http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6mQwrwyKPE&feature=related
Demonstration against the Central bank, featuring Norways elite. 17.february 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6mQwrwyKPE&feature=related
Nobody pays attention to them. I hate my Finnish friends who remind me that socialism "works".
Kudos to these hearty Norwegians braving the cold to send this message. I imagine that no productive individual, once acquainted with the facts of the matter, would actually want to live and work in a monetary order where money can be created by fiat. Why work for dollars that can be again taken away through money printing???
Clayton -
The Scandinavian countries demonstrate that there is more to a prosperous economy than low taxes, which is a great point to make when talking to wingnuts. I *detest* the American Republican party, and I wish I had been born in Australia.
But to argue that the welfare state in and of itself creates properity or makes society more efficient is lunacy. Honest lefties argue that those values are not important in the first place.
The quote by Keynes at the end of the clip is quite amusing.
Great job.
I think this is the first rally against a Central Bank in Europe in years. What would our propaganda geysers say if they discovered it has been held in Norway?
dlnewhouse:The Scandinavian countries demonstrate that there is more to a prosperous economy than low taxes,
Yeah, oil exports.
"I wish I had been born in Australia. "
Have you been there? The cost of everything in Australia is at least double that in the USA. Housing is ridiculously expensive due to government monopoly on land and various interventionist measures. In the cities you might be able to buy an average family home for 600,000 USD if you're lucky (not counting all the extra government charges on top), and this is out in the suburbs. Btw new taxes on the way.
The Scandinavian countries demonstrate that there is more to a prosperous economy than low taxes, which is a great point to make when talking to wingnuts. I *detest* the American Republican party, and I wish I had been born in Australia. But to argue that the welfare state in and of itself creates properity or makes society more efficient is lunacy. Honest lefties argue that those values are not important in the first place.
Family is the original welfare system. It worked. We need to return to it.
A related thread:
http://mises.org/Community/forums/p/19926/367849.aspx
The head organizer of the February 17 rally was actually one of the Governor candidates -- the other guy, not me.
Thanks, I was surprised when I found it and thought it was a perfect match ;-) (I made the original video, while Hans Jørgen made the english translations)
Drew:I hate my Finnish friends who remind me that socialism "works".
Tell them Scandinavia "works", and just happens to be socialist. There are plenty of socialist countries that don't work.
But Scandinavia really isn't socialist. They are amongst the few most capitalist countries in the world. Using Scandinavia as an example of socialism is like using Warren Buffet as an example of poverty.
Nero, I like this argument, yet do not have the facts to support me when I argue against socialists.
Could you post some links that discuss how each country is rather capitalist? Thanks!
EmperorNero: Drew:I hate my Finnish friends who remind me that socialism "works".Tell them Scandinavia "works", and just happens to be socialist. There are plenty of socialist countries that don't work. But Scandinavia really isn't socialist. They are amongst the few most capitalist countries in the world. Using Scandinavia as an example of socialism is like using Warren Buffet as an example of poverty.
Wheylous:Nero, I like this argument, yet do not have the facts to support me when I argue against socialists. Could you post some links that discuss how each country is rather capitalist? Thanks!
Well, it depends how you define capitalist. I can't so much provide links as talk you through the arguments I have. Most of those are generally accepted facts, we just need to be made aware of them. - What would be the first sign to look for when asking whether a country is capitalist as opposed to socialist? Property rights, of course. All of Scandinavia has very meticulous property rights. If you want a house or car, where do you get it? You buy it with money from a private person, who owns it. Then you own it. Scandinavia is exceptionally capitalist about all goods except health care and schooling. We have to keep in mind how unique that is. It's not like that at all in most of the world, most countries don't have secure property rights at all. Scandinavia really is at the fringe of propertarian societies in the world. In most of the world people don't own their houses or shops, they are built illegally on government land and it's near impossible to register an ownership claim because of the red tape and regulation. We think of poor countries as lawless, but they have have so much regulation that people can't get anything done. The mark of a capitalist country is that it has done away with regulation and government expropriation the the point where people can do business and create wealth. Scandinavia is relatively benign when it comes to regulation, even compared to the US. You can open a business in a few weeks and there's a lot less state meddling in affairs like how to build it.
We tend to call Scandinavia "socialist" because it has high income redistribution and welfare. But that is not socialism in the original meaning of the term. That would be 'capitalism with welfare'. Another number that gets thrown around is inequality. Few socialists, however, seem to be aware of the distinction between income (the money you get every month) and wealth (the money you have). While Scandinavian countries have lower income inequality than the US, the do not generally have lower wealth inequality. And while the US has more relative poverty than Scandinavian countries, pretty much everyone in Scandinavia would be poor by American standards of living. Just that they are equally poor, so there is little relative poverty, which is a measure of how many people have an income below the average income.
I hope this somewhat answers your question, if not let me know what you wish to know specifically.
Here is the Heritage foundations list of countries by economic freedom, with all Scandinavian countries in the top 30 of the most free market capitalist countries in the world! http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
EmperorNero: Scandinavia is exceptionally capitalist about all goods except health care and schooling.
Scandinavia is exceptionally capitalist about all goods except health care and schooling.
Largely true, yes.
Of course we have problems with problems and regulations. And we do have large companies with a large amount of government ownership. And the amount of people working for the government, directly or indirectly is worrisome to say the least.
That being said, it is a complex matter, and the picture given by the quoted post is to a large extent a good one.