Matt Bruenig: How the Nordic Model Works, and Why You Should Care (Stay At Home #16)

[@leealexander3507]

I really enjoyed the time I spent in Norway many decades ago. I admit to having been sceptical at first since I'd barely even heard of the place and the taxes were rather high but I found that it was a very welcome change from the United States. I should have done back and raised my children there.

[@chmod0644]

Matt has the most swag. He is swagged-out.

[@elliotl7021]

Matt Bruenig is a national treasure.

[@TheSpiritOfTheTimes]

His posts where he would demolish libertarian philosophical arguments were brilliant. Very talented dude all-around on this sort of stuff.

[@davidbaird2211]

TheSpiritOfTheTimes Any favorites you’d recommend to non-socialists?

[@TheSpiritOfTheTimes]

@@davidbaird2211 The "capitalism whack-a-mole" series is very good off the top of my head. Would have to look up the ones excoriating libertarian theory. Bruenig is a very clear, logical, unpretentious writer.

[@Unclejamsarmy]

Fantastic, this was the best (and honestly only serious) defense of Scandinavian countries as at least near socialist that I’ve ever heard, and the most serious discussion of soc dem vs dem soc I’ve seen despite not actually being that lol. Matt would be a great teacher btw

[@Norwegian_username]

With the income the income distribution the Nordic countries actually compliments business, with the average person to have more money in their pockets then they have a capacity to spend more than one person that has a lot of money.10 people with enough money to buy cell phones will buy 10 cell phones and one person with a lot of money can only buy one or will usually only buy one. That makes The consumer part of the economy more stable and more profitable in the long run for Norwegian and or Scandinavian companies

[@knudplesner]

Most union members decide their own salary in Denmark. Norway does not own most of the state, but the profits from the oil have been put into a joint investment.

[@Redfizh]

Finnish protests and strikes are always so pleasantly calm.

[@frankleninstein]

wondering why you don’t also make this into a podcast? limiting these great videos to youtube seems to be unnecessary. uploading to other podcast platforms is very easy and would increase listenership

[@broncosrock16]

Agreed! I want to listen to this on Spotify

[@LARPANET_3087]

one of the podcasts I listen to already, Dead Pundits Society, has uploaded a couple of these to its patreon podcast platform. they call it the ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) series

[@cow_tools_]

Or better yet, Soundcloud.

[@Norwegian_username]

Work organisation and a government there sets limitations on hiring People on Time limited contracts, meaning if I hire you for project that is supposed to last a month you’ll only have a job for a month. Combination of strong wins and regulations that incentivise long-term employment in companies is the most crucial for the Nordic model to work

[@jacobgutierrez864]

The Nordic Model isn’t Socialist but it’s a hell of a lot better than what we got in America; Social Democracy is always preferable to Neoliberalism

[@r.williams8349]

Matt Bruenig can you recommend books (in english!) for further research on the nordic model? Or can you write a book?

[@DougGrinbergs]

7:53 the case for Nordic institutions.

[@r.williams8349]

This is great thanks for the video

[@JoaoSantos-lv4rc]

You would think the power to topple a senator or minister would appeal to the right as individuals. as an alternative to handing that power to their bosses.

[@Norwegian_username]

It’s also important to know that government ownership in Norway of companies is only in healthcare sector which is a really big part of The Norwegian economy.the hospital is run like a company and is look then as a government owned business.the rest mainly comes from the oil industry which the government owns a large share of. Around 40% state ownership in oil business in Norway. That ownership is only in companies that extract oil not in supporting prime companies. All other businesses private owned in Norway have no government ties, that means the tech business the fishing business and other industries are not owned by the government and enjoy a higher degree of free market capitalism than American companies, American companies are more regulated by the state then Norwegian companies... Hope this helps

[@pezpeculiar9557]

Not true at all. There is a Wikipedia list that shows all of the wholly state owned companies in Norway, and by that measure alone, healthcare only takes a smaller portion of that, with most of the rest being energy, rail, research, banking, alcohol, entertainment, real estate, and more. Then on top of that, there is a large segment of businesses partially owned by the Norwegian government, much of that being through its sovereign wealth fund that buys up stock and actively engages in stock owner meetings (an article by Bruenig highlights this as well). Over time, increasing quantities of stock are being bought up by that sovereign wealth fund, indicating a slow progression favoring public ownership of the economy, and not whatsoever restricted to the health sector! Still a capitalist social democracy, but much closer to what we should want as socialists than most places (though Zapatista territory seems to be fully socialist and Rojava socialist-oriented).

[@dionysianapollomarx]

Nice

[@JoaoSantos-lv4rc]

I would have appreciated the history lesson.. Very cool though thank you!

[@kronaperthro]

My guy is coughing during peek covid. Good to know he's still alive and kicking today...😂

[@radioguy8662]

The USA could certainly learn a lot from the Nordic model. However, it's easy to focus on the impressive "outputs" of these countries without considering their "inputs". Americans often assume that all of these great benefits come by "soaking the rich" to pay for them. In fact, everyone gets soaked to cover these costs with labor taking the biggest hits. Using Sweden as an example, the payroll tax is about twice as high as the USA at 30% and the 57% marginal tax rate kicks at around just $60K (USD). There is also a 25% sales tax (VAT) that everyone pays as well. Thus the poor and middle class pay a higher percentage of the tax burden than they do in the USA. Taxes on corporations are only about 21%. There is no wealth tax and most surprising is the fact that there is no inheritance tax which allows massive amounts of wealth to be passed down to generation after generation. While income inequality is lower than the USA, wealth inequality is very similar. In fact, on a per capita basis, there are more billionaires in Sweden than in the USA.

[@totonow6955]

Very well done. Thank you. I am afraid you may have covid-19. You have a dry cough. Sorry. I'm a mom.

[@shantanukhandkar]

It works because of trust. It works because one group of people isn't running around calling another group of people class enemies. It works because the labour market is free and workers have negotiating power. It works because unions realize that the firms for whom their members work are not the enemy. It works because when people pay high taxes they know the benefits are going to come back to them and not to freeloaders who refuse to work. The Nordic model isn't socialist. It is capitalism done right.

[@yespls6260]

Glad I found this-- I was searching for videos on this topic but was only finding libertarian bullshit like the Ayn Rand Institute.

[@daPawlak]

With exception of Norway, nordics have about avarage state ownership level compared to the rest of Europe. So whatever works well in say Denmark or Finland but does not in France is definitly not thx to state ownership.

[@knudplesner]

The Nordic countries are more capitalist than the United States, we are not communists. The most democratic countries in the world are the Nordic countries and Canada and New Zealand. What we have in common is that we are the only countries in the world where the state works exclusively for the common good.

[@Diaanaaaaa]

The thing that you're missing are the people. This model works in the Scandinavian countries because their society and their behaviourism is similar to what they want to accomplish with their politics. Te culture is so different than the US and this model won't work there because it's heavily dependent on the society , if something slips everything will fall down . It's crazy how many people don't realise that.

[@functhefucc5798]

Welfare states work in many places, even fairly diverse ones. Germany has like 30 percent Immigrants (since a few decades already), and even though the German welfare state isnt the best in europe- it's still better than the USA. Same goes for France. The Major Problem with the US isn't culture- it's a lack of education, information and a Labor movement. PBS is severly underfunded, the amount of News companies drastically decreased since the 80s, and the mainstream news networks are bought off by your oligarchs. You guys have been brainwashed since the 80s that Labor -movements are somehow "unamerican". Bullshit. There is nothing More american than freeing yourself from the constraints of sociopathic billionaires. So yeah, your culture doesn't oppose a welfare state. Your billionaire oligarchs and their news networks do.

[@리주민]

If unions have 30% of the seats on corporate boards, do corporations have 30% of the seats on union boards for solidarity and equality?

[@PhilosophicalZombieHunter]

Socialism is when you use fossil fuel money to invest in Apple and Tesla. * chef's kiss *

[@knudplesner]

We in the Nordic countries have ALWAYS been against Marxism. In the 17th century, the Danish king joined forces with the peasants in the struggle against the power of the church and the lords. Ever since, the state has worked for the common good, and the citizens have retained their independence.

[@DD-zu9fy]

for sure, these countries are far more equal and better than the US, but this video was useless. He says that he has extensively studied these countries but gives ZERO real insight. Seems like Matt just pulled up a few charts and then described them. would have been far more helpful to actually TALK to people who live in these countries and find out the positives and negatives, find out how they got there, find out where they want to go next. anything other than just some stupid chart description.

[@qsohooo]

Haha I'm 3months late but i'm from Finland if you still have questions.

[@ekanem2954]

@@qsohooo wish you could make a video explaining more in depth how it all works, the history of your economic model and then the pros and cons

[@stonedzebra420]

this dude is cool but his wife is loony as hell

[@TheSpiritOfTheTimes]

What's loony about her?

[@timjkoala7556]

His wife is awesome