The Stockholm syndrome - The daily show

For crying out loud, the point is not to promote socialism or saying that Sweden is perfect. The point was to ridicule those that try to use Sweden as a scare-mongering tactic! It's absolutely ludicrous!!

So... the award for Missing The Point With The Biggest Margin goes to...

*drumroll for enhanced excitement*

..this thread. Congratulations. Speech, speech! :)

04.24.09 at 02:37am
First of all I'm also Swedish and I live in Stockholm (my office is on one of the street pictured!). I am a fan of Jon Stewart but his "Stockholm Syndrome" is biased and dishonest and makes me very disappointed. Let me mention a few examples from these clips: Dentistry in Sweden is only free for children -adults pay a fortune. Large employers sometimes have gyms and massage rooms but (and JS leaves this out!) you get taxed for the massage "benefit" unless it is carried out at market cost. Then of course there are many other misleading things. As much as Robyn is a successful SWEDISH artist it stands to reason that 50 Cent is a bigger artist GLOBALLY. I don't see the point of comparing their lifestyles. Also - I am sure that Robyn and her manager make sure the money from her records are booked offshore. This is standard practice in the music industry. I've worked with the manager of another famous Swedish singer and know this first hand. Leif Pagrotsky (the former minister of trade interviewed by JS) also knows this very well. JS also conveniently forgets that our car manufacturers are just as bankrupt as the US automakers...with or without gyms. He also fails to mention that our medical care has extremely long queues which can last for years. Finally JS seems to forget that we threw out Leif Pagrotsky and his compadres and that the Socialist Party has extremely low support in the polls at present. Whatever "socialism" we have left is something we want to do away with. Apart from the high taxation, Sweden is actually not very socialist in a European perspective. We pursue a free-market agenda in the European Union and even support the United States with troops in Afghanistan. The fact that Sweden's nationalization of the banks in the 1990's has been misreported in the United States is a different story. That nationalization was carried out by a conservative government and had a distinct neoliberal agenda.
by SwedishChef

from these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_ca...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

Of course taxes are so strategically complex that it is impossible to truly compare apples to apples.

Now, so-called healthcare reform will consist of simply legally mandating that everyone buy it. So it will be an official tax soon. There are no other plans on the table. This is the move from corporatism to facsism. Of course the only participants in the discussion are the insurers, big pharma, and some payed-off politicians. Also some specially picked specialist doctors can participate.

We are just as taxed as Sweden.

I just did a bit of research on the taxes of US vs. Sweden (ranked fifth highest income tax rate nation).

Facts:
Sweden - Per capita income = $40,000
Sweden income tax rate =29 - 59%
tax rate includes health, dental, eyecare, and 32 days vacation

US - Per capita income = $46000
US income tax rate (fed and state) = 0 - 45%
US heath care cost per capita(NOT including eyes and teeth) $6714
US average vacation days is 13

If we compare apples to apples the following tax rates would apply

Sweden 29 - 59%
US including healthcare and vacation days (NO dental or eyes) 16 -61%

Also, our heathcare system, not to be confused with health insurance, refuses to pay for much.

I would like to do a more in-depth analysis including all of the taxes we pay. They were listed in the movie "Freedom to Facsism" but I can not find the list. I have seen it posted here.

I am in no way advocating socialism but am trying to point out that corporatism is a sneaky way to hide taxation.

Corporatism in distress becomes Facsism. I think Mussolini said that.

Remember, another heavenly northern paradise, Iceland (rate #1 by UN as the most developed nation in 2007), is broke.
If i´m not wrong, the two biggest swedish banks are heavily exposed to the disaster in Eastern Europe, particularly Baltic nations and Ukraine.