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Roost: Benefits of European socialism

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By Amy Roost

So who would you rather be?

1) The European worker, who has guaranteed health care, free education, and lengthy vacation time, but is less likely to become extremely wealthy.

or

2) The American worker, who is uninsured or underinsured, pays gargantuan college loans, works long hours and retires later in life, but is more likely, but still not very likely to become extremely wealthy?

Before you answer, consider this: According to a 2010 Prosperity Survey conducted by a London-based nonpartisan think tank that ranked 110 countries, covering 90 percent of the world’s population, America ranks 10th behind six European countries, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. What all these countries have in common is they lean more toward socialist economic policies.

And yet, in the arrogance of our American exceptionalism, we seem to think there is nothing we can learn from other countries even if, for example, these countries rank higher in infant health, longevity, entrepreneurship, trust in governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital. We aggressively label it un-American to even discuss what we might learn or consider adopting from the policies of other countries.

We are so afraid of the socialist/communist threat that we can’t have an intelligent conversation about the subject. This goes back to the Cold War when Russia really did present a threat. But despite the rhetoric you hear today, there is a difference between socialism and communism. European socialism is a hybrid, offering something neither the capitalist or communist models seem to get — a society that combines robust individual freedoms with an ethic of working together to enhance the collective good. The model ameliorates the increasingly extreme inequities of free-market capitalism and leads to a greater quality of life for the middle class.

Interestingly, while having significantly more vacation time, their overall productivity is only marginally less as a result of greater efficiency per hours worked. The net result being the best of both worlds. For example, Swedes work fewer hours, have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, nursing care, and childcare. Ranked sixth overall in the Prosperity Survey and second for entrepreneurship and opportunity, Sweden is also a good place to start a business. R&D spending is high; startup costs are low. Additionally, civil liberties are protected. In other words, America’s slightly higher GDP per capita doesn’t necessarily mean we are better off than Swedes.

Capitalism allows individuals the freedom to work to supply services and goods that have value, which others spend their money to purchase. Unfortunately, given an accompanying lack of concern for the well being of the greater whole, the gap between the richest and the poorest has grown exponentially. This is the result of unfettered capitalism which a close read of “Wealth of Nations” will tell you is never what Adam Smith intended. America’s focus on individualism and profit is compromised by the fact that social costs are excluded from cost/benefit considerations in capitalism. An exclusive focus on maximizing profits results in significant social costs. However, the argument is that the system will somehow magically take care of the social costs and that nothing should be allowed to compromise maximum profits and economic expansion and growth. The rest of the argument is that any significant level of social responsibility and concern for the welfare of the greater whole does nothing but foster laziness and mooching.

Just as individuals benefit from the examples set by others, Americans could at least have an intelligent dialogue about what we could learn from what other countries are doing well. This is not to suggest that we adopt anyone’s whole political/economic model, but perhaps there are things to examine without the bombastic rhetoric and accusations of un-Americanism. Maybe a little more humility and less yelling about “We’re Number One!” The fact is that in many important measures of overall well being we are not even close to being number one. Is openness to learning from others really so un-American?

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