Does Scandinavian Socialism Work?

About the guest: Dinesh Joseph D'Souza is an Indian-American far-right political provocateur, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. D'Souza has written over a dozen books, several of them New York Times best-sellers.

About Patrick Bet-David: CEO, author and Founder of Valuetainment Media. Patrick has interviewed athletes, notorious individuals, politicians, authors and entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

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[porscheoscar]

Poverty is virtually NON-EXISTENT In Scandinavia. The VAT taxes would in theory hit the poor harder if there actually were millions of Scandinavian poor like in America.
Scandinavians have guaranteed health care and college education. Guaranteed paid vacation time (4 weeks in summer one week in winter) and paid maternity and paternity leave. Scandinavians take the 5 highest spots on personal hapiness and nearly nonexistent goverment corruption.

[markbkjaer]

As a Dane from Scandinavia, I can tell you that all Scandinavian countries are far from being socialist countries but capitalist market economies, just with a bit higher tax that pays for e.g. healthcare and people without a job - a system that works very well, since we consistently have had near 0 percent corruption for many years.

[TerraThink]

"you can hire and fire people for any reason"

Not true at all. In Sweden there is a 6 month probation period with a new employee but after that it's incredibly hard to fire someone.

He has a good point about the rest though (I'm Scandinavian).

[Medunsa]

paying 25% more for things isn't a big deal if your aren't worried about school and health care

[markusmikkola]

He is incorrect about so many things. Both Finland and Norway have wealth tax, all have inheritance tax, it’s next to impossible to fire people. Scandinavian countries are some of the most bureaucratic countries in the world, extremely harsh regulation on corporate governance etc. Many of the other things were totally true though. (I’m scandinavian and have lived in all Finland, Sweden and Norway)

[roykastenman]

You can't hire and fire how you want in Sweden. It's extremely hard to fire someone.

[gotcrazy]

scandinavia does not have socialism, they have a social democracy, which is something that is completely different from socialism.

I think the PM of Denmark actually made this very clear in response to Bernies remarks that Denmark is socialist, this is what he said: "I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy". Although for those that dont know, I'd suggest you read more about how their government works.

[ironmantis]

This guy is conflating Venezuela to Scandinavia like they are similar places. What a political hack.

[mira]

Why aren't you interviewing people from Scandinavian countries?

[andrewrai]

I live in Norway- yes our way works- I’ve traveled to the United States and I like the way my government treats me as opposed to how Americans treat their citizens. Also his completely incorrect is stating we can fire any time- we have robust employee protection. The reason our system works for us is because we are culturally homogeneous country- meaning we don’t claim unemployment unless we really need it- we have a work hard culture- which the United States does not necessarily have.

[TKzTechnology]

Scandinavian model in general are pretty good for the large population. Basic education is free to some extent, with the word "free" meaning that tax payers pays for it, so the burdens on the individuals are not that heavy, as compared with the US. Basic healthcare is also free. You still pay for dentist bills, medicine, vaccines etc. yourself, though some countries have rebates, when you pay a monthly premium, which are good for those having large medical needs, and bills. I believe they cover around 60-70% of the costs, for around $250/yr. Personal income tax is relatively high, ranging from 45-65%, depending on your income, but again, this is what pays for it all. Corporate tax rate is 22%. Something I don't like in the society, and this is my personal opinion, but a lot of people seem to have this weird concept, that they don't want anyone else to succeed with anything. We have this thing called "Janteloven" which basically means that you shouldn't brag too much about your accomplishments. As an entrepreneur, I'm not a big fan of that. Otherwise it's a relative fair system for the large population. Scandinavians loves to complain about the smallest things. In general, Scandinavia is best for those working 9-to-5, as there are many job benefits. Entrepreneurs are not prioritized that much, which is why many leave to other countries, which is a shame in my opinion.

[hannesproductions]

As a scandinavian I hate when americans call us socialists. In some ways we are more capitalist than the US. Just look at what the corprate tax rate was before Trump 35% that sound more like socialism also the income tax in the US where 50% of people pay zero, in my contry the lowest income tax braket is 30% and the heighest is 46% so everybody pays something not like the #eattherich thing that the us federal income tax is.

[ponypruhest]

I live in Denmark. Yes we do have a high VAT, 25% on pretty much everything. Yes is does hit poor people proportionally harder. But those poor people get free gratis healthcare, free gratis education - even university. The really poor people even get free pre-school child care. Almost all our roads are free and gratis to use, the only known toll "roads" I know of are 3 bridges: Great Belt Bridge, Oresunds Brigde, and a smaller bridge in Frederikssund.

[stephensmith]

Everybody in Scandinavia knows this already. That’s how mixed economies work. Just a small point, VAT in Norway is 15% on food, not 25%. Norway holds a Sovereign Wealth Fund of well over $1trillion on behalf of a population of 5.4 million. Pretty good huh?! It has developed from North Sea oil and gas revenues but is now making a lot out of non-oil and gas investments. We in the UK on the other hand blew most of our North Sea windfall on de-industrialising and paying poor people to stay poor because Mrs Thatcher had a loathing for unionised, skilled and well paid jobs. It was a class war that she won.

[broman]

My question is why isn’t this type of content taught in high school.

[sashatagger]

Very free-market capitalist with strong social safety nets, that's how I describe them.

[C.Valdor]

Capitalism in wealth creation and socialism in wealth distribution. That's beautifully. Let's look at the Scandinavian middle class and compare them to the US middle class or the UK middle class and see who has the higher quality of life lol its not comparable.

[abdikayse]

Americans like talking more than reading. Most countries are capitalistic but welfare and taxes are different. Raising or lowering income tax or providing health care is not socialism.

[mrzed]

As an American I will always support savage capitalism free market no red tape. Let the people start businesses and make as much money as possible. Let them pay a fair wage. Let it rain money for ALL.

[samuliceo]

I’m a Finn, the reason Scandinavia works is because of high competence, high trust and low population. Very low corruption and industrious people with high skill level.

A lot of D’Souza says is BS. You can’t hire and fire like that at all. Corporate taxes are the same or higher as in US (20%+) in every Scandinavian country. We have a lot of regulations and insanely high taxes.

Scandinavia is Corporate market socialism. Corporations, a few big chains run the show in every field and small businesses can’t compete. There are government programs to ”encourage” small businesses but regulations and taxes are too big of a handicap.

Many corporations are in bed with the government and abuse the government programs like free funding and create further regulations to destroy competition. This is Scandinavian corruption.

Basically, Scandinavia is great for big corporations and the workers who receive lots of benefits. VERY BAD for entrepreneurship and people who want to succeed.