 for Iran. So why not do as Bhaskar is suggesting and simply move towards what the Nordic countries are doing with more generous welfare programs and higher taxes, but it seems like a pretty straightforward trade-off? Well, because it's a miserable trade-off and the Nordic countries are not a model for anything. And one has to know a little bit of history about the Nordic countries. So if you go back to the 19th century, Sweden, for example, and you can take any one of the Nordic countries, this is true. Sweden was one of the poorest, if not the poorest country in Europe. It was an agrarian country and it was good poor while a lot of Swedes landed up immigrating to the United States. In about 1870, Sweden passed laws that basically made it the freest country in Europe from a capitalist perspective. They became a capitalist nation in the economic freedom index. They would have ranked as one of the freest countries in the world. And indeed, they maintained that situation from 1870 until the mid 20th century, until about 1960. And they were both free capitalists and or relatively capitalists. And at the same time, they became the wealthiest country in Europe. Sweden during those periods was on a per capita GDP basis, one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. And about 1960, they adopted socialism. And from 1960 on, they dropped, in terms of wealth per capita, dramatically. They lost all their industries. Indeed, industries left Sweden unmasked to the point where I think in 1979, the largest industry in Sweden was ABBA. Because industry is gone. And by 1994, Sweden was bankrupt. They had basically taken all the wealth that they created during the capitalist period and redistributed it. And now they had none. They were bankrupt. And since 1994, in which direction is Sweden gone? Not far enough, in my view. But they have gone towards reducing benefits. They have gone towards massively deregulating the economy, privatizing those sections of the economy that were nationalized. And today, Sweden, on the Economic Freedom Index, ranks relatively high. It is not. And when Buddy Sanders a few years ago said, I want socialism like Denmark. It was the prime minister of Denmark who came out and said, we're not socialists. There's no socialism in Scandinavia. Their markets are free. They are less regulated than we are now. They're not capitalist. But then America is not capitalist either. We were capitalist a long time ago. And yes, I'd love to answer a question about the 19th century. But we're not free anymore. We're mixed economies. Sweden is mixed. They redistribute more, but they regulate less than we do. We regulate more and we redistribute less. What we need today, what I call the new intellectual, would be any man or woman who is willing to think. Meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason, by the intellect, not by feelings, wishes, wins or mystic revelations. Any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of despair, cynicism and impotence and does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist brought. Using the super chat. And I noticed yesterday when I appealed for support for the show, many of you step forward and actually supported the show for the first time. So I'll do it again. Maybe we'll get some more today. If you like what you're hearing, if you appreciate what I'm doing, then I appreciate your support. Those of you who don't yet support the show, please take this opportunity. Go to your on book show.com slash support or go to subscribe star.com. You're on book show and and make a kind of a monthly contribution to keep this to keep this going. I'm not showing the next