The Nordic Model proves Social Democracy can work

"The Nordic nations are very competitive, Have high standards of living, And score high on both freedom indexes egalitarian indices"My argument still stands that every government even the United States are inefficient. The reason why the freedom is good in those countries is because you are looking at the free market economy they have (with regulation) which provides the freedom. Not the socialism which provides less freedom. High taxes does not mean more freedom. The argument they enjoy a higher standard of living is not true. If you mean on average then yes I could possibly see that but the middle class and upper class have a higher standard of living in the United States. Citizens of the United States spend less on tax which is used to improve on their standard of living (holiday every so often, Buying the next IPhone and Macs, Renovation). "matt bruenig"I'll use his sources to prove my point. The social expenditure is higher in Scandinavian countries in the United States. How is this a good thing? The more power the government has the more it is about the collective then the individual. Communism and fascism put the collective in front of the individual. Look at what happened farmers being murdered for being too rich and Jews were killed because they looked differently. Yes it is the extreme but the Nordic model without the economically free model would just like them. If you want to see an example of why it is bad look at the EU. They are trying to ban memes. More specifically you have to pay for any intellectual property. This does not cover fair use. Who can vote on this? The European Union which was not elected by the citizens of the EU. They are held unaccountable and do whatever they want. Yes it is the extreme but it proves my point. Less freedom does not mean more freedom. Percentage of workers employed by the government is higher in Scandinavian countries. How is this a good thing? Percentage of workers with union contract is higher in Scandanavia countries. No competitors means no market for wages to increase without government intervention. The state also owns more enterprises in Scandinavian countries. If you do not like how the government operates then you have a problem. With the United States so polarised think if the Democrats or the Republicans were in charge it would be difficult to ignore them if the Nordic model was in place in the United States because they would own most of the GDP since it is more about the collective then the individual. "one in three workers works for the state"How is this a good thing? Is their a competitor to the government that can make your salary more competitive? No. Without competitors there is no need for the government to increase there wages since there job is not to make the most money or increase employee retention it is make sure to stay in power for the next election. Businesses care more about their staff then the government. Which is why private businesses employ employees at a higher salary and want to retain staff that are beneficial to them. Governments do not care about the employee as much as private businesses. It does work but at what cost? Less freedom and the collective over the individual. As you are an individual if you were valuable to your society you would prosper more in the United States then what you ever could in a Scandinavian country.