Posted on 04/22/2011 6:51:55 AM PDT by PapaBear3625
The recent surge of scepticism in Finland toward the eurozone bailout package has gone down badly in Portugal, where many have taken offence. Finland can now scupper the whole package, which is currently being negotiated in Lisbon. Former Portuguese President Mario Soares wrote on Thursday that Finland has become an ‘arch-conservative country’.
The True Finns’ charge has affected Finland’s image in many countries. The True Finns are seen as extreme right wing nationalists who are anti-Europe and anti-foreigner.
(Excerpt) Read more at yle.fi ...
The immigrant/refugee Muslim populations are disproportionately consumers of welfare. They will NOT react well on the day the welfare payments don't come.
BTW, the "True Finns" are populist rather than conservative. They are not against the Welfare State -- they just want ONLY native Finns to be able to get it.
ping
Portugal wants money and resorts to name calling to get it. lol @ petty thieves.
“They are not against the Welfare State — they just want ONLY native Finns to be able to get it”
That is a conservative position. If it conserves their country and moves it away from destruction, it is by nature conservative.
There is not some absolute conservative that someone can define. If they are trying to conserve their country, that is what conservative means.
Someday, the Portuguese may realize that. If they don't, they'll slide into third-world status, something the Finns evidently want to avoid.
All that salted cod are making the Portagees hyper.
From the Finns I know (well!) this would be an accurate summation. Further - they are an honorable country and by their nature thrifty.
Note that they are the ONLY country that repaid their entire WW1 debts - I’m pretty sure no other nation has done that.
Finns are angry because, like the Austrians, Dutch and Germans, they dislike rushing to the aid of countries that in their eyes have cheated, idled, lived beyond their means and let reckless bankers run amok. To many Finns, the post-1991 strategy of openness to Europe threatens to turn their nation into a cow milked by foreign scoundrels for its money. But above all, Finns want politicians to listen seriously to their concerns. This is a trend discernible all over western Europe. Neither in Finland nor anywhere else can it be truly said that the mainstream political parties have delivered a convincing response.The EU bureaucrats are unelected and do not answer to the people they rule. This gives them a degree of arrogance in how they structure their decrees. The rumblings from the people are getting louder.
“Of course the bailouts raise questions,” he said. “Will we get that money back? Where are the banks? This is their problem.”Later in the NYT article above:At the same time, Mr. Pouttu said he was worried that Finland had admitted too many refugees. “It does not touch me personally,” he said. “But it bugs me that by law we have to give them apartments. When I retired, no one gave me an apartment.”
Mr. Rehn, the European Union’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner, encouraged Finnish lawmakers to consider the country’s long-term interests, taking into account what might happen, say, when the bloc takes up agricultural subsidies.This is the Chicago-style method that the EU bureaucracy uses: "play along, or we will make you pay for your rebellion".
This European tea party movement has something else in common with the American version: an ambivalence, if not outright hostility, to compromise. At the EU level, which is built on consensus, this intransigence threatens to derail the euro-zone and even put the future of European integration in jeopardy.Translation: European people, especially in Northern Europe, are getting tired of being taxed to support loafers and hostile & criminal immigrants. They are also getting tired of the rule of their "elites". This is just the first rumblings of the impending eruption.
“..Finland Accused Of ‘Arch-Conservatism’...”
That’s a damned fine compliment, I’d say!!!!
Stand tall Finns.
Arch conservatism? Absolutely scandalous! Time to put them on Double-Secret Probation.
From the US perspective, True Finns would probably be called “Reagan democrats”, or “blue dogs”.
Strong on defense, police, family values, and national values (i.e. less power to EU). They strongly oppose gay marriage.
Party has many union members who got elected to the parlament. They are not similar to US union activists, though. The party advocates slightly higher taxes for the rich, though not in the soak-the-rich class warfare way.
They want to keep the decent social benefits to finnish citizens (as opposed to those who just arrive there to look for free money - recently a lot of people from Romania and Africa have arrived and caused a lot of problems).
Finland had successful free market/welfare/social reforms in the 1990’s. Finances are in good shape and pension benefits are quite sustainable, at least in much better shape than in Southern Europe.
Although the socialism in Scandanavia is showing signs of fatigue, the reason it “works” as well as it reputedly does is simple. Until fairly recently, they had a very homogenous culture that all shared more or less the same values and work ethic, with no foreign cultures shoving their way in to take advantage of “evil, white Zionist infidels.”
Finland’s nationalism is a plus. We could use some of that here.
“Arch conservatism” = “Those tightwad bast_rds won’t give us any more of their money.”
They forgot racists, bigots, mysogonistic homophobes. And I have it on good authority that Finns hate cute little puppies and kitties.
Thanks PapaBear3625. I tried to find a bathroom in Portugal one time, noticed that men were just going right in the street, so I did the same, and everyone said “European”.
Note that they are the ONLY country that repaid their entire WW1 debts - I’m pretty sure no other nation has done that.
on that tangent,
I’m pretty sure Germany repaid it’s final debt payment within the last 24 months.
"Scepticism" is a socialist euphemism for "against/anti/opposed". They wouldn't want anyone to get the impression anyone could be against a "truth/fact/absolute".
"BTW, the "True Finns" are populist rather than conservative."
"Populist" is EUrotopia socialist speak for anyone right of hard core leftist and left of Nazi. "Conservative" is a perfectly good description of anyone to the right of any status quo in Europe. Lefties just hate the word.
yitbos
Portugal’s budget deficit for 2010 has been revised higher to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product, raising pressure on the caretaker government as it negotiates the terms of a bailout likely to reach 80 billion euros.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/24/us-portugal-deficit-idUSTRE73N0R420110424
The collapse of one will bring down others, as the death throes of one collapsing welfare state will suck up the funds that otherwise would keep the others propped up. When one welfare system stops giving money out to non-workers, it will produce welfare refugees that will swamp the systems of neighboring welfare states, in a cascading collapse. This will happen in Europe, and it will happen in the US (hopefully on a state-by-state basis so that we have a chance of saving ourselves in the collapse.
The collapse will bring economic dislocations, increased crime, and looting. Be prepared.
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