"Name three countries and a comedian."
Did you notice how close you came this year? 40 below in Serbia!
This can happen again and you won't have a summer NEXT YEAR!
I"m sure most the native Scandinavians will survive but the immigrants from the ME will be out of business.
Great post again as usual. :)
After spending some time in your country, I would say that you you can not lump Sweden with ALL of Scandinavia. Sweden is by far the most “Americanized” country in Europe. Spending time in other Scandinavian countries, I could not WAIT to get back to Sweden were things were more affordable (crazy as it sounds) and less stifling. I would say Sweden is freer than most of the northeastern United States and California. Probably due to reform. You have been where we are hell bent on heading.
"Name three countries and a comedian."
While the US and Northern Europe will likely be the wealthiest per capita for the remainder of the century, projecting beyond that is anyone's guess. And China will likely struggle for another 25 years just to get to the UK's per capita GDP. However, as far as leading the world, you need to keep in mind, that China is probably only 20 years away from having an economy larger than the entire European Union. China's GDP is already larger than Germany and France combined and by the end of the decade Germany, France, UK, and Italy.
So, realistically, in terms of who will lead the world 200 years from now, its a stretch to say Northern Europe. Let alone 25 years from now. Over the next 25 years, Chinese investment dollars will continue to climb higher in Europe and even places like Sweden. The Chinese already own Volvo and if it were not for the intervention of GM, they would already own Saab.
Once again, I respect your point of view and don't find Scandinavian pride offensive (I worked with a guy once who was from Sweden, so I understand this perspective).
But we also need to keep in mind certain realities, and that is, the combined population of the Nordic countries would be equal to one large Chinese city. And while the average wealth of the Scandinavians will remain higher than the Chinese for the remainder of the century, we need to keep in mind, that China, and not Northern Europe, will move the world. And I'm not talking 200 years from now, I'm talking about 25-30 years from now.