Originally Posted by Charlatan

These nations have free markets (as much as *any* market is free today) but they also have a lot of social services (universal health care, national daycare, etc.).

These are so-called Socialist trappings that many on the extreme right would cry individuals should pay for...

In effect, the wealth of the nation is combined (via taxation) and then distributed back to the citizen by way of services.

In my mind, this is the ideal form of government. You get the flexibility of a capitalist system but you also have a highly educated (subsidized to universal education at all levels - University included). Your economy is not centrally planned but the government exercises the power of a single buyer in key areas of the economy (i.e. healthcare) thereby cutting out price gouging.

It isn't perfect but what system is.

In the end, it takes an increasingly collective position in the face of increasing individualism.