Posted on 11/08/2007 4:59:05 PM PST by WesternCulture
Sweden:
"The Highest Standard of Living Anywhere"
The beautiful nation of Sweden has the highest standard of living in the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at namyth.com ...
What do you mean? He posted just 9 minutes before you.
Note, WC is normally the number three screen name on my "never respond to this person" list.
That post explains a lot, I've worked with Swedish companies in the past, negotiated with Swedish business people in the past, and I can confirm that they are the most arrogant, obnoxious, and self satisfied (insert epithet here)'s on the face of the earth.
They make Swiss and New Yorkers seem like twin pale shadows.
- Thanks for these words fellow freeper, right on target.
I hope the US will continue to forward the concept of ‘rugged’ individualism.
Europe is built on the brotherhood of soldiers (and I admit this culture has several Socialist traits). We are Vikings, Roman conscripts, Celtic warriors etc, etc.
Let’s all compete in the global race and when all is said and done and won, you Americans and we Europeans will discover we’ve been best friends all along!
Greetings from a cold corner of the earth where warm hearts and hot blood remain!
If you become more diversified, get back to me.
Since Sweden is 87% Lutheran, 13% "other" (includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist) it's quite obvious that the person who wrote this article had zero personal contact with present-day Sweden and piffling little knowledge of its history and culture for the last, oh, 400+ years.
It causes me to cast a rather skeptical eye on the rest of the article.
“Note, WC is normally the number three screen name on my “never respond to this person” list.”
- Is this because you hate the idea of anyone saying Sweden is more Capitalist than Socialist?
If you are a true Conservative (which I believe you are), you and I share the same enemy.
This message brought to you by your local public service labor union: a better life, through a bigger trough.
Since you’re in the area, maybe you can enlighten me. What is Norway doing to produce all these millionaires?
If it works so well; why do they all want to come to America?
Of course, Sweden is officially LUTHERAN, not Catholic.
All the same, the article provides some valid arguments against the stupid notion that Sweden is a Socialist success story.
The prosperity that exists in Scandinavia is the result of Capitalism, entrepreneurship, work ethics and business competence.
I lived 27 years in Denmark, 5 years in Greenland, 8 years in Sweden, 12 years in Spain, and now 24 years in the U.S.!
The least of these places I would live in is Sweden!!
Nothing beats living in the U.S. Period!!!
I don't understand why this guy is promoting Sweden to high heavens, WOW. Until last year or so, they were totally socialists, when they finally got the clue from Denmark and voted the socialists out???
I don’t wish to deny that oil has something to do with it,
BUT:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1864973/posts?page=2#2
Wow, you must be at least 100 years old!
Really? Our public schools seem to teach our children not to work too hard, to have balance in their lives - 1/3 social, 1/3 sports and 1/3 academics. Working too hard could make you into a nerd...
55% income tax:
This income tax, 55% of the Gross National Product, the highest income tax in the world, is also coupled with sales taxes, property taxes, and other excise taxes and tariffs. The Swedish sales tax, a "value added tax", ranges to 22.5% of items sold, on various goods including most foods. The total ownership of public goods by the Swedish government is roughly 64%, closing in on 70%, once you include all these other forms of taxation. That is not including government-owned means of production, which control about a full quarter of Swedish productivity.
Socialism is Stagnant ism. Did anybody read this?
But does it really work?
the highest standard of living:
Sweden's most affront claim, that it has the world's highest standard of living, is often based on the measure of equality in wealth redistribution, and not on the status of the national economy, the buying power of the Swedish crown (Krona), the amount of people working for productive aims or creating innovations, nor it's Gross National Product. Claims based on these other properties of the Swedish economy, in support of their "highest standard of living" claim, are mysteriously non-existent.
blossoming industry:
Sweden is a great place to start a new business - if you don't plan on being successful. A more lax economic policy in the '90s has increased new startups by 25%, but the economic attitude towards business hasn't changed much since the '70s, where entrepreneurs were treated like pariahs. Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad told Forbes magazine that the Swedish tax bureaucrats would frequently accuse him of using people and "only wanting profits".
ranks far higher than the United States in most measurements:
The Swedish Institute of Trade reported in 2002 that "the median household income in Sweden at the end of the 1990s was the equivalent of $26,800, compared with a median of $39,400 for U.S. households". If Sweden were introduced to the U.S. as a new state, it would rank as the poorest according to these standards. This is in light of the fact that these numbers are gross values - before taxes - and Sweden has the highest taxes in the world. The same report also shows that Swedes fare lower than the lowest American socio-economic class, working-class black males.
free of homeless, reckless, crazy people:
The unfortunate in Sweden often don't roam the streets aimlessly, in fact, few are often found. That's because the state subsidizes them to live in optimal conditions and to provide little work - and if they are put into labor, it's in a public enterprise run by the government, to help reduce the official share of unemployed people. Workers can earn up to 570 paid days off a year (that's no typo - we know there are only 365 days a year - Swedes can earn more paid days off than days they actually work). So where are the poor, crazy, reckless people of Sweden? Living off Swedish tax money and taking up their inequitable residence in Swedish neighborhoods, and growing in numbers since the financial prosperity of the cradle-to-grave system doesn't discourage their lacklazy habits. They are often joined by productive Swedish citizens who simply take time off, after "earning" years of unemployment benefits. These categories, since they are subsidized, are not officially considered "unemployed" in most Swedish statistics, even though both demographics do no actual work. After making the observation that loons don't wander the streets of Sweden, P.J. O'Rourke commented in his book "Eat the Rich" - "The last time I walked through Gamla Stan, I didn't wonder where the crazy people were. In Sweden the craziness is redistributed fairly. They're all a little crazy."
well adjusted churchgoing citizens:
Sweden adopts Catholicism as it's official religion, and many of it's subsidized public schools are Catholic schools. This essentially forces most Swedes to take part and finance Catholic religious practices, whether they like it or not.
55% income tax:
This income tax, 55% of the Gross National Product, the highest income tax in the world, is also coupled with sales taxes, property taxes, and other excise taxes and tariffs. The Swedish sales tax, a "value added tax", ranges to 22.5% of items sold, on various goods including most foods. The total ownership of public goods by the Swedish government is roughly 64%, closing in on 70%, once you include all these other forms of taxation. That is not including government-owned means of production, which control about a full quarter of Swedish productivity.
history of strong family values:
The history of Swedish domestic relations is chock full of civil rights abuses. 62,000 Swedes were forcibly sterilized by the Swedish government over a 40 year period, until 1974, by government researchers who judged families as being "racially inferior". These sterilizations included both the parents and their children. During this time period, a Swedish Television documentary revealed that Sweden lobotomized at least 500 "undesirables", in some cases without the consent of their families, and that lobotomizations may have numbered up to 4,500 people. These practices predated and surpassed the era of Nazi Germany.
the most progressive education system in the world: Education is universally free in Sweden, and like other free government-sponsored systems, it's on the verge of financial collapse and decay. Per student Sweden pays an average of $7,000 a year, while the 9 years of elementary schooling is required, high school and further education is not. Students receive financial benefits for continuing to high school, in the form of about $100 a month, although by college most people have got weaned on the Swedish unemployment system. Some High School students teach Elementary school, while Colleges teach what Swedish High Schools did 15 years ago, showing the recent decline in the quality of Swedish education. To solve unemployment figures, many unemployed people are forced into menial courses to change their status from "unemployed" to "student", illustrating the general sense of misuse of the Swedish education system.
extremely low unemployment:
Sweden, like other Socialist nations, use methods to "hide" unemployment figures from staticians, reflecting a "strong economy". Most people on the government dole are changed in status to not be considered "unemployed", for instance, out of work citizens are often considered "on paid leave", or given a menial class and considered "students", or simply conscripted into public works programs funded by the government and given menial labor there. The government's ability to fund the unemployed hides unemployment numbers, giving Sweden years of having unemployment numbers like 2%. This, like other Socialist nations of it's ilk, does not reflect the real life numbers of regularly working people.
Third Way:
Swedes often argue that their system is not Socialism, since only a fourth of the Swedish main lines of production are owned by the government. However, this is in light of the government owning 70% of the Swedish Gross National Product, and controlling the direction of industry through heavy regulation. By mandating who can provide what products and services, and controlling media, education and public utilities, Sweden definitely has found a "Third Way" between Capitalism and Socialism - that way, of course, being to fake Capitalism, where the Socialist goals of redistribution of wealth and products are realized without calling most industry "publicly owned". This same trick of a "Mixed Economy" is used by Socialist economists all around the world to help give government progressive control over trade.
The lesson of the Third Way? Free trade is not free just because someone calls it "free".
superior unionization:
Unions in Sweden have become hyper organized, and government involvement is obscure and questionable. Super-union organizations like the LO have official affiliations with the Social Democratic Party, and work closely with the authorities to push domestic reform provisions they feel are "in the interest of the workers".
strong economy:
While the government spent 70% of the Swedish Gross National Product in the '90s, for 4 years the national debt doubled and for 3 years the nation experienced negative financial growth.
Socialistic success story:
Whether the massive welfare state of Sweden with it's cradle-to-grave public aid, ultra-high taxation, and dishonest economic policies is considered a success is something we'll leave entirely up to the reader.
Did anybody read this article? I read it and I still have the funny feeling that Socialism sucks and it doesn't work. The article says that if Sweden were introduced to the US as a new State, she would be the poorest in our Country.
Thanks for clearing things up. Willful ignorance about the rest of the world is one of the great features about living in America. It might even be written in the Constitution or one of the abendments!
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