> Scandinavia has very free market open economies coupled with extensive welfare states financed by high taxes.

That's a contradictory statement. High taxes represent a high level of intervention in the economy/market, which is the opposite of a free market.

It's not "working" in Scandinavia either, by the way.

There's a limit to how much you can intervene in your economy before it collapses. We're just not as far along the path as Venezuela.