There is this idea floating around that Sweden, with its high per capita income and high standard of living, is the poster child for successful socialism.
Look at how rich they are!
They are complete, sold out, total socialists!
See! Socialism works!
Well, not so fast.
Johan Norberg (@johanknorberg) is a Swedish economist. He has seen firsthand what happened when Sweden tried socialism. He saw the failure. He has seen the success since they turned back to free-market capitalism.
He explains this briefly in an interview with with Luke McCann (@Narrow_Path_Man) – Capitalism, Socialism and Stakeholder Capitalism with Johan Norberg. It’s a great podcast. Please check it out.
Johan Norberg explained that Sweden became rich by following the capitalist approach. In about 1970 they realize there is so rich that they’d give socialism a try. It was a terrible failure.
High income individuals left the country because of the brutal tax rates. Several large corporations, such as IKEA left the country. Netherlands gained IKEA as a high wage, large employer. The economy shrank.
Sweden follow this path about 25 years. Around 1995 they realize it socialism produces failure and economic distress. That was when Sweden moved back to the free market, capitalist approach. The economy has recovered and they are again quite well-off with high income and high growth.
Have separately read that Sweden is a pro-market capitalist economy with a large welfare system bolted on. Sort of like the United States until recent years.
So, let’s not have any more of that fake idea that Sweden is an example of successful socialism.
They are actually a poster child for the failure of socialism and returning to capitalism to recover from the destruction always caused by socialism.
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