Sen. Bernie Sanders often points to northern Europe as a prototype of the kinds of economies and societies he wants to build as president of the United States of America. At Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, for instance, the 78-year-old candidate from Vermont said, “Let’s talk about democratic socialism (…) let’s talk about what goes on in countries like Denmark!”
The presidential hopeful’s comment was in response to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg describing Sanders’ agenda as “communism” during a heated exchange.
“We’re not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries tried that,” Bloomberg told Sanders. “It was called communism, and it just didn’t work.”
Sanders says his policies are just like Denmark’s; Bloomberg says Sanders’ agenda looks like something out of the Soviet Union. Who’s right?
It’s difficult to reduce entire economies to soundbites, but one thing is clear: On issue after issue, when you move past Sanders’ bumper sticker slogans and study the details of his policies, they are often well to the left of what they have in Europe and closer to the practices of former Soviet states, like Cuba. – READ MORE
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