Sweden: Paradise on Earth?

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Kropotkin
Den siste kungen skall hängas med den siste biskopens tarmar!

Better.

[Kropotkin]

Yep!

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Kitschum


I must've missed that reference. Which article/issue, please?

Dec 29 2004. I believe the article title was "Faltering meritocracy in America".

[Kropotkin]

Actually, to see how the swedish regime is trying to handle the fact that even if they give everyone a good and decent change to get a good - well, decent - education, the children of the working class is still not going to college to the same degree as the middle class kids, is amusing. They are bound to come up with something stupid to change that soon.

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Last Conformist




You're seriously overestimating Sweden's military strength in 1941/42. They Germans estimated, in 1943, that the occupational forces in Norway alone should be enough to, should it become necessary, defeat and occupy Sweden, and while that might have been overly optimistic, it does say something about the relative strengths.

They had 400'000 troops in Norway from 1943 (14% of the population!). Combined with their air and naval superiority I bet they could have taken Sweden pretty easily if Hitler hadn't been so convinced the Allies would invade in Norway.

But IIRC Sweden began flexing its muscles vis a vis the Germans at the very end of the war (military exercises at the border, thinly veiled threats? I forget.). I'm sure Sweden would have gotten involved somehow if the Germans in Norway decided not to surrender (something they seriously considered ).

[Kropotkin]

My grandfather was a soldier during the war. His unit marched up and down the west coast all the time, in order to make it look like there was a lot more troop that defended the shores of Sweden.

[Flubber]

Sweden shows that capitalism can come in flavors very different from that seen in the US. I don't see it as a paradise but merely as an example of a capitalist society with a super-strong safety net. That's what I like about capitalism . . . it can come is so very many forms!!

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Kropotkin
Actually, to see how the swedish regime is trying to handle the fact that even if they give everyone a good and decent change to get a good - well, decent - education, the children of the working class is still not going to college to the same degree as the middle class kids, is amusing. They are bound to come up with something stupid to change that soon.

I don't really see why they should do something about it.

It's partly a question of genetics. If everyone has equal opportunity, the smartest ones will be the most succesful. Intelligence is a product of your parents. Some people will fail in their studies, no matter how good study environment you give them and how hard they try. Other people can succed despite a horrible childhood. But it's not PC to point that out, especially in Sweden, where the Social Democrats refuse to acknowledge genetical factors in human skills and behavior.

[Buck Birdseed]

PC? PC? **** off.

It's just three decades since you and your racial hygenist ilk were sterilising those with "unfit genes" wholesale. You nazi piece of scum.

[Jaakko]

Originally posted by Berzerker
Jaako

The Finns resisted the Russians and did so effectively - enough to stop at least 2 invasions. The Swedes have the Finns to thank for that. Now, you claim Finland is comparable to Sweden, aside from the fact one fought and the other didn't, how are they analogous?

The Finnish mixed economy welfare state is just as pervasive as the Swedish one. If it's such a corrupt system that can't hold up on its own, why was Finland, with none of the advantages that Sweden had, so successful with it as well?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie



I don't really see why they should do something about it.

It's partly a question of genetics. If everyone has equal opportunity, the smartest ones will be the most succesful. Intelligence is a product of your parents. Some people will fail in their studies, no matter how good study environment you give them and how hard they try. Other people can succed despite a horrible childhood. But it's not PC to point that out, especially in Sweden, where the Social Democrats refuse to acknowledge genetical factors in human skills and behavior.

I agree that people have different skills and work ethics.

Even removing genetics, there would still be differences even if initial education is identical based on parental expectations. I would expect that children of tradespeople are more likely to become tradespeople because that is what is more familiar. More children of doctors and lawyers becomre doctors and lawyers because this is what they know and because their parents probably expect more.

I'm just betting that if you took a thousand sets of identical twins and placed one in a working class family and the the other in a professional family but educated them identically, you would see a fairly good correlation in the types of jobs the twins chose to go into, with the types of jobs of their "parents".

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
PC? PC? **** off.

It's just three decades since you and your racial hygenist ilk were sterilising those with "unfit genes" wholesale. You nazi piece of scum.

Take a valium . I understand they are quite calming.

[Dinner]

Sweden is able to do well by sacrificing current and future economic growth. This can still provide a good standard of living as long as the population keeps falling but it the population starts increasing then the model will break down.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Kropotkin
Actually, to see how the swedish regime is trying to handle the fact that even if they give everyone a good and decent change to get a good - well, decent - education, the children of the working class is still not going to college to the same degree as the middle class kids, is amusing. They are bound to come up with something stupid to change that soon.

Probably they will start discriminating against people from an upper class background, or something brilliant like that. They seem to like that kind of strategies

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
PC? PC? **** off.

It's just three decades since you and your racial hygenist ilk were sterilising those with "unfit genes" wholesale. You nazi piece of scum.

Who said anything about racial hygiene? Don't Godwinize this discussion.

But as you vote for the communist party, I could imagine you deny that human treats and behavour are products of both heredity and environment. You can't just ignore one of these factors if you want to understand human nature.