he states that there have been no new net jobs in private industry since 1950, and yet, in 2002, Sweden had an unemployment rate of 4% according to the CIA.
No net new private sector jobs. There has been an increase in government jobs.
This is an economy that has an unemployment rate of 4% and is running a budget surplus each year. If it can do that without increasing private sector jobs, then they are ahead of us!
Of course, he fails to mention that while the Swedes' income might be less than Amer. blacks, many of the basics like health insurance are paid by the gov't so that Swedes have more disposable income to be spent on consumer goods than many middle class Americans.
"...then many middle class Americans." is rather meaningless. Then are over 100mil. middle class adults in the US. There are going to be many of them that are poorer then quite a few Swedes. Yes a lot of Swedish expenses are paid for by the government but that money comes out of taxes. Sweden's per capita pre-tax income is much less then that the pre-tax income in the US. Their per capita GDP (from the CIA fact book's 2002 purchasing power parity statistics) is almost 30% lower, and those government benefits have to come out of the GDP they are not on top of the GDP.
Again, I refer you to the state of their economy. I find it hard to believe that Swedes are worse off than American blacks. I suspect there is a distortion of the facts some where in that comparison.
In the articles you posted, several references are made suggesting that Sweden is a socialistic state. Funny thing, according to the CIA, 90% of Sweden's industrial output is in private hands.
With 10% of industrial output in the hands of the government, high taxes, and an extensive welfare state they are rather socialist. Would I outright call their system socialist? Probably not but they have a very large component of socialism which puts a drag on their economy.
Ten percent does not make for a large component of socialism. They are less free market than us but they are still free market/capitalistic. Hell.....one of the largest cell phone manu. comes out of Sweden.......Ericksons and then there is IKEA.
.it insures a better living standard for the entire population in general and not just for a few.
At most it insures a better living standard for those at the bottom, not for the entire population. The average standard of living is better in the US.
Also you ignored the statements about crime rates and the following points -
Let's look at crime rates.........one or all the articles says that Sweden has a worst crime rate than the US. I have to say I was surprised that Euro crimes rate are up alot during the past 15 years. However, that does not mean they are worse off than the US.
Here's just one example......the Serious Assault and Murder rates for 14 countries including the US:
killology.com
Sweden's murder rate is up.....no question. However its still less than the US rate. In fact, only Scotland and the Netherlands had worse rates than the US. That's out of 14 Euro nations and N. Zealand.
As for Serious Assault......its not even a contest......the Swedish rate in 1993 was 51 per 100k. The US rate was 440 per 100k. Even if Sweden's rate has worsened in the past ten years and the US rate has improved, I hardly think that that big a gap has been bridged.
"None of top 50 companies on the Stockholm stock exchange has been started since 1970."
So what? Ericksons morphed into a cell phone company.......that fact doesn't make it any less hi tech or less innovative.
Sorry, but the articles you presented sound like they have an agenda.........to prove that the Swedes are big, bad socialists who are falling apart. The few facts I found don't agree with that picture.
ted |
