Venezuela: the Left's favourite 'socialist paradise' is sliding into poverty and dictatorship

No single Swede comes close to the epic wealth of a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett. But Stefan Persson, the chairman, main shareholder, and former longtime CEO of H&M, leads a roster of Swedish billionaires who outpace the U.S. (No. 14) on a per capita basis. In part this is just a bit of a funny coincidence—it’s a fairly small country, after all—but the fact that a famously left-wing country like Sweden can be so rich in billionaires is telling and important.

That’s because a billionaire isn’t just a guy with a well-paying job. To reach that level of stratospheric riches, you probably either need to start a big, successful company or else inherit one from someone who did. And however much people care about inequality, almost every place on Earth would like to be the kind of place where successful new firms are born and raised. The good news about Sweden is that it’s exactly that kind of place. High taxes go to finance cheap health care and education, an excellent system of public transportation, and relatively generous subsidies to low-income households that keep the poverty rate and inequality low. But they haven’t stopped Swedish entrepreneurs from building giant firms like H&M, Ikea, and Tetra Pak.

The term socialist has been thrown around quite a bit in the past few years. Not since the cold war has the term garnered so much attention in the press and from politicians. But when you look at countries who actually have a socialist economic structure, you can see some similarities to the United States – but there are some really stark differences.
Below, you will see some of the most socialistic nations in the world today:
China
Denmark
Finland
Netherlands
Canada
Sweden
Norway
Ireland
New Zealand
Belgium
Despite popular myths, there is very little connection between economic performance and welfare expenditure. Many of the countries on this list are proof of that, such as Denmark and Finland. Even though both countries are more socialistic than America, the workforce remains stronger.

56kevins wrote:Not so sure they are Socialist in permanency and are t the Swedes revolting about the high taxation to pay for welfare. New Zealand is a big push if I may say so.

All socialist states collapse under the weight of taxes and bloated state enterprises.  Even benign ones. Chaves was the icon of the left Ben until now.

56kevins wrote:it always ends up in a miserable mess.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100260605/venezuela-the-lefts-favourite-socialist-paradise-is-sliding-into-poverty-and-dictatorship/

Remind me again how good Socialism is.

56kevins wrote:
Not so sure they are Socialist in permanency and are t the Swedes revolting about the high taxation to pay for welfare. New Zealand is a big push if I may say so.

All socialist states collapse under the weight of taxes and bloated state enterprises.  Even benign ones. Chaves was the icon of the left Ben until now.