Facts About Sweden

[David S]

Bono this is a good thread. I wish you would have made it a poll; Should the US model its economy after Sweden?

Opebos answer I believe is yes.
My answer is somewhere between no and hell no.

[David S]

See what I mean? Why bother having this debate? You all know what you think, and you're not going to convince anyone due to the extreme positions you're all taking up. Let's just all agree on this:

1. Sweden is not perfect.
2. Sweden is not a collapsing hellhole either.

Agreed.  And:

3.  It is better to be a poor in Sweden than in the U.S.
4.  It is better to be a rich in the US than in Sweden.

Another way of looking at it:
Its better to be a deadbeat in Sweden
Its better to be a productive person in the US.

[David S]

^^^^^ Oh boy another communist. Where do you guys keep coming from? Do they teach this stuff in college or do you just naturally gravitate to it?

[David S]

I'm not in favor of any McCarthy style witch hunts, but I just have to wonder what the attraction is for communism. I can understand people who support socialism because there are European socialist states or at least socialist leaning states that are doing OK. But nowhere is there an example of a communist state that could be termed successful. There is only death, tryanny, and poverty. What the hell is so good about that?

[David S]

I'm not in favor of any McCarthy style witch hunts, but I just have to wonder what the attraction is for communism. I can understand people who support socialism because there are European socialist states or at least socialist leaning states that are doing OK. But nowhere is there an example of a communist state that could be termed successful. There is only death, tryanny, and poverty. What the hell is so good about that?

Simple, David S.  Social heirarchies in which most people are trapped in their position generate massive amounts of angst and resentment.  It is only natural for people experiencing that reaction to their social 'cage' to want to tear down the whole oppressive system, even it what is left afterwards is nothing more than Pol Pot's piles of skulls.

Most of the communists at this site are college students whose idea of oppression is being denied  hairgel. Ending up in a pile of skulls instead seems like a rather extreme reaction.

Opebo I don't know why you think Americans are so oppressed. Do you really think there is a social cage here which is anything like the kind of social cage one would encounter in China, or North Korea, or the former USSR? Unemployed people here are better off than people who work hard every day for a living in those countries.

[David S]

1. Sweden is ranked by the World Economic Forum as having I think thr 2nd best growth premises in the developed workd.

2. Sweden's GDP per capita is above the European average.

3. We have one of the best growth rates in Europe.

4. We've had voucher schools for a decade now.

5. We're one of the most pro-free trade countries in the world.

I could go on, but I can't be bothered.

Don't go away mad. You presented some interesting information here. I like the voucher school idea.  Are there private as well as public schools that accept the vouchers?