Also, did you watch the video? The video is titled "Three stories about capitalism."
The first story is "Capitalism is the worst thing to ever happen and is akin to slavery!"
The second story is "Capitalism is the best thing to ever happen and there are no issues with it"
The third story is the one that he says is the truest. "Capitalism has its problems, but in general has built a significantly better way of life for us."
I've gone through this data very deeply.
There are a LOT of benefits to mixed-economies like Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
1) Denmark, Norway and Sweden have significantly lower unemployment (technically higher labor-force participation rates) And it’s not a small difference. US = ~60% Labor Force Participation, Scandavanian countries = ~75% Labor Force Participation. While it sounds intuitive, there’s no evidence for the hypothesis that the idea that ‘if you just give people money, they’ll have no incentive to work and just stay home all day;” in fact
experiments in Finland found that it didnt change employment status at all. It made them no less (or more) likely to get employment. People don’t only work for money, they work because it gives them a sense of purpose.
2) Despite having a lower Per capita income, Danish people are the happiest in the world. The rich are happier. The poor are happier.
3) In societies with lower income inequality, everyone is less stressed, crime is lower, health is better, mental health is better, it's easier to start a business, social mobility is up
4) One argument is that if the profit motive is blunted, it would reduce innovation. Sounds intuitive, but again, no evidence. In fact we see a rise in innovation in nations with less inequality. Germany, France, Italy all have extensive social safety net programs and I see no evidence of reduced innovation. There are a lot of great companies from the Scandinavian countries as well… Spotify, Electrolux, H&M, etc. Norway is the home to the Nobel Prize and a utopia for scientists and scientific discovery. I see no lack of innovation from countries with strong welfare systems. And SOCIAL MOBILITY is F*cking amazing in countries with these types of programs. Economic mobility is essentially ‘how likely is it for a poor person to become very rich” The data on this is VERY clear.
5) It’s significantly easier to start a business in Canada than the US, despite similar cultures.
Here’s probably my biggest argument for a strong mixed-economy. So on this forum we used to all watch this show called "The Undercover Millionaire." There was a part where the star of the show, Glen Sterns made an excellent point. When he was creating his business he said something along the lines of "before you can start a business you have to have the basic needs covered." I think that strong social programs are the reason that starting a business is so easy in Canada or Denmark. When there's a safety net, and failure doesn't equate to homelessness for your whole family you are free to explore other creative and entrepreneurial pursuits. I mean, the advent of capitalism and modern society CAME FROM people having enough food after agriculture was developed. Agriculture was invented and all of a sudden people didnt have to spend all day hunting food. All of a sudden they had the time to invent calculus, and science,
Once people have the basic necessities covered they can actually innovate, which leaves us ALL better off.
So anyway, I digress. Capitalism is great. Bus so are strong social safety-nets.
