Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
Sweden? Sweden???
Author Message
Owl 69/70/75 Offline
Just an old rugby coach
*

Posts: 80,656
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX

DonatorsNew Orleans Bowl
Post: #1
Sweden? Sweden???
We are more socialist in some ways than many European socialist countries. As my good friend Jim Rogers says, China is more capitalist than we are. We are more crony-corporatist than free-market. Here's a country that's headed the other way. Surprise, it's.... Sweden.

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/201...socialism/

Sweden Is a Role Model…but for Free Market Reforms, not Socialism « International Liberty
danieljmitchell.wordpress.com

Sweden Is a Role Model…but for Free Market Reforms, not Socialism

January 29, 2011 by Dan Mitchell

Johnny Munkhammar is a member of the Swedish Parliament and a committed supporter of economic liberalization. He has a column in the Wall Street Journal Europe that does a great job of explaining how Sweden became rich when it was a small-government, pro-market nation. He then notes that his country veered off track in the 1970s and 1980s, but is now heading back in the right direction. I’ll have more analysis below these excerpts, but it is especially impressive that Sweden is ahead of America on key reforms such as Social Security personal accounts and school choice.

Sweden is not socialist. According to the World Values Survey and other similar studies, Sweden combines one of the highest degrees of individualism in the world, solid trust in well-functioning institutions, and a high degree of social cohesion. Among the 160 countries studied in the Index of Economic Freedom, Sweden ranks 21st, and is one of the few countries that increased its economic freedoms during the financial crisis. …Sweden wasn’t always so free. But Sweden’s socialism lasted only for a couple of decades, roughly during the 1970s and 1980s. And as it happens, these decades mark the only break in the modern Swedish success story. …The Swedish tax burden was lower than the European average throughout these successful 60 years, and lower even than in the U.S. Only in 1950 did Sweden’s tax burden rise to 20% of GDP, though that remained comparatively low. …The 1970s were a decade of radical government intervention in society and in markets, during which Sweden doubled its overall tax burden, socialized a slew of industries, re-regulated its markets, expanded its public systems, and shuttered its borders. In 1970, Sweden had the world’s fourth-highest GDP per capita. By 1990, it had fallen 13 positions. In those 20 years, real wages in Sweden increased by only one percentage point. …By the late 1980s, though, Sweden had started de-regulating its markets once again, decreased its marginal tax rates, and opted for a sound-money, low-inflation policy. In the early 1990s, the pace quickened, and most markets except for labor and housing were liberalized. The state sold its shares in a number of companies, granted independence to its central bank, and introduced school vouchers that improved choice and competition in education. Stockholm slashed public pensions and introduced private retirement schemes, keeping the system demographically sustainable. These decisive economic liberalizations, and not socialism, are what laid the foundations for Sweden’s success over the last 15 years. …Today, the state’s total tax take comes to 45% of GDP, from 56% ten years ago. Meanwhile, unemployment benefits, sick leave and early retirement plans have all been streamlined to encourage work. The number of people receiving such welfare—which soared during the socialist decades—has fallen by 150,000 since 2006, a main reason for Sweden’s remarkably sound public finances.

Sweden still has a public sector that is far too big, but the damage caused by bloated government is at least partially offset by very good policy in other areas. Sweden is actually slightly more free market than the United States on non-fiscal measures in the Economic Freedom of the World index. Here’s a chart comparing Sweden and the United States. But I also included a few other nations for purposes of comparison. You can see Switzerland, the U.S., Sweden, and the United Kingdom all have similar scores for economic freedom if the burden of taxation and government spending is removed from the mix. But things change dramatically when taxes and spending are added to the formula. Switzerland is ranked 4th overall because of a decent fiscal system, ahead of the United States (6th) and United Kingdom (10th). while Sweden falls all the way to 37th place.

Denmark gets very high marks for non-fiscal freedom, so it only drops to 14th in the overall rating because of its bloated welfare state. Hong Kong and Singapore, meanwhile, rank 1st and 2nd in the world because of strong ratings on non-fiscal factors and they also manage to limit the fiscal burden of government.


Attached File(s)
.jpg  sweden-economic-freedom.jpg (Size: 33.16 KB / Downloads: 1)
01-29-2011 04:16 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Fo Shizzle Offline
Pragmatic Classical Liberal
*

Posts: 42,023
Joined: Dec 2006
Reputation: 1206
I Root For: ECU PIRATES
Location: North Carolina

Balance of Power Contest
Post: #2
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
Free markets and hot chicks....sounds like paradise.04-cheers
01-29-2011 04:39 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
georgia_tech_swagger Offline
Res publica non dominetur
*

Posts: 51,393
Joined: Feb 2002
Reputation: 2017
I Root For: GT, USCU, FU, WYO
Location: Upstate, SC

SkunkworksFolding@NCAAbbsNCAAbbs LUGCrappies
Post: #3
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
Hot chics who are also far less sexually conservative.

Also, it's a very socially liberal area. One of the highest per capita ratios of atheists and lowests per capita ratios of organized religion followers.

But it's cold as all ****.
01-29-2011 05:45 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
flyingswoosh Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 15,863
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation: 69
I Root For:
Location:

Crappies
Post: #4
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
(01-29-2011 05:45 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Hot chics who are also far less sexually conservative.

Also, it's a very socially liberal area. One of the highest per capita ratios of atheists and lowests per capita ratios of organized religion followers.

But it's cold as all ****.

and not many minorities. just saying...
01-29-2011 07:39 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


smn1256 Offline
I miss Tripster
*

Posts: 28,878
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation: 337
I Root For: Lower taxes
Location: North Mexico
Post: #5
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
There's a place in Sweden where the average HIGH temperature in January is minus 11 and the average low is minus 22. I'll pass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna
01-29-2011 09:05 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Rebel
Unregistered

 
CrappiesNew Orleans Bowl
Post: #6
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
As I said elsewhere, I doubt "entitlement-minded leech" is a common factor in Sweden.
01-29-2011 11:10 PM
Quote this message in a reply
Fo Shizzle Offline
Pragmatic Classical Liberal
*

Posts: 42,023
Joined: Dec 2006
Reputation: 1206
I Root For: ECU PIRATES
Location: North Carolina

Balance of Power Contest
Post: #7
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
(01-29-2011 05:45 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Hot chics who are also far less sexually conservative.

Also, it's a very socially liberal area. One of the highest per capita ratios of atheists and lowests per capita ratios of organized religion followers.

But it's cold as all ****.

Ummm.....I expect that less sexually conservative Swedish chicks prefer to stay indoors during the harsh winters.03-lmfao
01-30-2011 12:04 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Owl 69/70/75 Offline
Just an old rugby coach
*

Posts: 80,656
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX

DonatorsNew Orleans Bowl
Post: #8
RE: Sweden? Sweden???
(01-30-2011 12:04 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  
(01-29-2011 05:45 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Hot chics who are also far less sexually conservative.

Also, it's a very socially liberal area. One of the highest per capita ratios of atheists and lowests per capita ratios of organized religion followers.

But it's cold as all ****.

Ummm.....I expect that less sexually conservative Swedish chicks prefer to stay indoors during the harsh winters.03-lmfao

And that is a good thing. A VERY good thing.
(This post was last modified: 01-30-2011 06:28 AM by Owl 69/70/75.)
01-30-2011 06:28 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.