Can you name the ways in which Sweden is a Socialist nation? I'm aware of very few things that can even be argued to define them as such. Quite the opposite, their overwhelming characteristics economically are that they heavily rely on the market economy determined by individual business owners and investors rather than a command economy dictated by the State.
- Do they allow private ownership of property, including the means of production? Yes, Sweden's economy is almost entirely driven by private businesses.
- Does nearly all of their economy function around private business ownership? Yes.
- Do they allow the existence of so called capital classes? People whose wealth is primarily existent in capital, investment, real estate, etc.? Yes.
- Do they force the redistribution of wealth, so as to attempt to prevent the existence of rich and poor classes? No.
- Do they allow the private ownership of real estate, farm land, etc? Yes.
- May the government arbitrarily nationalize your wealth, investments, or business? No, that would be a rare event in Sweden.
- Do they primarily function via the free market economy of non-coerced trade? Or is all trade primarily dictated by the State? Right, almost entirely free trade.
- Does the State determine all investment priorities for all businesses? No, quite the opposite, businesses are free to set their own priorities, build new products at will, choose how they allocate capital.
- Does the State dictate most allocations of capital? No, the opposite.
Things like healthcare, slightly heavy economic regulation, education - are the primarily arguments I'm aware of regarding Sweden, however those define them as a welfare state, not a Socialist state. The US for example has vast free healthcare, housing, and food systems, along with a massive entitlement system, which is why the US is also a welfare state (and not primarily a Capitalist nation as it was a hundred years ago).
Government spending as % of GDP is an excellent metric re size of the government relative to the private economy. This assumes that as a nation is more socialist, the size of the government will increase.
Sweden slightly over 50% (http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/government-spending-t...) U.S. 20% (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S)
I don't doubt that private property ownership is permissible in Sweden, but the government dominates GDP as compared to any single private sector.
> - Do they force the redistribution of wealth, so as to attempt to prevent the existence of rich and poor classes? No.
Sweden has higher personal tax rates than the U.S. I dispute your "No." here.
> - May the government arbitrarily nationalize your wealth, investments, or business? No, that would be a rare event in Sweden.
It depends. The Swedish government is a highly functional one and will not act capriciously. I believe they will step in and nationalize wealth/real property if doing so was important to the wellbeing of the nation, whereas the U.S. even during the bailouts of 2008 went through great pains to avoid direct government ownership / control, even to the point of handing private equity firms free risk-adjusted money.
> - Does the State determine all investment priorities for all businesses? No, quite the opposite, businesses are free to set their own priorities, build new products at will, choose how they allocate capital.
Given the GDP % stated above, this is debatable.
> - Does the State dictate most allocations of capital? No, the opposite.
Same as the previous point.
Sweden does have a lower corporate tax rate than the U.S., though the U.S. tax code offsets this by providing a multitude of different deductions for business expenses. Among other things, government imposed fines are tax deductible as per the U.S. Tax Code. When it comes to personal tax rates, Sweden's rate is much higher than the rate in the U.S. (http://taxfoundation.org/blog/how-scandinavian-countries-pay...)
Not debating the validity of your larger point here, but your assertion re Sweden being economically free as compared to the U.S. isn't that accurate. It is a very much a socialist nation that is also very prosperous.