The Nordic "paradise" is history's greatest bait-and-switch. Before the welfare state, Scandinavia was a raw, low-tax, free-market powerhouse - that's what made it rich. The welfare system didn't create the wealth; it's been burning it ever since. When the tank nearly emptied in the 1990s, even Sweden quietly reversed course - cutting taxes, privatizing, deregulating. The fairy tale's real moral? Markets build prosperity; welfare consumes it.