[killtimeatwork]

I'm not sure about that. Norway or Sweden are infinitely more progressive than the US and yet people there are neither in poverty nor in Gulags. Are you saying it's only a matter of time until they end up there? What's your estimated timeframe for that?

[rsj_hn]

In what sense is Sweden infinitely more progressive? Is it the privatized retirement accounts, for-profit privatized schooling, privatized police forces, privatized public transit, privatized welfare, or having the most billionaires per capita?

Sweden is a social democracy that has generous welfare benefits, which are funded primarily via sales taxes (VAT) of 25%[2] and "high, but flat" income taxes[3] that are much less progressive than in the U.S., and much lower corporate tax rates than in the U.S.

It is also a country that respects private property and has a mania for privatizing everything under the sun. It's the home of enormous global corporate empires like Ikea, Volvo (trucks, the cars were sold off), H&M, Atlas Copco, Ericcson, Spotify, etc.

Sweden is the only country I know where private for profit schools compete for public school dollars, and for profit private companies are allowed to run welfare programs. Sweden has famously been called a "capitalist welfare state".[1]

[1]https://iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/Pr...

[2]https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/country-guides/europe/swe...

[3]https://taxfoundation.org/how-scandinavian-countries-pay-the...

[cma]

Isn't IKEA a sham charity or something and not a corporation?

In the US many states still have a medicaid gap: no medical coverage for a subset of the poor (those without dependents). 5-10% of the population depending on state.

[killtimeatwork]

State-funded university-level studies. State-funded health care. Brutal control over the flat rental market (at least in Stockholm).