Sweden is no leftist utopia
Link here. This quote gives the flavor:
‘Nowhere else has the direct link between individual and state evolved as far as in Sweden,” Asbrink writes. “You don’t expect your family or relatives or friends or charity organizations to help if you become vulnerable,” she said. “You expect the state to help you.” Swedish parents have no obligation to their children once they turn 18. The elderly turn to the state rather than their adult offspring for support.
“This of course means freedom from family bonds or ties,” Asbrink said. “But it also means isolation. People feel lonely. There is a built-in depression that comes with this deal with the state.”
From the 1950s through the 1970s, that translated into some of the developed world’s highest suicide rates and had a noticeable impact on Sweden’s artists.
There’s more in the article, including detailing how in the past few decades Sweden has been moving back to individual responsibility and private enterprise. This information is important in connection with American politics, as Democrats routinely tout Sweden as the paradise they wish to build in America. The article questions their assumptions.
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Link here. This quote gives the flavor:
‘Nowhere else has the direct link between individual and state evolved as far as in Sweden,” Asbrink writes. “You don’t expect your family or relatives or friends or charity organizations to help if you become vulnerable,” she said. “You expect the state to help you.” Swedish parents have no obligation to their children once they turn 18. The elderly turn to the state rather than their adult offspring for support.
“This of course means freedom from family bonds or ties,” Asbrink said. “But it also means isolation. People feel lonely. There is a built-in depression that comes with this deal with the state.”
From the 1950s through the 1970s, that translated into some of the developed world’s highest suicide rates and had a noticeable impact on Sweden’s artists.
There’s more in the article, including detailing how in the past few decades Sweden has been moving back to individual responsibility and private enterprise. This information is important in connection with American politics, as Democrats routinely tout Sweden as the paradise they wish to build in America. The article questions their assumptions.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
1) What is unmentioned, Bob, is the fact that if you are totally dependent on the state, you are totally controlled by it. “The Golden Rule is, he who has the gold makes the rules” At some point, you exist for the state, not the state existing for you.
2) “From the 1950s through the 1970s, that translated into some of the developed world’s highest suicide rates and had a noticeable impact on Sweden’s artists.” – which is why I hate the depressing ouvre of Ingemar Bergman
Sweden experimented with true socialism but it was such a failure that virtually all business/industry was again privatized. It is a welfare state but not a socialist one in the least. It is in fact another example of the failure of socialism.
They were so impressed with free markets that Sweden now uses a free market voucher based school system, simply because it works much better than a solely public based system! This is something the liberals here would never allow or acknowledge.
Consider this: One estimation of how well a country is doing economically is looking st the number of ski tourists. I have seen Finish skiers at the Banff resorts but not Swedish or Norwegian. Lots of German, English, Chinese, Japanese, Ausies and Kiwis, and Americans. The head of the South Korean ski instructors hold a CSIA level 4 (Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance).
The Swedish are as absent as Pakistanis, Iranian Iraqi etc.
Sweden: Lessons for America?
Johan Norberg 2018
https://youtu.be/jq3vVbdgMuQ
56:54
“We did have a period in the 1970s and 1980s when we had something that resembled socialism: a big government that taxed and spent heavily.” “Our economy was in crisis, inflation reached 10 percent, and for a brief period interest rates soared to 500 percent. At that point the Swedish population just said, ‘Enough, we can’t do this,’
–Sweden cut public spending, privatized the national rail network, abolished certain government monopolies, eliminated inheritance taxes, sold state-owned businesses, and switched to a school voucher system.
–Sweden’s tax system may surprise Americans. “This is the dirty little secret….We don’t take from the rich and give to the poor. We squeeze the poor because they are loyal taxpayers, and because rich people might leave.”Even people who earn below average income pay up to 60 percent in taxes.
“You can’t turn your backs [on] the creation of wealth,” warns Norberg.
“Pensions in Sweden are based on economic growth, if things are going well pensions are increasing, if things are going less well, pensions are automatically lowered. This takes away from politicians the ability to buy votes by promising higher pensions.”
Hoppewave
“The Difference Between Left & Right” {So to speak…}
Hans Herman Hoppe
https://youtu.be/RhIQ5IBa_d4
4:10
The Rape capital of the world, nuff said.
From the mouth of an actual Swede:
https://youtu.be/JcmhW9qVNGc
This is the kind of guy you want on your side, strong, fair, reasonable and will take care of business.
‘The Rape capital of the world, nuff said.’ – And primarily by young male Islamic “refugees” who view the “liberated” Swedish women as an affront to their manhood and, therefore, fair game.
The Islamic State of Sweden
Paul Joseph Watson February 2018
https://youtu.be/iERLyAxddVE
9:43
Inside a No-Go Zone in Malmo Sweden
Tim Pool February 2017
https://youtu.be/pochreLwrQs
18:51