“Immitate the stuff that brought us wealth, not the stuff that almost brought us ruin.”

Nice short video about what makes Sweden great (HT: Café Hayek).

 

Government-can-solve-all types often point to Sweden’s big governments as something to imitate, but they get cause and effect backwards. Big government didn’t cause Sweden’s wealth. As Norbert points out in the video, Sweden got rich first off free trade and an open economy.

This is very important to keep in mind. I wrote about this in regards to a burrito business way back when. Government is overhead. While it provides some valuable services, just like the overhead functions of a burrito business (like accounting, HR, etc.), selling the burritos is what keeps the overhead functions busy, not the other way around.

 

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Things aren’t so bad

From the NY Times:

With disparities in wealth greater than at any time since the Gilded Age, the gap is widening between the highly affluent — who find themselves behind the velvet ropes of today’s economy — and everyone else.

 

You might think the article is about how the wealthy can afford better health care or something like that.

Nope. It’s about cruise line companies offering luxury experiences for a higher price removed from the masses on their boats.

What’s not addressed in the article: We’re doing pretty good if the masses can afford to take cruises. A generation ago they couldn’t.