Several weeks ago an article delving into the problems with Swedish socialism caught my attention and I write a few comments on it here. Swedish author Johan Norberg confirms and expands on the fact that “Long the paragon of social democracy, the Swedish model is rotting from within.”
Swedish Models: THE SOURCE of the problem was the fatal irony of the Swedish system: The model eroded the fundamental principles that had made the model viable in the first place. The civil service is a powerful example of this phenomenon. The efficiency of the civil service meant that the government could expand, but this expansion began to undermine its efficiency. According to a European Central Bank study of 23 developed countries, Sweden now gets the least service per dollar spent by the government.In a very broad sense, American society is facing two major problems. The first is the acute flare up of Islamic religious violence across the planet. The second is a more chronic condition where the role of government continually expands with destructive consequences for the principles of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Socialists who believe their failures in Russia and Eastern Europe were due to institutional corruption rather than flaws in the concept are being given another victim to autopsy.
Since 1995 the number of entrepreneurs in the European Union has increased by 9 percent; in Sweden it has declined by 9 percent. Almost a quarter of the population of working age does not have a job to go to in the morning, and polls show a dramatic lack of trust in the welfare system and its rules.
The real worry is that Sweden and other welfare states have reached a point where it is impossible to convince majorities to change the system, despite the dismal results. Obviously, if you are dependent on the government, you are hesitant to reduce its size and cost.
