Quote:
Originally posted by Not Bob
social democrat statist Scandanavian
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The Scandinavian countries are not socialist. They have socialist parties but they do not promote socialism. These are welfare states. There is a huge difference. Following WWII they had some of the freest markets in Europe. In the seventies they started instituting the welfare state but they still left enterprise free. That is why Sweden sports a few billionaires and Nokia exists in Finland. However, they have had to reduce their welfare states because of the cost but the economies are still some of the freest in Europe.
The four largest growth rates in recent history occurred in Nazi Germany under Hitler, Communist Russia under Stalin, Hong Kong under the British and Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew. Nazi Germany used massive deficit spending to spring their economy to life and they paid back their massive debts with war looting profits (including confiscating all Jewish property) and then slave labor. Lenin drove the economy into the ground but then started the NEP, letting the Kulaks exercise free enterprise, and the Soviet Economy somewhat bounced back. Then Stalin came in and liquidated the Kulaks. He ended any free enterprise. He then set production quotas, and if these quotas were not met you were shot as a traitor. Not surprisingly the economy grew rapidly. It is also estimated that as much as one fifth of the population was in slave labor camps and this slave labor helped with growth. Once the terror stopped the economy stopped growing.
Hong Kong and Singapore simply had some of the freest markets in history.
So unless you want to use slave labor, threaten the lives of your managers, and confiscate property from your citizens it seems that the free market is the way to go.
