Socialism, Scandinavian Style

Today’s Democratic Socialists, beginning with Bernie Sanders, were not smart enough to see through the massive con that was the Soviet Union. They were not smart enough to see the damage that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro were going to visit on oil rich Venezuela. And yet they continue to think of themselves as superior intellects. They ought to climb down from their high horses and take a few steps into the real world.

For all of their bluster and zeal, they are merely trying to save face.Incapable of admitting to error they want to foist bad policy on America… because it would make them feel vindicated. Considering how badly they missed the truth about socialism, they want us to believe that we did not really understand them.

They loved the Soviet Union, supported Castro’s Cuba and Maduro’s Venezuela, and now they tell us that what they really want is to turn American into Scandinavia. You know about Scandinavia, made up of racially homogeneous nations with miniscule populations. Better yet, Scandinavian nations do not need to bother themselves over national defense. They are living under the American defense umbrella. If they ever needed to defend themselves, they would instantly surrender. It is fair to note that some of them, Sweden especially, have admitted far more Muslim migrants than they can handle, thus provoking social unrest, criminal gangs, rape culture and bombings. But, hey, they have free medical care for all... In truth they don't have free medical care for all, but don't tell Bernie.

Be all that as it may, Charles Lane has explained the truth about Scandinavian. (via Maggie's Farm) As you might guess a fraud like Bernie Sanders happily touts the virtues of a system that would not be practicable in the United States… even though he does not understand how it functions. Like Comrade de Blasio, Sanders believes that the nation contains limitless financial resources. Neither of these socialist phonies understand how much debt undergirds America’s prosperity.

Lane opens his Washington Post column by asking just how socialist Scandinavian nations really are:

Drawing on data from the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and other reputable sources, the report shows that five nations — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands — protect property rights somewhat more aggressively than the United States, on average; exercise less control over private enterprise; permit greater concentration in the banking sector; and distribute a smaller share of their total income to workers.

Copy the Nordic model if you like, but understand that it entails a lot of capitalism and pro-business policies, a lot of taxation on middle class spending and wages, minimal reliance on corporate taxation and plenty of co-pays and deductibles in its healthcare system,” the report notes.

While Sanders rails against Wall Street bankers-- a dog whistle for those who know which ethnic group is associated with bankerly venality-- Scandinavian countries allow the banking segment greater power.

Sanders and AOC and their ilk want to tax wealth. One does not have any moral misgivings about confiscating the major part of the wealth of people like George Soros and Bill Gates, but Scandinavian nations provide generous welfare benefits mostly by taxing the middle class… through a value added tax.

Sanders and other left-leaning Democrats promise to pay for tuition-free college and Medicare-for-all with higher taxes on the top 1 percent of earners. Most Nordic countries, by contrast, have zero estate tax. They fund generous programs with the help of value-added taxes that heavily affect middle-class consumers.

For the record, France also has a value added tax to pay for its generous health care system. It also has unemployment that hovers around 9%.

The Nordic health care plans have high deductibles and co-pays… roughly like Obamacare. Sanders pretends that it will all be paid for… God knows how.

The Nordic countries’ use of co-pays and deductibles in health care may be especially eye-opening to anyone considering Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan, which the presidential candidate pitches as an effort to bring the United States into line with European standards.

His plan offers an all-encompassing, government-funded zero-co-pay, zero-deductible suite of benefits, from dental checkups to major surgery — which no Nordic nation provides.

The Netherlands’ health insurance system centers on an Obamacare-like mandate to buy a private plan; individuals face an annual deductible of $465 (as of 2016), according to the Boston-based Commonwealth Fund.

Lane continues to explain health care spending. He busts the illusion that people in these countries pay much less than we do out-of-pocket:

Dutch consumers’ out-of-pocket spending on health care represented 11 percent of total health expenditures in 2016, according to the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker — the same percentage as in the United States. In Sweden, meanwhile, out-of-pocket spending accounted for 15 percent of health expenditures. Who knew?

As of yesterday, after Lane wrote his column, the Democratic presidential contenders all want to provide free health care to illegal immigrants. Do Scandinavian countries do the same? Glad you asked:

We have to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all, including the undocumented,” Sanders said last month at a presidential forum hosted by immigrant-rights groups in California.

Actually, none of the Nordic countries enroll undocumented immigrants in their national health plans on equal terms with citizens and legal residents. Generally speaking, the countries provide acute care to undocumented adults, and full care to children, on an ad hoc basis. This is not unlike the United States, which provides billions of dollars’ worth of health care to undocumented people through various channels, public and private. In Denmark, private charity covers those who are undocumented.

Lane concludes:

American socialists’ enthusiasm for the northern European systems may be sincere. We shall see whether it can withstand full and accurate information about how those systems actually work.

Don’t hold your breath.