Western Europe.... All countries are pretty much all socialist right? United States.... Thank you Obama Australia... I have no idea South Korea... No clue Any other nations truly capitalistic?
The U.S. is the most capitalist large nation so far in the history of the world. To refer to the U.S. as a socialist nation is, well it's comical.
Hong Kong is sill pretty good , at least in terms of free enterprise and free circulation of goods and moderate taxation. It still has a welfare system and much of the housing is subsidised. Interesting to read abt HK in the mid 20th century, from memory they did follow a tough capitalist system. One problem which might be linked, is despite HK beeing very wealthy, urbanisation is extremely ugly and many areas, even downtown, look old and dirty. Not a great quality of life IMO. I don't know as well abt Singapore but quality of life ther is much better and they are doing very well with only 8% of the workforce employed as civil servants (from memory) and probusiness policies. Would need to double check buit i think much of the housing is subsidised there as well.
Besides I have strong libertarian tendencies, but it's difficult looking at Scandinavia and dismissing Socialism as all bad. But their success might have much to do with the small population - as well as the large land available.
Also: 1) more homogeneous population; 2) very strong public education system; 3) high quality health care available to 100% of citizens at almost 50% lower cost than in U.S.; 3) military spending per capita 60% less than U.S.<sup>*</sup> ; 4) resources are not wasted on endless war; 5) a more efficient tax system (The U.S. spends nearly a half trillion each year to collect on and administer its complex tax system, not counting all of the private resources that are consumed in complying with 70,000 plus pages of tax code; 6) and I'm guessing their per capita homeland security costs must be quite a bit less, because the Scandinavian countries are not in the business of using their armed forces to enforce a world wide hegemony. Of these factors, the U.S. could, if only there was the will to, do something about five of them. The less homogeneous population of the U.S. is probably an advantage the U.S. enjoys over Scandinavia. ___________________________ <sup>*</sup> comparisons of per capita defense expenditure always grossly under-report the U.S. figure because it does not include continuous off-budget wars, veterans benefits and interest on money borrowed to support these wars. The real figure is half again as large as the figure based on DOD budget alone.
The societal make-up in the US is a blend of Capitalism, Socialism, and Corporatism. If you research the definition of all three you can put the US into all of the categories, but not as a pure society. Opportunity is still available to all who want to explore it as long as youâre comfortable sharing a piece of your success with others. Phil Mickleson recently said he wants to retire from golf because he doesnât want to pay 63% of his winnings to the IRS. Canât say I blame him but Iâm surprised he canât find a talented tax attorney to solve that problem but thatâs a topic for a different thread.
This is just a guess on my part, but reading between the lines on Mickelson's remarks my conclusion is that he has already retained a talented tax attorney ( as well as a media consultant ) and that he is laying the groundwork in the media in order to prepare the public for some fairly radical changes in his personal life. And that could mean residence, working status, even citizenship status - who knows for sure. If you are going to make Canada your residence, or if you are going to play in only the majors henceforth, maybe the idea is to tell the public that it is due to financial realities and not personal or family or health reasons. Look at the Tiger Woods feeding frenzy.
Well, if there are no first world countries that aren't significantly socialist, that would clear evidence that socialism actually works. Otherwise they wouldn't have become first world countries. PS. Between persistent deficit financing and high levels of corporate welfare, the US is in fact one of the most socialized economies on the planet, and has been for a long, long time.