Well firstly democratic socialism is just having an expanding of socialist PROGRAMS while still having a capitalist bases for the market. And also, we already have a lot of socialism in the US.
You like a public military? That's socialism. Medicare? Medicaid? Social security? food stamps? Public education? All socialist programs. Democratic socialism is expanding those programs, specifically Medicare, giving it as a right to citizens, and education, giving ALL students tuition free college.
Yes those social "benefits" programs you mentioned are, in fact, socialist at heart. But the military? Really? As for the rest: no, I do not like any of it, at least not what these programs have become over the decades. And as far as capitalism, the only reason old Bern would tolerate it is as a cash cow for more government spending.
What would change your mind, if anything? Let me just start off with that question. Because for me, I'm convinced by the Scandinavian model. If you show me that those countries AREN'T actually the happiest places in the world, some of the highest standards of living, and some of the highest medium incomes in the world. So, again, I ask you, what would change your mind about a socialist capitalist hybrid system?
Well that's hard to say, since our current system is a complete bastardization of what it was meant to be anyway. Because of where we would be starting the chances of developing anything remotely resembling anything in Scandinavia are slim. I'm probably too poor to feel any ill effects from taxes and such, but I'd like to think I might have a chance at success one day.
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· 8 years ago
I hate to get in between this but the Scandinavian countries aren't the greatest model to compare to America. They are a lot smaller with a lot fewer people per square mile, for example, Norway has a population density of 15 people per square mile where the U.S. has a population density of 84. This works better to use their natural resources more efficiently than we do. Here's my source, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html . Another thing is that those countries have much more resources than we do per square mile allowing the country to have more money flowing in. In fact Norway, using them as an example again, is the 3rd largest exporter of petroleum. Source, http://www.thomaswhite.com/world-markets/norway-lighting-up-europe/ .
So they would have a lot more money to spend on those programs. Just to be clear, I'm not picking any sides in this argument, I'm just stating what I saw.
No argument, a discussion. No you can't compare America to most other countries. But the merits of socialism vs capitalism can still be extrapolated. Except that we have a fucked up hodge podge that really isn't either.
Many Scandinavian countries in aspects of economic freedom such as business, monetary, and investment freedom, are actually more free than the United States. Do high levels of taxation and government debt retard economic growth? According to OECD figures, Denmark was the world's 5th mlst prosperous economy in 1970, in 2004, it's the 10th. Job creation and worker productivity has stagnated over that time. Comparatively, Ireland has had a drastic reduction in tax rates and in barely 18 years has jumped from 22nd to 4th place in the oecd prosperity rankings.
The US has a higher GDP per capita than every Scandinavian country, omitting oil and natural gas rich Norway. Further, Americans have a higher disposable income both before and after taxes, because the cost of living is significantly less.
To put it plainly, whether measured by annual growth rates, or level of output, income, or consumption, Nordic nations have inferior economic performance when compared to the US.
You like a public military? That's socialism. Medicare? Medicaid? Social security? food stamps? Public education? All socialist programs. Democratic socialism is expanding those programs, specifically Medicare, giving it as a right to citizens, and education, giving ALL students tuition free college.
So they would have a lot more money to spend on those programs. Just to be clear, I'm not picking any sides in this argument, I'm just stating what I saw.
The US has a higher GDP per capita than every Scandinavian country, omitting oil and natural gas rich Norway. Further, Americans have a higher disposable income both before and after taxes, because the cost of living is significantly less.
To put it plainly, whether measured by annual growth rates, or level of output, income, or consumption, Nordic nations have inferior economic performance when compared to the US.