R Lewis you know about Sweden you've been to Sweden in you know of course
that Sweden is in the evil socialist communist country that is completely
anti-business
yes that's true david and they're just people dying everywhere because the
or ball a socialist communist Nazi I
healthcare will there's a really really interesting article in Slate by matthew
Yglesias
which points out that in per capita terms there are actually
more billionaires in evil socialist
communist Sweden then here
in the United States so some of these
some other countries that have more per capita billionaires than the US
archive unique cases so for example Monaco has
three billionaires with a population of only 35,000
is very specific reasons Monaco is a is there a place that
very rich people like to liver have residency right so we can't really say
that a micro nation
like Monaco tells us much about
social and economic policy relative to the US however
screen Sweden is a different story
Sweden has 14 billionaires with the population have
about 10 million and it is number 12
in terms love a in terms of billionaires
and this is very interesting because
there are number one so many incorrect ideas about what Sweden
is and what it represents among the American right
but also because Sweden has made some changes that make it not
the evil socialist communist country
that so many on the American right believe it to be
so when we look at it doesn't even I could redo the list have some screens
billionaires it doesn't matter you can look it up that the really important
thing here
is we often talk about how there's a specific environment that leads to
riches
and among the american a economic right
it seems to be low government spending
low taxes self-made business owners
not much in terms of social programs which
which tend to you hurt the economy and and restrict growth et cetera
the good news is that Sweden has
I high taxes and it still goes to finance cheap healthcare
education there's an excellent public transportation system
there's generous subsidies to low-income households there are so many of the
things that in the US we are told by some Louis
would destroy the economy and destroy the possibility of riches
and it seems to be be having absolutely no negative effect whatsoever
yeah you've got a completely different school of thought I mean in the United
States seems like a
the path is clear for those who already have an advantage
to to make insane amounts of money
I in Sweden maybe you could look at it the other way and say look
a babe we've level the playing field everyone here gets a great education in
that way
on everyone has a chance to make that much money right so that that's exactly
the point which is in the US there is very little
class mobility if you are born very poor
it is statistically incredibly unlikely
that you will ever be anything but a little bit less poor now you can talk
about specific examples that athletes or entertainers
but those are statistically insignificant and when
when you look at hold on a second if everyone
had a much stronger base wouldn't today
based on class mobility have a much better shot up one day being very rich
that's an interesting point
now there are some changes that have been made in Sweden
which are more reminiscent American neoconservatives thinking including
changing the tax code
to a flat tax on investment income this allows wealth to accumulate
much faster for rich people no taxes on inheritance
corporate tax rate is lower than in the US now
that one may be deceiving because the US tax rate corporate tax rate is higher
but because the ball the deductions and loopholes the effective tax rate for
american businesses
as we've talked about Louis is sometimes 0 and is often
much lower than in Sweden and there is more or less
lights economic regulation so what have we learned from Sweden we have learnt
sweeney's not communist or socialist number one Sweden provide more benefit
as higher taxes than the US and it still has more billionaires per capita
and for those who are saying hey billionaires are really the sign up a
good economy
I agree but some of the arguments that are made in the USA that the European
system is so socialist
that it doesn't allow for this type of capital accumulation
and clearly Louis it does yeah the numbers speak for themselves to be have
to accept that