I don't think the disagreement on Scandinavia is too strong. I think I was reacting to this:
.....clearly you've never met a real social- welfare state leftist at all.
Try going to Sweden sometime, or maybe Denmark, and Norway too. Note that these very welfare-state countries do encourage entrepreneurism and free enterprise. Note that they also have exceptionally low poverty, friendly and healthy people, clean environments, and regularly top international tables as the most desirable countries in the world to live.
Actually, in Sweden, certainly, it was the weakness of the SDP that prevented further nationalization of industry. So although what you said is not false, the implication that the Left is particularly entrepreneurial and so forth seemed a bit funny, and it quite possible that the inability to socialize further saved these countries. (Also, they are relatively homogeneous, did not suffer a lot of destruction during the War, and maintained relatively small defense establishments.)
Part of what corroborates this impression that they were saved from out- and- out socialism, for me, is the comparison of PPP data, although somewhat stale (sometimes it is hard to find up to date stuff that is free on the Web). As it is, although per capita GDP in, say, Sweden is within a few thousand dollars of the US, the PPP is closer to Spain's, which is a relatively poor country.
I will take take up the other points in a while, if I think to get back to them...... |
