The truth behind "does socialism work"

Anti socialists like to point out to Venezuela and the inefficiency of US government, socialists like to point out to Scandinavia (even thought they're not really socialists). So who is right? The truth is that weather or not (or how effectively) socialism works is dependant on culture. Scandinavians have a more collectivists culture while the US is more individualist. In collectivist societies, people have collectivist values and therefor incentives. In invidualist cultures, people have more individualist values. So in collectivist societies, socialism has an easier time working, than in individualist societies. That is why the US has such resistance to socialism. Because it's an individualistic culture where socialism is less likely to work effectively and were government tends to be less efficient.

Another factor is ethnic diversity. Sociological studies tell us ethnic and racial diversity is bad for social trust and for society in general. People more like seeing their taxes go to their own ethnic group. There are various reasons for this some of them very good ones and not just "racism". Scandinavia was very ethnically homogenous until very recently. The US is very ethnically diverse. Just because partial socialism sort of works in Scandinavia and in Europe, does not mean it will effectively work in the US.