage laws, lower corporate tax rates, and generally less government participation in the economy. (Needless to say, it’s a very friendly place for billionaires. In fact, Sweden has more billionaires per capita than any nation on earth.)

But with all that economic freedom, Swedes enjoy high living standards and low poverty.

And perhaps most amazing of all: Sweden is doing all of it without printing fake dollars and robbing from its children’s futures.

How does Sweden do it? How does it provide so many social benefits for its population and yet remain prosperous? And what can we learn from its success?

I spent the last several nights researching the answers to those questions. The answers I found made me realize that Bernie has the right idea. Sweden does present a model for a better, safer, and kinder future for America. But the chances of that happening are next to none.

And that’s because of the big mess we’ve gotten ourselves into – mostly because of the very policies that the Green New Deal supporters are promoting.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I want to share the results of my nocturnal studies with you: the reasons that Sweden is able to have one of the world’s most comprehensive social welfare systems without turning into a dreary, second-world Socialist country or an imploding  third-world country like Venezuela.

It’s an enlightening picture. We’ll look at it on Monday.

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