<HTML><HTML>In a message dated 11/21/04 2:04:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, lbo-talk-request@lbo-talk.org writes: Andie wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Both Sweden and the US are capitalist dictatorships in which the workers writhe under the iron heel of capital. Right? </BLOCKQUOTE> I don't get this at all. Sweden and the US are both capitalist states, which isn't to say they are identical capitalist states. In the former, the working class and social provision are much stronger. But in both, the right to private property in the means of production is upheld. Is this controversial?  </HTML>