interesting read

[handmade34]

Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders is too far left for Sweden's ruling Social Democrats, official says

https://theweek.com/speedreads/896948/democratic-socialist-bernie-sanders-far-left-swedens-ruling-social-democrats-official-says

[guillaumeb]

1. Luckily for Sanders, he is not running for the PM position in Sweden. eom

[IluvPitties]

2. If the Swedes think he's way to the left of them

That should tell us something...

[guillaumeb]

4. I am not in favor of socializing everything.

But I am in favor of the government providing many services, including some that are currently privatized in the US. And, equally importantly, I am in favor of capitalism being strictly regulated, as opposed to the current system which benefits no one but the very rich.

[IluvPitties]

5. We are partially in agreement.

Health care should be free for everyone. As for anything else beyond public K-12 ed, we probably disagree.

[guillaumeb]

6. Are you in favor of:

The USPS being government run?

How about public ownership of utilities?

The fire department?

The police department?

I think we might be in agreement on many of these things.

[IluvPitties]

8. Here we go

USPS- Public

Utilities- Private

Police and Fire Dept- Public

[guillaumeb]

9. In my town, the water utility is run by the town.

In Cook County, where I live, the towns that are supplied by a private water company pay much higher rates than the towns with public water service.

In Canada, water and electric services are government owned and run.

[highplainsdem]

3. I posted an analysis the other day mentioning that Sweded tried Sanders-type ideas and they failed.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287595954

And Zakaria points out that Sanders doesn't understand how markets work in these Scandinavia countries, either.

He says that Sweden's attempt to implement a Sanders-style democratic socialism from 1960 to 1980 "tanked the market" so badly that Sweden didn't create a single new private sector job between 1970 and 1995. It took free-market reforms and shrinking the size of government drastically to kick-start the economy.

[Mike 03]

7. This was a fascinating article. nt

[flotsam]

10. OK-he's too far left for Sweden

The more important question is if he were elected how far left does he drag the Overton window? Because if he dragged it far enough other liberal democrats might finally feel free to pass an actual progressive agenda-probably not like Sweden but closer.