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Comment by mikaeluman | Hacker News Reader

I am from Sweden.

What you are talking about is not "freedom". It is collective insurance.

That may be efficient and convenient if done properly. But it has nothing to do with freedom. Read other posts...

As someone from Norway who have lived in the US and who is married to an American I understand what he is talking about. Lacking insurance limits your ability to actually go ahead and start companies. Also Scandinavia generally has stronger pro-competition laws which evens the playing field and makes it easier to enter a market. E.g. it is easier to become a cell phone or broadband provider in Scandinavia than in the US which often lets established business write all sorts of regulation for them which limits others from entering a market. Many in the US have no choice with respect to electric power. Usually the utilities owning the connecting lines has a local monopoly.

Businesses in the US are often free to impose all sorts of draconian contracts on you wish limits your freedom in many ways. E.g. anti-competitive clauses are common in the US. E.g. you can't work at at a competing company when you quite for quite some time.

The problem with American "freedom" is that it is often too much freedom to take away your freedoms. Scandinavia tends to give less freedom to private enterprise to take away freedom from you or others. Freedom is a complicated concept. It is much like tolerance. It is very hard to have a tolerant society which tolerates intolerance.

I'm not saying the safety net is necessarily part of economic freedom (although, I'd argue it does give individuals freedom from oppression by employers, which is different but still valuable). But, my main point is that I think Scandinavians are actually generally more pro-capitalist, pro-entrepreneur than people think. I feel like Americans are more likely to pass anticompetitive laws or impose tariffs on others, for example.

On that point you are correct.

US combines the worst of two worlds in so many ways.

Sweden at least does "socialism" correct in some areas.

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