Joy Behar Thinks Scandinavian Countries Have Successful Socialism, but I’ve Got Sour News for Her

The View host Joy Behar is a fan of the Sanders-esque idea of “democratic socialism” and is thrilled to see rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez putting a fresh face on the concept.

So is Meghan McCain, but not for the same reasons Behar is excited. Like most on the right, Ocasio-Cortez is deliciously embarrassing for the Democrats due to her basically making a gaffe every time she’s shown on camera. McCain told the other View hosts as much and began to demolish Ocasio-Cortez’s love of socialism according to the Daily Caller.

“This makes my head explode, which, by the way, I hope Democrats do run a Democratic Socialist — no, because I think you’ll look spectacularly and then I’ll look forward to election night when I finally get to tell everyone ‘I told you so’ if you end up running a radical,” McCain said.

“The problem with socialism, in the words of Margaret Thatcher: ‘At a certain point you run out of spending other people’s money.’ Venezuela, one of the richest countries in the world in the 70s — now the average Venezuelan has lost 24 pounds because they’re starving to death,” she continued. “Ninty percent of the country is living in poverty. This is what I need from her. Name one country [where] socialism has ever worked.”

Upon asking the question of where socialism has worked, Behar began naming Scandinavian countries to the applause of the trained seals in the audience.

Behar may think countries like Sweden and Finland are proving that the left’s dream economy works, but the truth is that they’re actually a stark reminder that they don’t.

In fact, the left’s favorite front-runner, Sweden, found that it’s not that big of a fan of the welfare system that it once had. According to the Economist, the country’s GDP was tanking and unemployment was skyrocketing. So Sweden’s right-wing decided to take action and implemented some changes to the government that included decreasing welfare and taxes. That began to fix the problem to the point where Sweden was the fastest growing economy in western Europe.

And that was back in 2010. The idea that Sweden was a socialist paradise has been off the books for eight years now, yet the left hasn’t let the fact that economic conservatism and stepping away from socialism saved the day get in the way of trumpeting Sweden as a perfect example of socialism.

That doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows. They still engage in high amounts of tax on their citizens, and the citizens suffer for it. The average debt for a citizen is higher than it is here in America, and the cost of living is far better in the US than Sweden. On top of that, the social services that they’re taxed for don’t outrank the United States.

For instance, you’re better off at a US school than a Swedish one according to The Federalist:

According to the OECD, Sweden ranks 30 of 37 in math and 24 of 37 in reading. The United States, meanwhile, is 27 of 37 in math and 25 of 37 in reading. Norway and Denmark are both ranked better than the United States, but not by much. These realities destroy the pervasive myth that “socialist” Scandinavian schools are the best in the world.

Meanwhile, the Scandinavian country that didn’t engage in socialism, Switzerland, is doing far better than its neighbors:

This evidence is quite as compelling as the success story that is Switzerland. Unlike its neighbors, Switzerland is one of the most capitalist countries in existence. Its citizens only pay 8.6 percent of their personal incomes in taxes annually, and its economic climate is particularly well-suited to entrepreneurship. The Huffington Post writes that99 percent of Switzerland’s economy is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, which also employ three-quarters of the country’s workforce.

Many leftists extol the limited successes of Sweden and Finland without ever acknowledging Switzerland. Switzerland is ranked best in the world on many categories related to economic development, including “innovation, on-the-job staff training, attracting talent from elsewhere, and for government-provided training.” Ultimately, The Huffington Post claims, “Switzerland is home to one of the world’s most thriving economies and also one of the happiest populations on the globe.” Many leftists extol the limited successes of Sweden and Finland without ever acknowledging Switzerland, although it outperforms much of Europe in various economic and social metrics.

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