Declínio do modelo escandinavo

Via Johan Norberg, um artigo do New York Times (registo obrigatório):

The received wisdom about economic life in the Nordic countries is easily summed up: people here are incomparably affluent, with all their needs met by an efficient welfare state. They believe it themselves.
(...)
[A study] from KPMG, the international accounting and consulting firm (...) indicated that when disposable income was adjusted for cost of living, Scandinavians were the poorest people in Western Europe. Danes had the lowest adjusted income, Norwegians the second lowest, Swedes the third. Spain and Portugal, with two of Europe's least regulated economies, led the list.

Os portugueses são mais "ricos" que dinamarqueses, suecos ou noruegueses!

Os apologistas do modelo escandivano defenderão que, em contrapartida dos altos impostos (que reduzem o rendimento disponível), os nórdicos têm serviços públicos de qualidade. Mas, será que assim é? No mesmo artigo:

In Oslo, library collections are woefully outdated, and public swimming pools are in desperate need of maintenance. News reports describe serious shortages of police officers and school supplies. When my mother-in-law went to an emergency room recently, the hospital was out of cough medicine. Drug addicts crowd downtown Oslo streets, as The Los Angeles Times recently reported, but applicants for methadone programs are put on a months-long waiting list.

Os serviços públicos vivem do que confiscam ao sector privado. Quanto mais altos os impostos, menos dinheiro resta para a criação de riqueza. Hoje, o Estado até pode fornecer serviços de qualidade, mas amanhã, quando a fonte secar, poucos continuarão a admirar o "modelo escandinavo". À semelhança do que aconteceu com o "modelo comunista"...