Newsweek - USA (2019-06-21)

BY

SAM HILL

“The danger of an armed clash still exists.” » P.

Illustration by BRITT SPENCER NEWSWEEK.COM 11

the world is North Korea, whose ranking of 5.9 is

20 points below the next country on the list. But

the least socialist, or free-est, country in the world

isn’t the United States. Not even close.

The U.S. is way down the list at twelfth, with a

score of 77. That’s the same score as The Nether-

lands. It’s just a fraction above Denmark, and less

than two points above Sweden, countries that Ber-

nie Sanders has named as his socialist ideals.

The closeness of those scores would probably

surprise progressives—and also surprise conserva-

tives, who fear ending up like Sweden only slightly

less than finding themselves in an elevator with

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

In fact, almost all Western countries are in a nar-

row range between 65 and 80. When

we argue socialism vs. capitalism in

the context of the U.S., we’re pretty

much arguing whether to turn the

thermostat up or down, not whether

a woman in my fitness class proudly

proclaimed last week that she was a social-

ist. Who knows why. But it did start a passionate

debate about socialism vs. capitalism. Passionate,

but a little confused. And there’s a good reason

why: It’s a dumb argument.

During my business career, I worked in 26 coun-

tries. I learned how misleading the labels “social-

ism” and “capitalism” are. All modern economies

are a mix of both, and the U.S. is about as socialist

as everyone else.

For 25 years, the Heritage Foundation, a conser-

vative think tank based in Washington, has put out

The Index of Economic Freedom. Every country in

the world is ranked from 0 to 100. An economy

completely free of government

intervention, essentially the

“least socialist,” would score 100.

According to the 2019 Index,

the most socialist country in

The False

Debate Over

Socialism

in the U.S.

In terms of economic policy, the U.S. is ranked

roughly on par with Denmark and Sweden—countries

Bernie Sanders has named as his socialist ideals

OPINION

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