Sweden, Norway, etc?
Both do have great welfare services, but they are very capitalistic and had great wealth before implementing the services.
Norway can thank that oil for their great welfare.
edit: to the user below, you're arguing semantics. I know the definition of socialism and it cannot exist with capitalism. I suggest you read up.
You're conflating socialism with welfare services and arguing about the semantics of the two to reach your point.
tldr: I'm being critical of socialism, not "democratic socialism".
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rainerzitelmann/2019/11/11/bern...
Being a socialist country involves much more than the "production or distribution of goods and services".
You're overplaying even that because it's only one industry (healthcare).
Both Sweden and Norway are rated highly on the economic freedom index https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking.
Look it up. It is very hard to believe, but true. That exceeds communism.
102% income tax rate, people... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomperipossa_in_Monismania
They've been reversing their welfare programs and are rated highly on the economic freedom index.
Taxes are still high to pay for the welfare programs, but as they are reformed I'd assume the government will lower them.
Even so, America once had a 70% income tax, that didn't make us socialist, though it made us economically weak (thanks for the cuts Reagan, you saved us) .
https://fee.org/articles/is-sweden-socialist-no-but/
> Between 1870 and 1950, Sweden had the highest per capita income growth in the world and became one of the richest countries, behind only Switzerland, the U.S., and Denmark.
> In the 1960s, Sweden started to redistribute wealth, which brought wealth creation to a halt.
> By the mid-1990s, the country had growing economic problems because it continued to redistribute wealth it wasn’t creating.
> In 1994, Sweden began implementing the following measures designed to reverse this trend - Reduce Regulation - Reduce Government Spending - Reform their Welfare Programs - Shrink their Government
tldr: socialism is like crack, you only need to try it once and it'll destroy your life/country.