https://humanevents.com/2026/08/17/dsas-socialist-paradise-sweden-is-actually-a-low-debt-pro-free-market-nation-with-tight-immigration-controls

DSA's own publication Democratic Left praised Sweden and Norway (another country that does not fit the bill) as having developed “the world’s most just economic model to date,” while Sen. Bernie Sanders has repeatedly pointed to Sweden and its Nordic neighbors as examples

[after much crisis,] "The government slashed public spending, privatized state monopolies, and carried out what was known as the tax reform of the century," Zakaria said. The top income tax rate subsequently fell from nearly 90 percent in the 1980s to around 50 percent today, while public social spending has fallen to roughly 24 percent of GDP. Sweden's government debt is now about 36 percent of GDP, according to figures shown by Zakaria, while the US is above 120 percent.

Former Bildt economic adviser Lars Jönsson summarized the transformation by saying, "We have put a capitalist revolution into a former, very strongly socialist-oriented society."

Sweden's shift has extended to immigration. After accepting more than 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the country moved toward one of Europe's most restrictive immigration systems. "The country's new model of a leaner state and tighter borders now has broad support across both right and left," Zakaria said.