Scandinavian Miracle

Rubes believe that Scandanavian countries upped their Social Programs and it had no impacts on their economy or culture. There's an idea called the Scandinavian Miracle: that they upped their Social Programs and it had no impacts on their economy or culture. If you believe in Miracles, you're a rube. Everything comes with tradeoffs. And the Northern European countries are no exception. They paid a steep price, have learned, and have been backing away from that "utopia". ℹ️ Info           ~ Aristotle Sabouni Created: 2019-02-04

A few of the fallacies include:

1. These countries aren't Socialist at all. They keep chewing out the ignorant American Socialists for calling them socialist. They don't control the means of production: they have low tax/regulation on businesses -- so they're more free-market than we are.
2. They do have low individual freedom (high personal taxes), and big safety nets. But that comes with other costs. Like an intolerant culture that believes in the Law of Jante. (Individuals are shit, the collective is what matters... so conform or be socially ostracized).
3. Some might want to live in a country were Ovaltine is outlawed, you can’t homeschool, and the government gives you a list of approved names for your kids, but that won’t fly here.
4. Their countries is smaller than many of our cities
5. They have less diversity... they're trying to catch up, and now have more violence (turns out homogeny helps)
6. Denmark had one of the highest suicide rates in the world, until they put everyone on anti-depressants. (Highest use in the free world). They rank as happy, the truth is they're just drugged up. Put zoloft in our water supply, and we could be as happy as they are, in our mindless stupor.
7. Visitors think it’s quaint to live without any diversity, and living in 2/3rds the sq ft per person, and so on. But when you have ride your bike and take public transit in the sleet and bitter winter, it turns out that quaintness wears thin.
8. Even they got sick of it, and have been trending much more conservative, lowering the social benefits, and heading more in our direction

Read Harrison Bergeron and the Law of Jante and try to understand how homegenous and intolerant towards individuals the culture had to get, before you could even have such a thing as their Social System get voted in, or work at all. (Also remember scale, their countries are smaller and have less diversity than many of our single metro areas).

🗒️ Note:

I realize that there's lots of debates as to what is Scandinavia. (Finland is out or in, depending on formal or informal). Generally, Denmark and/or Germany are not, but they behave a little like them. So it's sort of sloppy to include Denmark/Germany into those, but culturally they are more similar to them than they are to say, Japan, Argentina, or other places. So for cultural broad brushing, they should be included, with the caveat that all the countries are unique, and they only loosely apply.

Human costs

Erica Komisar psychoanalyst and author of “Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters" wrote a great article on the Human Cost of Sweden’s Welfare State. The gist is think of the impacts:

• 61.85%+ Tax Burden: and you're only as free as how much of your money you keep control of. So you're 38% freeman / 62% ward of the state (Slave) in Sweden
• They decide/pressure/cajole parents in turning their kids over to state indoctrination camps from the age of 1 or so, so that they can be fully "educated", parents can't be trusted with the minds of the young
• Mothers who stay home with kids are stigmatized as regressive and antifeminist. Daycare exists to, “liberate women from their maternal instincts.”
• This lack of parental involvement, overstimulation has mental health impacts: high suicide rates, 1 in 5 teens are into self-harm
• While more Women are forced to work, they have lower rates in Management than U.S., Canada, France, Russia or Australia, and their income wage gap is greater than other places.

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🔗 More

Economics The study of choice, scarcity, Social reactions to policies, and unseen consequences.

Roads and Infrastructure Can roads be privatized? Let's look to places like Sweden and Finland, and see the positive results.

🔗 Links

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/scandinavian-miracle-brutal-truth-denmark-norway-sweden
• https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/warren-democratic-socialist-agenda/
• https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/denmark-tells-bernie-sanders-to-stop-calling-it-socialist/
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-denmark-isnt-the-utopian-fantasy-it-is-made-out-to-be-a6720701.html
• https://www.dailywire.com/news/34787/shapiro-national-review-what-makes-nordic-ben-shapiro

Tags: Economics  Roads and Infrastructure