Socialist Sweden?

Bernie thinks we should be socialists, like Sweden? Not so fast, says this Swede Johan Norberg. Sweden was wealthy before Socialism he assures us, and has fallen in rank, and had to undo much of it. Americans of Swedish heritage are even more successful than the Swedes of Scandinavia. Genes have a lot to do with the success of Sweden. They work hard, and don't like to take hand outs. Let Johan set the record straight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lbRkfsrt1E

 Many of the Swedish services which all enjoy he says are supplied by a fairly brutal system which taxes the poor the most (VAT). The best benefits go to the rich, otherwise they'd leave the country. Late comers (like immigrants) don't have the Swedish values of hard work and trust in government. In the 1980s the tax rates were so high in Sweden, a famous children's author, Astrid Lindgren, owed 102%; the founder of Ikea, billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, left the country due to taxes. So they had to cut taxes and introduce free markets.

Oh, and all have school vouchers so they can choose private or public or religious schools.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/sorry-leftist-americans-your-swedish-utopia-does-not-exist/article/1000785 

"The descendants of Scandinavian migrants in the US combine the high living standards of the US with the high levels of equality of Scandinavian countries. Median incomes of Scandinavian descendants are 20 per cent higher than average US incomes. It is true that poverty rates in Scandinavian countries are lower than in the US. However, the poverty rate among descendants of Nordic immigrants in the US today is half the average poverty rate of Americans – this has been a consistent finding for decades. In fact, Scandinavian Americans have lower poverty rates than Scandinavian citizens who have not emigrated. This suggests that pre-existing cultural norms are responsible for the low levels of poverty among Scandinavians rather than Nordic welfare states. - See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/06/scandinavian-unexceptionalism.html#sthash.ZEBQTBZ0.dpuf