#101 ·
Nicholas Nguyen said:Long-form piece on Sweden over on Index
The myth of Scandinavian socialism success: why Sweden remains one of the wealthiest nations on Earth
Since I’m pretty sure the author of this piece is actually hanging out here on the forum, I just have one question—who exactly is poisoning the minds of the Swedes? Let me explain what I mean:
Usually, when domestic hardline capitalists make their arguments, they claim that people in America are being brainwashed by various leftist media outlets or "old-school bureaucratic parasites" into thinking capitalism is a failure—which supposedly makes them skeptical of free markets (though, granted, the trauma of massive industrial collapses in the 90s isn't irrelevant).
But now I'm genuinely curious—who or what is influencing the Swedes so that they've spent the last 80 years voting for Social Democrats? It seems like Sweden enjoyed a century-long golden era of essentially free-market conditions, which is exactly how they managed to become so incredibly wealthy. Yet, for some reason, from the 1930s onward, the people have stubbornly stuck with the Social Democrats, who have basically been in power ever since. So... what on earth is wrong with these people? Why won't they just enjoy the wealth they built?
The author mentions that back in 1950—a time when most of Europe was still busy picking up the pieces from WWII, though obviously, war doesn't always have a permanent impact on a specific country's economy—the nation was already one of the richest in the world. During those years, the Social Democrats were in charge (with Tage Erlander serving as Prime Minister from 1946 until 1969, when he was succeeded by Olof Palme). So, seriously, what is the deal with these Swedes? Who is misleading them? Who is pulling the strings?
