FYI: Sweden had an election yesterday and the Social Democrats got just about 40%, enough to form a minority government/administration. You may find it dizzying to learn that all of the seven major parties in Sweden are well to the left of the (any of the) Democrats in the US. They are all for: tax funded (or free, as we like to say)
- medical care, education -incl. college,
- a major social safety net for temporay problems e.g. unemployment, divorce,
- major financial support for parents that stay at home at the time of birth of their kids (60 days before birth for the mother and 450 days after birth - for mother and or father) and then a monthly support per child when you're back to work
- child day care.
- pensions - a small part of social security is privatized.
In recent surveys, Swedes declared that they would much prefer more time off from work instead of lower taxes. YES, to the question:"if the health care system required more taxes, would you approve?", or something to that effect.
Swedes, as most Europeans, have really high taxes. But so have people in the US.
But still, Sweden has a lot of big and small companies, a major defence sector, some of the best schools in the world.
It's a big world...
BTW
I didn't vote.
Also:
washingtonpost.com |
