Ok, here we go with Vimothy’s questionable links on the allegedly pitiful state of Sweden. The main problem with them is that they come from very unreliable sources, are very old, and are mostly very much beside the point. Like with the two year old comment from then Social Democrat PM Göran ‘the market is an excellent servant but a terrible master’ Persson: it’s like citing some old Chirac communiqué assuming that it will reflect the policies of Sarkozy. We have a rightist bloc ruling things nowadays, you know.
Unemployement:
It takes a few seconds to check up the American unemployment number, 5.1% in May. Not so with Sweden. Yes, there is an official number, 5.2% in May 2005. But this figure is almost compleatly worthless. The true unemployment number is in fact closer to 20%, as shown below. Sweden has several massive government programs that contain must of the unemployed, chiefly Early Retirement, Sick Leave, Labor Market Programs and Welfare. In addition, since students get a monthly stipend and loan, many unemployed continue to study when they can’t find work.
Starting this autumn, Sweden will apply the EU standard of calculating unemployment, but for the moment, most people use figures hovering around 10 percent or so. The offical unemployment figures have dived about 2 percent since last summer (from about 6 percent to about 4 percent). The sick-leave and early retirement article is harping on that very same issue so I won’t dwell on that.
Sweden, like the rest of the West, has a lot of aging boomers, and, yes, the cure is immigration ...
But immigration is costing Sweden billions:
Det finns flera studier som visar att arbetsmarknadsläget är väsentligt mycket bättre för den andra generationens invandrare än för den första.
Dessutom ställer inte Jansson den relevanta frågan "kostnad för vem". Läsaren kan ju få intrycket av Janssons framställning att den infödda befolkningen belastas med 267 miljarder kronor per år.
Detta är naturligtvis inte fallet redan av de skäl som nämnts men också av följande skäl: för den infödda befolkningen är den relevanta frågan i stället hur stor är skillnaden mellan vad invandrarna tar i anspråk av den offentliga sektorn och vad de bidrar med i form av direkta och indirekta skatter samt socialförsäkringsavgifter.
För närvarande är läget att invandrarna årligen tar i anspråk cirka 30 miljarder kronor mer av den offentliga sektorn än vad de bidrar med i form av direkta och indirekta skatter samt socialförsäkringsavgifter. Denna skillnad finansieras av infödda, vilket således blir kostnaden för denna grupp.
... but this link does not say what you think it does. It says that sundry studies show that second generation immigrants face considerably greater prospects on the labour market than their antecedents did (do). The author refutes previous claims of immigration supposedly being immensely costly.
Trouble in paradise:
Sweden has a 25% real unemployment rate. What happens if or when the Swedish welfare state collapses? Isn’t it likely that this will trigger a flood of “welfare tourists” to neighboring countries such as Norway? This question hasn’t even been asked, much less debated, by a single political leader in this country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in a generation, parallel with Muslim immigration. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists in one court were born on foreign soil or of foreign parents. In a new Sociological survey, the wave of robberies the city of Malmö has witnessed during this past year is part of a “war against Swedes.” This is the explanation given by young robbers with immigrant background. “When we are in the city and robbing, we are waging a war, waging a war against the Swedes.” This argument was repeated several times. “Power for me means that Swedes shall look at me, lie down on the ground and kiss my feet.” The boys explain, laughingly, that “there is a thrilling sensation in your body when you’re robbing, you feel satisfied and happy, it feels as if you’ve succeeded, it simply feels good.” “It’s so easy to rob Swedes, so easy.” “We rob every single day, as much as we want to, whenever we want to.”
Nice, untendentious, article there. Uh, or not. So, what have we ... A large portion of the rapists in Sweden are immigrants or the sons of immigrants (for almost all of them are male)? True. Rape is considered a problem in Sweden? Yes. Very much. Mostly because the general crime level has remained stable (on an internationally very low level) for about 20 years, while rape charges have increased. I challege you to find a link between rape and the Scandinavian Model, by the way.
The myth of the Scandanavian model:
In 1970, Sweden’s level of prosperity was one quarter above Belgium’s. By 2003 Sweden had fallen to 14th place from 5th in the prosperity index, two places behind Belgium. According to OECD figures, Denmark was the 3rd most prosperous economy in the world in 1970, immediately behind Switzerland and the United States. In 2003, Denmark was 7th. Finland did badly as well. From 1989 to 2003, while Ireland rose from 21st to 4th place, Finland fell from 9th to 15th place.
Together with Italy, these three Scandinavian countries are the worst performing economies in the entire European Union. Rather than taking them as an example, Europe’s politicians should shun the Scandinavian recipes.
While a poorly performing economy such as Belgium’s was able to create 8% new jobs between 1981 and 2003, Sweden and Finland were unable to create any jobs at all in over two decades. Denmark did a little better because it “activated” its labour market by making it more “flexible.” It became easier for employers to fire people. For workers in the construction industry the term of notice was reduced to five days. Unemployment benefits were restricted in time, while those who had been unemployed for a long time, and young people could lose benefits if they refuse to accept jobs, including low-productivity jobs below their level of training or education. The result is that productivity growth in Denmark is lower than in Sweden and Finland.
These draconian measures reduced the unemployment rate, but did not eliminate the cause of unemployment, namely the total lack of motivation on the part of employees and employers resulting from the extremely high taxation level. Despite the painful measures, the growth of Danish productivity and prosperity has been substandard. Disappointment in Danish politicians is one of the reasons for the rise of the far right.
We can argue until the sun goes down over whether the Scandinavian countries would place even higher if they removed their safety nets and introduced smash-and-grab capitalism à la U.S.A., but once again, this list shows that they seem to be doing pretty well as it is (all of the Scandinavian countries have very similar economic models, hence the name):
List of Countries by GDP (PPP) Per Capita
1 Luxembourg 84,507
2 Ireland 46,786
3 Norway 45,452
4 United States 45,175
5 Iceland 41,208
6 Hong Kong SAR 40,685
7 Switzerland 38,797
8 Denmark 38,072
9 Austria 37,535
10 Canada 36,821
11 United Kingdom 36,568
12 Finland 36,324
13 Netherlands 36,240
14 Sweden 35,729
15 Belgium 35,692
Swedes are angry with their politicians:
Nearly three out of four Riksdag deputies say that they have been subjected to harassment, threats or violence because of their positions. For elected representatives in local government the figure was around one in three.
Ok, so three out of four members of the Swedish parliament have been subjected to
harassment, threats or violence. That’s pretty bad, but not any worse than in most western democracies, I would guess. As my boldfacing ‘harassment’ suggests, from what I have read, it’s mostly about verbal expressions of hostility. Still not acceptable, but not enough to get me worked up. Again, where is the link to the Scandinavian Model?
