Via Instapundit
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/sor ... 00785.html
Click through to read the whole thing, which I think is a very good description of why the model seemed to work relatively well in Scandinavian countries. For those that are forced to argue with leftists, I think this is required reading.As a Swede living in the U.S., one of the most common reactions when I tell people where I am from is the question of why I would ever leave Sweden in the first place. Many Americans seem to truly believe that life in the Scandinavian countries is superior to that in virtually all other places on earth, and that the Nordic welfare state model is the magical formula that explains it all. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont recently echoed these beliefs when he said that he wants America to be more like Scandinavia, where both incomes and equality are higher, the middle class stronger, both education and health care are publically funded, and even graduate school is free.
Sanders is not alone. The Scandinavian countries are regularly praised for their income equality, quality of life, gender equality, maternal care and many other traits, not just by leftist politicians and activists, but also by left-leaning economists like Paul Krugman. The Scandinavian model, they believe, is the ultimate proof that you can combine a high-growth economy with a generous welfare state.
The problem is that much of the praise is wrong. . . .
It was because of the cultural values that was formed way before the welfare state was implemented. But those values get eroded as the welfare state takes over.