- Specifically, Sanders wants the United States to adopt a lot of the spending policies that many of the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) are commonly known to have. Policies such as government sponsored college education, paid parental leave, and universal healthcare.
Many of these new government programs would be expensive and necessitate higher taxes. It is instructive to look at how Scandinavian countries structure their tax systems in order to raise revenue for these programs. Interestingly, some of the ways that Scandinavian countries raise revenue may make Sanders, who is a proponent of highly progressive taxation, uncomfortable.
After a brief skimming, I'm not sure what the article is trying to say. But rest assured that Scandinavian countries have not found a way to defy the laws of economics and mathematics. There are negative consequences to using ever increasing amounts of other people's money.
While I am a big fan of how Scandinavian countries run things, I would imagine that it's much more difficult for a country like the U.S. to transition from very right wing economic policies to left wing ideals. Like the article says, many of these new government program would be expensive and necessitate higher taxes, something that will be felt by the population immediately, yet the payoff (i.e. improved public services) will take time to put in place and provide the aimed benefits of higher taxation. I think making such a shift from the left to the right means that things will always have ot get worse before they get better - I don't think voters will have the patience or foresight to elect (and certainly not re-elect) a president who would put such a plan in place. I think this is why many left wing ideals are borne out of times of crisis, when everything collapses and you need to rebuild from the ground up. Think the formation of the HSE after WWII, or for a much more modern example Iceland shifting dramatically to the left after the crash in 2008. It seems easier to build a left wing government in this way.
You don't want the Scandinavian system. We would all be vastly better off using our own money in a competitive market for health services. Think about it. How careful would you be when using someone else's money? -Not very, and that's how all public services are provided. There's no incentive to provide good service because other people's money will keep rolling in either way.
I honestly do not see how the US (given its current political state) can even come close to operating like Scandinavian countries within the next 10-15 years. While its refreshing to see these topics come up in mainstream media, especially with the come up of Bernie Sanders, the US is too constrained politically and socially to even give these ideas thought.