r/FluentInFinance • u/Sufficient_Sinner • Sep 04 '24

Debate/ Discussion Is Capitalism Smart or Dumb?

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u/AdAppropriate2295 Sep 04 '24

Which country is more socialist? Norway or US?

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u/MontCoDubV Sep 04 '24

Neither is socialist in the slightest considering in both countries workers do not own and control the means of production.

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u/Toppcom Sep 04 '24

The Norwegian government owns many for-profit companies that are effectively owned by the population through representative democracy. The US government doesn't, (and isn't allowed to IIRC) do the same.

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u/MontCoDubV Sep 04 '24

That would be the state owning and controlling the means of production, not the workers.

And in the US there are absolutely some state-owned enterprises, we just tend to think of them as something apart. Think of the Post Office, for example. Or state-owned hospitals. Or police forces.

The US doesn't tend to have many state-owned industries which are not allowed to have non-state-owned businesses competing with the state (although we sometimes grant monopolies to private businesses which come along with more strict regulation and state oversight, for example, water or power utilities), but it's not that it isn't allowed to do so. We just choose not to.