What I'm Reading: Europe

Life is about patterns and circles. Patterns of behavior, and the social circles prompting that behavior. Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Europe as a whole is Bending to Islam!

  By Rich Kozlovich Tags: The World's Nine Orders 

 Denmark

1.   Denmark to Ban Islamic Call to Prayer in Fight Against Creeping ‘Islamization

Germany

1. German Voters Favor Conservatives; Leftists Resort To Guerrilla Tactics 
2. Police Officers: ‘Open Season For Rape’, ‘This Country is Finished’
3. Number of Refugees in Germany Hits Record 4M…
4. $43 Billion Per Year Burden: Migration Costs Hammer German Taxpayers   
5. NO PENSIONS, NO WARSHIPS: Broken Germany To Raise Retirement Age to 70, as Plans Are Scrapped for Its Frigate Program That Already Cost Taxpayers $2.6 Billion
6. German Leftists Meet Jihad Attack With Denial and Fantasy 

 Switzerland 

1. Swiss ‘terrorist’ who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before stabbing 3 men in crowded train station had ties to ISIS: police 
2. Swiss Stabbing by Muslim Terrorist Who Supported ISIS Blamed on ‘Mental Illness”

 Netherlands

1. Justice in a Dutch Girl’s Death Takes Six Years - Why? Because police and prosecutors wanted to protect Muslim asylum seekers.

Norway

1. Now, a Boy Victim in Norway

Sweden

1.   25-Year-Old Autistic Woman Raped by Her Iraqi Ambulance Transporter in Sweden

What is Wrong with Sweden?

By Rich Kozlovich Tags: 

This article goes back to 2013 saying, Suddenly, it's 'bigoted' to be Swedish, as Muslims are pushing European nations to commit cultural suicide, and with the support of their national leaders.

In the drive for Scandinavian culture to utterly annihilate itself as fast as possible, let it never be said that art galleries and institutions failed to do their part. Oslo’s “New Nordic Art” website (as an example) reveals that “Nordic” has evolved to mean any person with absolutely no genetic, historic, cultural or especially religious connection to the region itself. 

Proof of the native purge is the list of artists from “Costa Rica, China, Israel, France, Palestine, Haiti/Switzerland, USA, UK, Lebanon and Japan.” Featured artists “reside” in Norway at some point, which is fine, but they seem to have entirely eclipsed anyone with a Norwegian grandmother. Why the serious snub of indigenous Scandinavians?.......

Akhtar Chaudhry, the speaker of Norway’s Parliament since 2009, has been pushing to change Norway’s flag to better suit Muslims there who only account for at most 3.4 percent of the entire population. No one has inquired if a change would offend indigenous Norwegians, who apparently no longer have any political voice.....................

 What’s wrong with Sweden?  Their leaders are overwhelmingly leftists who promote idiotic policies of inclusion and tolerance to a movement this is the most intolerant group of people in the world – worshipers of Islam.  Here is Islam, genocidal Muslim terrorists killed 200,000 people in 11 years.  The problem lies in definition. 

We really do need to get this.  Islam isn’t a religion!   Islam needs to be officially classified as terrorist movement. It’s a criminal political movement masquerading as a religion, or as Geert Wilders has said:

"Islam is a lie, Muhammad a criminal, the Koran is poison”. 

Muslim thugs are taking over whole areas of cities such as Paris, London, and other European cities, and even the police won't enter into these Muslim controlled "no go zones".

The curtain is rising, the actors are in place, the script is written, and the consequences will be disastrous, and as predictable as night follows day.  Sweden's leaders demand their people make all sorts of adaptations in their own culture in their own homeland in the name of one of the left's most sacred secular religious tenets, multiculturalism. They're forcing their societies to accept these emotionally deranged criminals - who demand western civilized societies accept them just as they are – violent, intolerant and misogynistic, supposedly all that western civilization stands against.

It’s clear that the real enemy of the Nordic peoples in Sweden, Denmark and Norway aren't the Islamists. It’s their ‘Nordic” leaders. They have allowed these ravenous wolves to run amok in their societies, and then excused them for their criminal behavior. At some point the Scandinavian people will have had enough of this and there’s going to be violence. And it will be the fault of these leftist leaders.

 

Is that true? Well, all they have to do is read a history book, since it isn’t like we don’t have hundreds of years of history - supported by current events - to know this, and take a look at the news to recognize nothing has changed with Islam, the left must be insane, and while this was 12 years ago, nothing has changed in Sweden.

An Eritrean man who sexually assaulted this sixteen year old girl won’t be deported because it wasn’t that “serious” of an offense. The reasoning? He had a premature ejaculation during the rape, so since the rape didn't take much time, it doesn't count, and he can stay in Sweden, free to assault another girl, maybe even younger.

Germany Incentivizes Sickness by Subsidizing Sick Days

January 24, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Back in 2019, I compared OECD nations based on the total burden of social welfare spending as a share of economic output.

France was the worst of the worst, unsurprisingly, followed by Finland and Belgium.

That column also differentiated by types of spending.

• Greece had the biggest burden of pension spending.
• France had the biggest burden of heath spending.
• Belgium had the biggest burden of redistribution spending.

Today, let’s look at an even narrower slice of the social welfare state.

According to a new article in the Economist, Germany arguably has the most lavish sickness benefits in Europe. Maybe the most extravagant in the world.

That sounds very kind and compassionate, but it seems this policy is creating perverse incentives and undermining national prosperity.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

Germany is now “the world champion when it comes to sick days,” according to Oliver Bäte, the boss of Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer. …Ola Källenius, the boss of Mercedes, agrees with Mr Bäte. He warns of the “economic consequences” of a sickness rate in Germany that is often twice as high as in other European countries. …Germany has one of the most generous sick-leave regimes in the world and it is costing businesses dearly. …

“It’s very hard to police,” says Jochen Pimpertz of the German Economic Institute (iw). In a study he found that the total nominal cost of sick pay for employers rose from €36.9bn to €76.7bn between 2010 and 2023 (a 57% increase, adjusted for inflation). …There is clear correlation between the generosity of the system and the number of sick days, says Nicolas Ziebarth of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. Germany’s arrangements are lavish compared with elsewhere in Europe and have become easier to manipulate.

The article mentions that there used to be similar problems in some Scandinavian nations, and that reminded me that Sweden enacted some good reforms a few decades ago.

So I did a search for “sick days Sweden” and found a study published by the OECD in 2020.

Authored by Philip Hemmings and Christopher Prinz, it included this chart showing that spending on sick days was dramatically reduced over a 20-year period, dropping from 5  percent of GDP in the late 1980s to 2 percent of GDP about 20 years later.

How did Sweden get these remarkable results?

The answer was simple. They reduced, in two stages, the amount of money people got for being sick (or, in many cases, for pretending to be sick). Here are a few excerpts from the study.

Sick-leave compensation reform (1990s). Pushed by a major economic downturn in the early 1990s, Sweden embarked on a series of sickness benefit reforms as part of a broader attempt to curb public spending. This included the introduction of a 14-day sick-pay period covered by employers (1992). In addition there were significant changes to compensation:  Before 1991, sickness benefits replaced 100% of earnings for 90 days and 95% thereafter, with no time limit. As of 1993, there was no payment on the first day of sickness absence (i.e. one “waiting day”), compensation then varied over time: 75% of previous earnings (days 2 and 3 of absence), 90% (until day 90), 80% (to the end of first year) and 70% thereafter.

This reform promoted a sharp drop in absence spells, especially in short-term absences… When the economy recovered in the late 1990s, sick-pay rates were increased, to 90% of the previous wage until the end of the first year and 80% thereafter. This led to a significant rise in absence rates, especially longer-term absences… Overall, the cost of being absent significantly affected absence behaviour. …

Starting in 2006, Sweden undertook a series of reforms to sickness and disability policies, which contributed to further considerable drops in both sickness absence rates and disability claims. These reforms included (Economic Survey of Sweden, OECD 2012b) among other things the introduction of…more rigorous implementation of existing regulations… Requirements for individuals on sick leave to consider a wider scope of jobs… A 2.5-year ceiling on the duration of sick leave compensation… More stringent disability-pension entitlement criteria.

The broader lesson from Sweden’s successful reforms is that Ronald Reagan was right.

As was Thomas Sowell.

The more you subsidize of something, the more you get of it.

And, at the risk of stating the obvious, it’s not a good idea to subsidize dependency and idleness.

P.S. Sweden has implemented a lot of good reforms in recent decades. What happened with sickness benefits is laudable, but I’m even more impressed by the country’s partially private Social Security system and the impressive 1992-2001 period of spending restraint. Though a lot more needs to be done.

The Miracle of Compounding Growth, Part II

December 29, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Six years ago, I showed that the United States would be as poor as Mexico if there had been 1-percentage point less annual growth over the past 125 years. 

John Norberg makes a similar comparison between Sweden and Albania.

 

The entire video is worth watching, but if you don’t have 40 minutes of spare time, I set the timer to start at 30:42 because that’s when Stossel and Norberg begin a 5-minute discussion of why economic growth is important.

And if you’re very limited in your time, advance the video to 33:28. That’s when Norberg points out that Sweden today would be as poor as Albania if there had been 1-percentage point slower growth during the free-market period (I assume beginning in 1870) when Sweden began to get rich.

To confirm this assertion, I went to the Maddison database and did the calculations. As expected, Johan was correct.

I can’t resist making a few other observations about the chart.

• The most obvious takeaway is that Sweden and Albania both used to be poor nations but there was dramatic anti-convergence after Sweden embraced capitalism and rule of law.
• Notice the big drop in Swedish per-capita GDP about 1990. If you watch the full video. Johan explains that this was the culmination of Sweden’s post-WWII experiment with big government.
• Sweden’s pro-market reforms in the 1990s – such as spending restraint, school choice, and partial Social Security privatization – rejuvenated growth and boosted economic freedom.
• Albania has enjoyed decent growth since the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the end of communism, but it still ranks below Sweden for economic liberty, so don’t expect convergence.

The bottom line is that faster growth should be the goal, regardless of what a few cranks on the left say. And if the goal is growth, there’s no substitute for small government and free markets.

Fortunately, there are some rational leftists who agree on the importance of growth (even if they are somewhat misguided about how to get there).

P.S. Click here for two very good videos on growth from Marginal Revolution.

Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist

December 26, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Scandinavian nations are not socialist, at least if we’re using the technical definition (government ownership, central planning, and price controls). But those countries do have big welfare states. And that means stifling tax burdens. And those harsh taxes don’t just apply to rich taxpayers. Lower-income and middle-class people also get pillaged.

I’ve already explained that punitive value-added taxes are a major burden for ordinary people in Europe, and residents of Scandinavian nations get hit especially hard.  Today, let’s look at how they also get hit hard by taxes on income.

We’ll start by looking at a report from the Tax Foundation, which includes this chart showing top tax rates in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

As you can see, the United States has an advantage over Denmark and Sweden, while oil-rich Norway actually has a lower top tax rate.

Overall, a modest win for the United States.

Now let’s look at a different chart from the Tax Foundation’s report. As you can see, there’s a huge advantage for America when we compared the income levels where top tax rates take effect.

In the United States, you have to earn a lot of income to be hit by the top rate, but people with incomes only slightly above the average pay top tax rates in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Here are some excerpts from the report.

…tax rates are not necessarily the most revealing feature of Scandinavian income tax systems. …Scandinavian countries tend to levy top personal income tax rates on (upper) middle-class earners, not just high-income taxpayers. For example, Denmark’s top statutory personal income tax rate of 55.9 percent applies to all income over 1.3 times the average income. From a U.S. perspective, this means that all income over $82,000 (1.3 times the average U.S. income of about $63,000) would be taxed at 55.9 percent. …Norway’s top personal tax rate of 38.2 percent applies to all income over 1.5 times the average Norwegian income. Sweden’s top personal tax rate of 52.3 percent applies to all income over 1.1 times the average national income. In comparison, the United States levies its top personal income tax rate of 43.7 percent (federal and state combined) at 8.5 times the average U.S. income (at around $530,000). Thus, a comparatively smaller share of taxpayers faces the top rate.

I could end the column at this point and unambiguously state that the American tax system is better (or, to be more accurate, less worse).

But there’s another chart that’s worth considering.

Here’s OECD data on Average annual wages. As you can see, the United States has a non-trivial advantage over the three Scandinavian nations featured in the Tax Foundation’s report.

This means that if Scandinavian tax rates were imposed on equivalent income levels in America, the top tax rates would hit people making average incomes.

One final point. Norway and Sweden also pillage their ordinary citizens with onerous social insurance taxes (akin to FICA payroll taxes in the United States.

Both Norway and Sweden levy high social security contributions, raising revenue amounting to approximately 9 percent of GDP in 2021. In the United States, social security contributions (payroll taxes) raise revenue of about 6 percent of GDP. In Norway and Sweden, social security contributions—employer and employee side combined—account for 18.8 percent and 29.2 percent of the total labor costs of a single worker with no children earning an average wage, respectively. This compares to 14.6 percent in the U.S. Only Denmark does not impose social security contributions to fund its social programs. Instead, it uses a share of its individual income tax revenue for these programs.

The bottom line is that a big welfare state means big taxes on ordinary people.

As I’ve noted before, it is impossible to finance big government by taxing the rich. Simply stated, there aren’t enough of them (and they also have the ability to avoid punitive tax policies).

So anyone (like the incoming president) who opposes entitlement reform implicitly is in favor of giant tax increases on lower-income and middle-class households.

Comparing Taxation in Sweden and the United States

April 28, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

I already shared my thoughts about the value-added tax when discussing fiscal policy with an economist at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

Here’s some of what I said about tax progressivity and the welfare state.

The bottom line is that the American tax system targets the rich. But that’s not the case in Sweden.

If you don’t believe me, let’s see what some left-of-center sources say.

 

Here’s a chart from a study for the World Inequality Lab by three economists at the Paris School of Economics.

As you can see, the United States is an outlier. The rich pay a much bigger share of the tax burden in America compared to other nations.

Interestingly, it’s not because America imposes higher taxes on the rich. It’s because Europeans impose higher taxes on lower-income and middle-class households.

Want more confirmation from another left-of-center source?

Here are some excerpts from a column in the New York Times by Monica Prasad, a sociology professor at Northwestern.

We can learn from Sweden, but the lesson is not what many people think. Rich Swedes do get taxed at high rates, but so does everyone else: The average American worker’s total tax burden is 31.7 percent of earnings, compared with 42.9 percent for the average Swede. The Swedes actually tax corporations less… Estate tax? In the United States the average effective rate is 16.5 percent. In Sweden, it’s zero. Swedish national sales taxes, which fall disproportionately on the middle classes, are much higher than sales taxes in the United States. …

Some scholars have drawn on this history to argue that the United States needs to give up its fixation with progressive taxation and adopt a national sales tax as every other advanced industrial country has done. …It’s hard to make a case for a big new tax in America on the middle classes and the poor…progressive taxation still has a role to play in the United States — but we do need to learn the larger lesson…the secret of the European welfare states.

Her view of the the “larger lesson” and “secret” is not the same as mine.

She wants an efficient welfare state and – to her credit – she acknowledges that means big tax burdens for lower-income and middle-class households.

I look at comparative living standards and say “are you $&(#)@* crazy!”

I’ll close by emphasizing a point I made at the end of the above video. Our friends on the left like to argue that big government is popular and they’ll cite polling data to make that case.

But people have much different answers to polling questions when they are asked if they are willing to pay higher taxes to finance bigger government.

And since there are not enough rich people to finance big government, the only way to have Swedish-sized government is to have Swedish-level taxes on ordinary people.

P.S. For those who want to focus solely on the taxation of rich households. Europeans tend to impose higher personal income tax rates but to also have less double taxation of income that is saved and invested.

Is the Tide Turning to Freedom?

By Robin Itzler, From Her Patriots Neighbors Newsletter

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  You wish to get the full edition?  E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free.  RK

With our prayers and involvement, we must have hope of saving our republic. Let’s look at some recent wins that show the tide might be turning in the direction of Conservative Judeo-Christian values. However, we need Republican LEADERSHIP, which seems to be in short supply. 

NAIA, (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics):

In another win for women’s right, the NAIA has banned biological males from competing in women’s sports. NAIA is a national athletic governing body for about 250 mostly small colleges across the United States. This is the first national college governing body that is making it mandatory for athletes to compete based on their BIOLOGICAL sex. It was approved by the NAIA’s Council of Presidents in a 20-0 vote. To thank NAIA president Jim Carr: Email: jcarr@naia.org Phone: 816-595-8000 Write: 120 W. 12th Street, Suite 700, Kansas City, Mo. 64105

CALIFORNIA:

If you’re tired of reading about spineless college presidents who kowtow to pro-Hamas students, you’ll appreciate Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr. A group of terrorist supporters trespassed into the administrative building. Starr showed up and informed the terrorist lovers they had 10 minutes to vacate the building. Of course, they didn’t believe her. After 10 minutes, the police arrived in riot gear and arrested all the protesters who were inside the building. Then Starr SUSPENDED every student who participated in that unlawful gathering. Non-students were banned from the campus. To thank President Starr for her outstanding actions: Email: Link below Phone: 909-621-8000 Write: 333 N. College Way, Claremont, CA 91711

IDAHO:

Republican Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 538 that removes requirements from state school districts regarding teachers having to use a trans student’s preferred pronouns. Educators no longer must worry about being sued if they call a BOY a BOY although the child thinks HE is a GIRL. According to the signed legislation, pronouns should match the student’s biological birth. (Insert applause here.) To thank Gov. Little: Email: Link below Phone: 208-334-2100 Write: P. O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720

INTERNATIONAL

SWEDEN—The Scandinavian country of 10.6 million has a big problem with immigration—legal and illegal. That’s why the government reintroduced border control that is effective from November 12, 2023 through May 11, 2024. The Swedish government says it must control immigration as current numbers are a threat to public order and internal security. 

In “Sweden Looks Into the Abyss,” Stefan Hedlund writes:

“Present-day Sweden carries the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of gangland killings in Europe. It boasts the lowest average age of serious offenders, with children in their low teens being arrested for murder. Increasing segments of suburbs are officially classified as “especially vulnerable areas,” where it is “hard, bordering on impossible” for the police to operate. In layman’s terms, these are no-go zones, where local clans rule and where first responders will not enter without flak jackets and police escort.

“An early warning was provided in 2017 when United States President Donald Trump made a quip about rioting in Sweden: “You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this!”

Who indeed? At the time, such comments were met with disdain and ridicule. “Today, it is not so funny anymore.

“Sweden has transitioned from being a model of inspiration to becoming a warning example.”

 Satan's War on People of Faith is Still Raging! by W. H. Lamb.

Sweden's Leadership Just Now Grasp Their Immigration Polices Are Disastrous

By Rich Kozlovich, Tags:

Today, April 17, 2024, Olivia Murray published this article, Swedish MP who previously fought for open borders does a ‘spectacular u-turn’ and argues for deportations for migrants devouring her homeland saying:

“I have changed my mind on the matter,” said Louise Meijer, a Swedish Member of Parliament who was once a vocal supporter of open borders and mass arrivals—but as Thomas Brooke of Remix News writes, Meijer has undertaken a “spectacular u-turn” and is now calling for “strict immigration, deportations, and reparation” policies to combat the “fundamental” transformation of her beloved Sweden....... ‘mass immigration has been followed by several major problems.’.............‘serious, organized crime is committed to a large extent by people with foreign assets,’ that large groups of immigrants are ‘not self-sufficient,’ and that the ‘culture of honor, separatism, and Islamism is limiting and dangerous.’

Islam is limiting and dangerous?  Really?  Amazing, and she's just now discovered that?   And we only have a mere 1500 years of Islamic history that's testimony to just how vile and dangerous Islam really is to western civilization.  And she just noticed. 

She previously opposed any restrictions on immigration, and now she's shocked, shocked I tell you, (I do love channeling Captain Renault) to find all these Muslims from Africa and the Middle East are "fundamentally" changing the country.  I think to say they're changing the country is grossly unfair and totally inappropriate.  They're destroying Sweden.  Here are some of the examples listed by Olivia:

• Sweden: Lethal violence in 2020 at highest level ever; number of reported rapes rises considerably
• Sweden: Two migrant background men torture and rape two boys in a cemetery for nearly 10 hours
• Sweden: 4 Eritreans who gang-raped 40-year-old Swedish woman will not be deported
• Iraqi duo who urinated on and gang raped woman on cruise ship to remain in Sweden as court says they have ‘integrated’
• Sweden: Syrian national who raped 12-year-old girl in a public toilet sentenced to gender talks; avoids deportation and jail time

And if you read my commentaries, which I've linked below, you will see that's just the tip of the iceberg.  We need to grasp this fundamental truth. Muslims are migrating to western societies but they will not integrate because they're still fundamentally medieval tribal societies afflicted with:

"Centuries-old mindset of barbarism with a totally different “value” system than the Judeo-Christian morality of the West, who subscribe to an ideology that commands the killing of non-Muslims, don’t exactly “mesh” well with the European people and their European culture."

I've written about the insanity of Swedish leadership for over ten years, so it isn't as if this is a discovery of previously unknown facts about the disaster their immigration polices created.  And just now she's discovered that she and her colleagues have been wrong right from the beginning.  

Well, I find that mind boggling, since I'm not from Sweden, never been to Sweden, and I'm a retired 40 veteran of the structural pest control industry, and yet I've known for many years what she's just discovered.   I think it well to ask:  If the bugman knows this stuff, all of which should have been obvious to the most casual observer, how could this foolish person not know it?  Answer: Ideology makes smart people stupid!

However, not all the people of Sweden were as stupid as she. One Swedish lady commented on one of my articles saying:

I’m a swede and you have made perfect analyses of the whole situation. I prefer to say that ppl over here literally have sold their souls to Satan himself. If we don’ t vote for sane leaders in next election we will lose our country, we will find ourselves in an open war. Two nights ago a Swedish man who tried to prevent a robbery in a hotel-restaurant was killed with a machete-knife. Jihad is here already and it is difficult not to hate our political leaders and the Satanic Authorities which protect the killers and rapists and leave the victims bleeding both bodily and spiritually. It is tragic to lose your country, it is a nightmare... God bless you, Sir, telling the world the truth. 

These "leaders" were supposed to be shepherds that protect their flock.  Yet what they did was turn wolves loose into the flock, and their corrupted "system of justice" has been part and parcel of the horrors these wolves perpetrated.  

And this nitwit just now noticed, remarkable. 

Well, finally reality has set in as Swedish Nationalists Call for Declaration of War on Gangs After Father Shot Dead in Front of Son:

A father was shot in the head by a gang of youths in front of his 12-year-old son in Sweden on Wednesday evening — an inexplicable attack that has brought the rise in criminal gang activity to the forefront of the country’s political discourse.  The man in his 40s and his son were cycling towards the local swimming pool in Skärholmen, southern Stockholm, when they were confronted by a gang of young people near an underpass...........“Musty old arguments about socio-economic factors . . . should go in the trash immediately."

While "reality" is seemingly setting in, please notice there's no mention of the race, or ethnicity of these "gangs".  I wonder if they've really grasped reality?  Or perhaps they're unwilling to grasp reality in fear of being called names, like racists, xenophobe, and the list is almost endless.  Well boys, if you're really serious, then grow a back bone and start attacking these monsters head on.    No guts, no glory!!!

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Sweden

April 12, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Since this is my last full day in Sweden, I want to build upon my previous two columns (on long-run tax policy and pandemic spending policy).

We’ll start with this video explaining that Sweden is not socialist.

Johan Norberg is correct. Sweden does not have genuine socialism, which involves government ownership, central planning, and price controls.

The best way to describe Sweden is that it is a free market economy with bad fiscal policy.

But it used to have good fiscal policy. Very small government and no welfare state.

Unfortunately, policy veered in the wrong direction, especially starting in the 1960s.

But things have gotten better in recent decades. Ten years ago, I wrote about a very impressive period of spending restraint in the 1990s. That was worthy of praise, but what’s noteworthy is there has been no backsliding.

Indeed, IMF data shows that Sweden has continued to make progress, albeit at a slow pace.

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyhow) that the burden of government spending is still far too high. But a government that consumes 48 percent of GDP is better than one that consumes 52 percent of GDP.

And 52 percent of GDP is far better than 66 percent of GDP.

Moreover, Sweden has partially privatized its Social Security system, so it’s long-run fiscal problems are not severe – at least not compared to the United States.

But Sweden has made progress is areas other than fiscal policy. Here are some excerpts from a 2014 report by Stefan Fölster and Johan Kreicbergs of the Reform Institute.

The seventies and eighties saw Sweden’s tax burden rise from an average European level to the world’s highest. The public sector expanded vastly. All facets of the welfare system were made more generous… Meanwhile, labour market regulation increased… Throughout these years, Swedes’ individual after-tax real income stagnated, private sector job creation ceased, and public debt spiralled higher.

This culminated in a severe economic crisis in the early 1990s. …many Swedes began to react to the country’s lacklustre economic performance… At first, a few public utilities and the financial markets were opened to competition, and an important tax reform was implemented. …emphasis at the time was placed on reforms that opened significant sectors in the economy to greater competition. …significant changes were introduced to the tax system, macroeconomic policy framework, and social insurance system. …

The results of this wave of reforms are remarkable. During the twenty years before 1995, GDP and productivity growth was substantially lower than in other countries. Virtually no net jobs were created in the private sector and government debt increased rapidly. Moreover, disposable income of Swedish households grew only in a very slowly. Since 1995, every aspect of the Swedish economy has changed. GDP and productivity growth have been higher than in comparable countries. Employment in the private sector has grown by more than 1% annually, while public sector employment has decreased.

Public finances are now stronger than in most countries. Furthermore, median disposable income of Swedish households has grown 4 times faster after 1995, compared to the previous 20 years.

Here’s my favorite chart from the report.

It shows how the numbers of bureaucrats skyrocketed in the 1960s and 1970s, while jobs in the economy’s productive sector languished.

As a result of reforms, however, the number of bureaucrats has decline and jobs in the private sector have increased.

The net effect of all the reforms – lower tax rates, reduced spending burden, deregulation, etc – has been very positive.

Sweden was losing ground during the era of expanding government and now it is once again gaining ground.

Let’s close with an amusing look at how Sweden’s reforms are making it difficult for the left to cite Sweden as a role model.

That’s not good news for Bernie Sanders.

The bottom line is that Sweden is not Singapore. It’s not Switzerland, either.

But it’s better than people think. And its economic history shows that bad policy lowers living standards and that good reforms improve living standards.

P.S. Sweden also has nationwide school choice.

Swedish Tax Policy: From Good to Horrible to Bad

April 10, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Since I’m currently in Stockholm and just gave a speech about fiscal policy, let’s take a look at Swedish taxation.

Like most western nations, Sweden became a rich nation in the 1800s and early 1900s when taxes were modest and the burden of government was very small.

How small? Government spending consumed less than 10 percent of economic output.

And limited government meant low tax burdens. Here’s a chart from a 2015 report on the history of Swedish taxation. As you can see, even rich people faced marginal tax rates of less than 5 percent in the 1800s and just a bit over 10 percent up until about 1920.

Sadly, tax rates jumped in the 1920s and then skyrocketed in the 1940s. At least for rich people. Close to 90 percent!

But as is so often the case, higher taxes on the rich were a precursor for higher taxes on everyone else. The chart also shows that marginal tax rates for middle income and lower-middle income taxpayers jumped dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s.

By the 1970s and 1980s, everyone was facing confiscatory marginal tax rates.

And don’t forget that Swedish taxpayers also had an onerous value-added tax which grabbed about 20 percent of whatever was left after income and payroll taxes.

That sounds horrible and it was horrible, but the tax burden on investment and entrepreneurship was even worse.

Here’s another chart from the report looking at the effective marginal tax rate on investment.

Before the income tax, there was no problem. And the tax burden was modest during the first half of the 1900s. But look at what happened to tax rates in the 1970s and 1980s. The effective marginal tax rate was way above 100 percent on investments financed with new shares.

In other words, investors would have been better off dumping their money in an incinerator. And the tax rates on other types of investment also peaked about 75 percent-85 percent.

The good news, though, is that Sweden learned from mistakes. Lawmakers began lowering tax rates in the 1980s and especially in the 1990s.

But that simply meant Sweden has gone from horrible tax policy to bad policy. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but marginal tax rates on labor income are still absurdly high

There has been a bigger improvement in business taxation, which is positive, though effective marginal tax rates of 20 percent-35 percent are tolerable rather than good.

But I’ll close with some positive observations. In addition to lowering marginal tax rates, Sweden in recent years also has eliminated both death taxes and wealth taxes.

And the overall tax burden has declined.

Interesting, a declining tax burden does not mean declining tax revenue. Here’s a final chart on taxation in the 21st century. The orange line shows the overall tax burden as a share of GDP and the grey bars show inflation-adjusted tax revenue.

It’s almost as if the Laffer Curve is working its magic (and even Paul Krugman might agree). As it has before.

P.S. Sweden has some very admirable policies, such as school choice and a partially privatized Social Security system.

Finland, Sweden Are Seeing Record Freezing Temps

Just another day in frigid paradise on Tuesday as cold snap puts Nordic countries on blast 

 By Newser Editors and Wire Services Jan 2, 2024 

Finland and Sweden recorded the coldest temperatures of the winter Tuesday as thermometers plummeted to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit as a result of a cold spell prevailing in the Nordic region. In Nikkaluokta, a small village inhabited by the Indigenous Sami people in northern Sweden, thermometers showed temps of minus 42.8 degrees early Tuesday, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported. "It's the coldest temperature we have had so far this winter, and it will continue to be quite cold weather in the north," says SVT meteorologist Nils Holmqvist. Train operators in Sweden said the cold snap caused substantial problems in the north, among other issues. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute has reported temperatures of 22 degrees below zero in several locations in northern Sweden, reports the AP........... To Read More 

My Take - Okay, let's try and get this right.  This isn't climate, it's weather.  How did I know?  Because the is in total contradiction of the global warming narrative......oh. ....wait....I'm sorry..... by bad.... I forgot since the world stopped warming 25 years ago, it's now climate change.  So, therefore that means it must be weather, and not climate.   Now on the other hand if it was even a smidgen warmer, then it would be climate.  See, simple.....for the simple minded.  

Two Iraqi Migrants Brutally Gang Rape a Woman for Hours – Considered 'Integrated' and Allowed to Stay in Sweden

December 7, 2023 1 comment

Two Iraqis are sentenced to short prison terms for gang-raping a woman on an Åland ferry in September this year. Prosecutor Emma Svedberg also petitioned for the deportation of one of the men, who is not a Swedish citizen. However, the Stockholm District Court denied this request, stating he is considered ‘integrated’ in Sweden. – I need to analyze the verdict and decide whether to appeal or not, says Emma Svedberg to Swedish news site, Samnytt.

The sentences for the two Iraqis, Mazin Al-Sharash and Akar Bajorani, are six years and five years and three months, respectively, for aggravated rape.

Mazin Al-Sharash and Akar Bajoran

During a 24-hour cruise with Viking Cinderella between Stockholm and Mariehamn on September 10 this year, the two men raped a woman on board. The men hit the woman in the face, pulled her hair, and spat and urinated on her. The assault, which took place in a cabin, lasted four hours. ‘Akar Bajorani and Mazin Al-Sharash are deemed to have acted with particular ruthlessness and brutality,’ the court states in its verdict..........

My Take - For four hours these beasts beat this woman, pulled her hair, repeatedly raped her and even urinated on her.  Prison sentence?  Five and six years respectively.  Yeah, that's all.  And after prison deportation?  Not on your life!  You see, according to the court they're integrated, so should be allowed to stay. 

What's wrong with Sweden?   

These nitwit judges are charlatans, knaves, fools, and are in serious need of psychological help.   This isn't an isolated situation either.   This is now pandemic in Sweden, and it's destroying Sweden.   If you have any doubts about the validity of that statement, here are

More Protests Against Sweden Qur’an Burning Expected From Islamic World

Breitbart London 21 Jul 2023

Muslim-majority nations expressed outrage Friday at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. Some prepared for street demonstrations following midday prayers to show their anger. In Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, protesters planned demonstrations after Swedish police permitted a protest Thursday in which an Iraqi of Christian origin – now a self-described atheist – living in Stockholm kicked and stood on a Quran, Islam’s holy book, outside of the Iraqi Embassy. Hours before that, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish Embassy and lit a fire to show their anger at his threats to burn the book............To Read More 

 

Iraq expels Sweden’s ambassador over latest Qur’an desecration, calls for emergency Islamic summit - Jul 22, 2023 By Christine Douglass-Williams - The relentless effort to force Islamic blasphemy laws on free societies continues. It may well turn into a vicious cycle, if it hasn’t already. The more Islamic supremacists attempt to impose the Sharia upon the West, the more desecrations of the Qur’an may occur. These desecrations have not been about hatred for Muslims, but are […]

 

My Take - There's is no limit on the amount of appeasement Muslims demand, nor is there a limit on the abuses they heap on everyone else.  Islam is a plague on humanity, and there's something wrong with Sweden's leadership.  Here's a 2019 piece, Swedish Liberalism Is Struggling Under the Weight of Immigration, so they're not ignorant what Muslims offer to their society, and yet they continue down this insane path of Islamic appeasement. 

Sweden’s Path to NATO Accession and Its 40-year PKK Problem

By: Colonel (ret.) Rich Outzen

February 2, 2023

The Turkish government insists that Sweden significantly change its permissive approach to the Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan (PKK, or Kurdish Workers’ Party) and other anti-Turkey groups as a condition for Ankara’s approval of Stockholm’s application for NATO membership. Western commentators have attributed the position of the Turkish government to upcoming Turkish elections, opposition to free speech, and/or visceral reaction to political provocateurs (Associated Press, January 19; Bloomberg, January 26; jonathanturley.org, January 24). However, the demands laid out by Ankara in the June 2022 Trilateral Memorandum stem from longstanding Turkish concerns over PKK support activities in Sweden and decades of Sweden formally proscribing, but still practically tolerating, the group (tccb.gov.tr, June 28, 2022). Most Western analysts have begun covering this story recently, but a look at the backstory is necessary when considering Turkish objections to the PKK’s presence in Sweden and its implications for NATO enlargement................To Read More....

My Take - As you read this it becomes obvious Sweden got themselves in this mess with their stupid immigration policies, and now the Kurds have so much power they can actually threaten Sweden's leaders with renewed terrorist actions if the don't go along with what they want.  Maybe they deserve the Russians.  

As for Turkey, if NATO's leadership had any backbone they'd threaten to refuse aid to Turkey over this last massive earthquake if they didn't knock off their demands over Sweden, but truth be told, there's not a nation in Europe with NATO membership right now that deserves to be there.  

They're all a bunch of losers hiding under America's umbrella of defense, all the while undermining America every step of the way.  America needs to go home and let this whole gaggle of babbling idiots suffer the consequences of their stupidity. 

Stop and think about this.  If Russia actually dominated all of Europe how long before Europe became bankrupt?  If Russia dominated all of Europe, how long before Russia went broke?  If Russia dominated all of Europe how long could they control it?  Russia's broke, it's demographically collapsing, and their entire leadership is almost as incompetent as the Biden administration. 

 

 

Sweden Increases Money Offered To Migrants To Voluntarily Go Home

by Tyler Durden Friday, Mar 03, 2023 Authored by John Cody via Remix News,

Sweden is now looking to follow in the footsteps of Denmark, which has enticed hundreds of migrants home with financial incentives............Once seen as the most accepting country in the world for refugees, the right-wing Swedish government, elected on a promise to curb immigration, is now enacting reforms to encourage migrants to return to their country of origin. To accomplish this, the government in Stockholm, together with the Swedish Democrats who support the coalition but are not formally part of the government, is increasing the financial support migrants can receive if they return home voluntarily.

“We are targeting the large number of groups that arrived in the past decades and failed to integrate,” said the migration minister of the Moderate Party, Maria Malmer, to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Malmer said that they will make sure that everyone who wants support to leave Sweden permanently will get the financial means to make this possible.............To Read More....

My Take - You may wish to view and the insane immigration policies that has totally destroyed the lack of crime and sense of safety that existed in Sweden before allowing all these Middle Easterners and African immigrants, mostly Muslims, with no desire to integrate.  So, now what happens when they refuse?  And they will, so what happens then?  At some point this will turn violent, and at some point these nations will force them to leave.  It will be about economics.  When Europe collapses economically, nothing will be off the table. 

Erdogan: Sweden Can’t Join NATO if Quran-Burning Is Allowed

Suzan Fraser and Jari Tanner, Associated Press, February 1, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Wednesday that Turkey won’t allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as the Scandinavian country permits protests desecrating Islam’s holy book to take place.

Turkey, which had already been holding off approving Sweden and Finland’s membership in the Western military alliance, has been infuriated by a series of separate demonstrations in Stockholm. In one case a solitary anti-Islam activist burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy, while in an unconnected protest an effigy of Erdogan was hanged. Even before that, Ankara had been pressing Sweden and Finland to crack down on exiled members of Kurdish and other groups it sees as terrorists, and to allow arms sales to Turkey.

Turkey has indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed the two Nordic countries’ NATO entry.  “Sweden, don’t even bother! As long as you allow my holy book, the Quran, to be burned and torn, and you do so together with your security forces, we will not say ‘yes’ to your entry into NATO,” Erdogan said in a speech to his ruling party’s legislators...........To Read More...

The Daily Chart: Sweden, After All

December 5, 2022 by Steven Hayward in The Daily Chart

New data from the OECD settles an argument that raged from the first days of the COVID hysteria: Sweden’s decision not to lockdown turns out to have been the correct one. The OECD’s calculation of total excess deaths from all causes (since COVID lockdowns increased other causes of death) was the lowest in the developed world, as seen here:............To Read More....

The Ghostly Traces of COVID Geoff Brown COVID primarily lives on in its human adherents, the masked cultists who seek to resist the return of normality for reasons best known to some quiet inner mental sanctum they nurture.  More

Sweden Has a Massive Crime Problem. The Reason Is Hardly Surprising.

  Leah Barkoukis Sep 23, 2022 

 

America isn't the only nation dealing with a violent crime problem that's plaguing cities and rural communities. In Sweden, things have become so bad other European nations are now reportedly looking at them "with horror." Shootings have skyrocketed, giving Sweden the dishonorable distinction of having the highest per-capita number of fatal shootings among 22 European nations.

But that's not the worst of it. Bombings have become a frequent occurrence over the last several years—nearly 500, in fact, since 2018.  What could be the root cause of these troubles? Sweden took in more immigrants per capita during the 2015 migration wave than any other country, many from countries like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The result, as Swedish writer and editor Paulina Neuding explains, has been disastrous..........To Read More....

What's Really Going on in Our Schools

By Rich Kozlovich

There's been a great deal of outrage expressed over Florida's law on sex education for very young children.  Outrage from the left because it has passed, and outrage from the parents because this needed to be passed.  But I'm a bit amazed. Why? 

Because it isn't like it just started this year. Below are a series of recent articles dealing will this, but below them I've linked some articles from my files going back to 2013 and 2014.  And no one noticed this has been going on for years.  Is it possible the media has been hiding it?  Remarkable!

Well, the rock has been turned over and parents are seeing what was under that rock, and they're just a bit upset.  Teachers are upset also, because these parents actually believe these children belong to them and not the education system.   Imagine that.  It would appear these teachers, teacher's unions and boards of education keep forgetting who are paying the bills, who the children belong to and who really is in charge.  

They seem to think they're unaccountable autocrats rather then employees.  Well, the parents think if they're paying the bills, they're the employer.  Imagine that.  And when the employer is told to shove it by the employee, things can and will get testy.   This cartoon really sets to tone for the next election. 

and some serious changes need to be made, starting with the elimination for the Department of Education, followed by the elimination of Public Employee Unions, especially teacher's unions.

   

At a Fairbanks school board meeting, you could feel the leftist panic - April 26, 202  By Andrea Widburg -  When I think of Alaska, I tend to think of a sturdy conservative state that elected Sarah Palin as its governor.  Then I remember that Alaskans keep sending Lisa Murkowski to the Senate.  Clearly, there's a leftist strain in that state.  It was clearly revealed at a Fairbanks School Board meeting regarding a proposed revision to school policies that would have required teachers to wade into controversial, polarizing subjects.  That's an interesting discussion and one school boards should have.  What I found noteworthy, though, was the desperate speed with which leftist board members moved to silence a conservative board member who peacefully began to read from a book readily found on the high school library shelves............

More Secret Gender Transition Closets Discovered in Public Schools Epoch Times, by Alice Giordano - They started in colleges, but trans closets—rooms stocked with transgender clothes and accessories for students to change into after arriving at school and back out of before going home—are being discovered in public schools, with some indication that they’re being kept secret from parents. In a recent TikTok video, a California teacher implies that the trans closet he started at the high school where he works is meant to be kept from parents. “The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school, and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are,” the teacher said.........

The Role of Parents in Education - By Anthony Matoria  April 26, 2022 - The education of children is one of the more consequential issues in American politics.  This is so, not merely because of concerns regarding the poor quality of education in many locations throughout the country, but also because the issue is used to justify alterations to established institutions and norms. The family and the individual dignity and welfare of the child are among these institutions and norms. Debate regarding education thus tends to wander into such areas as "parental rights" and whether children "belong" to society.  These are the issues of actual interest to progressive ideologies, and education is merely one front on which the ideologues seek to advance their agenda. .............  

 

Transgender Mania Grips the White HOuse, Despite Wrnings From Europe...  By Bill Donohue | April 22, 2022  - There is no such person as a transgender — you are either male or female — but there is such a thing as transgenderism: it is an ideology that promotes the fiction that the sexes are interchangeable.  To win, proponents are bent on getting to children, prompting little kids to question whether they are satisfied being a boy or a girl. If they are in doubt, they should be advised to at least consider making the switch.  There is no more rabid advocate of transgenderism in America than the president of the United States. Indeed, transgender mania has gripped the White House........

State to require 2nd graders to learn about gender identity You can have 'boy parts' but be a girl-  By WND News Services  April 22, 2022 - New sex-education standards that are set to go into effect in New Jersey this year have sparked a nationwide controversy and have even led to a public comment from the state’s Democratic governor, who supports the standards but wants clarification on what children will be taught. The standards, approved in 2020, are scheduled to be implemented this fall and will expand what students across all grades will learn about several issues, including LGBTQ+ matters. For example, by the end of grade 2, children should be able to “discuss the range of ways people express their gender and how gender-role stereotypes may limit behavior.”........

'The Way in Which Wars Start': Randi Weingarten Warns Parental Rights Bills Could Have Severe Consequences - Landon Mion Apr 22, 2022 10  -American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said on a recent podcast that GOP-backed parental rights legislation could have alarming results and even suggested that such laws are how "wars start." During an appearance on a podcast with radio host Rick Smith earlier this month, Weingarten criticized parental rights bills like the one recently signed into law in Florida. "This notion – we've been very lucky in America, and we in some ways live in a bubble for a long time," she said. "This is propaganda. This is misinformation. This is the way in which wars start. This is the way in which hatred starts." The AFT president also dismissed the suggestion that teachers are engaging in efforts to make students think in a certain way or are exposing children to inappropriate content...............

LGBTQ Activist Group Urges American Students to ‘Take Vow of Silence’ in Schools to Address ‘Anti-LGBTQ Behavior’ - April 22, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD -  The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) rallied U.S. students to participate in their annual Day of Silence Friday, during which the students are supposed to vow to remain silent in school, apparently to draw attention to claims of “anti-LGBTQ behavior.” According to GLSEN, which was founded by gay activist and former Obama administration “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings, the “Day of Silence” is “a national student-led demonstration where LGBTQ students and allies  all around the country—and the world—take a vow of silence to protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools.”..........

Now, from the files of Paradigms and Demographics let's take a very short trip back in time to 2013  and 2014.

‘Gay’ Lawmaker to Christians: ‘We’ll Take Your Children’ - August 25, 2013 by J. Matt Barber - Few people doubt that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hopes to become president in 2016. Unfortunately for him, he may have just signed away any chance of that. Last week, Christie signed A3371, a draconian piece of legislation that bars licensed therapists from helping children overcome unwanted same-sex attractions, behavior or identity. This law bans help for minors even when – as is so often the case – those same-sex attractions arise from childhood sexual abuse by the likes of a Jerry Sandusky.

 

This law will prohibit minors and their parents from receiving counseling they desire and will force counselors to violate ethical codes because they will not be able to help clients reach their own counseling goals. This law would enslave children – whether abused or not – to a subjectively determined sexual identity that they reject....[beyond] violating their first amendment rights......The governor is one of three things. He is either: 1) ill-informed, 2) politically motivated or 3) stupid.

 
I don’t know, I guess he could be 4) all of the above.....

 
DOJ: Children Do Not Need—and Have No Right to--Mothers - March 3, 2013 By Terence P. Jeffrey -  Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., speaks at Georgetown Law School.  The Obama Justice Department is arguing in the United States Supreme Court that children do not need mothers.   The Justice Department’s argument on the superfluity of motherhood is presented in a brief the Obama administration filed in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended California’s Constitution to say that marriage involves only one man and one woman.
The Justice Department presented its conclusions about parenthood in rebutting an argument made by proponents of Proposition 8 that the traditional two-parent family, led by both a mother and a father, was the ideal place, determined even by nature itself, to raise a child.   The Obama administration argues this is not true. It argues that children need neither a father nor a mother and that having two fathers or two mothers is just as good as having one of each….

 
Yale mulls paying for students' sex change operations - By Joshua Rhett Miller Published February 28, 2013 - Yale is considering joining Brown, Penn, Harvard and Cornell universities by picking up the tab for Ivy League students who want sex changes.  The New Haven, Conn., school is still reviewing policies regarding the procedure for its 5,322 undergraduate students and its 6,526 graduate and professional students, but has already extended gender reassignment coverage to employees.  "The benefit is offered to faculty and staff, and is being considered for students," Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart told FoxNews.com in an email. "Cost would vary depending on treatment."  Gabriel Murchison, a member of Yale’s Resource Alliance for Gender Equity (RAGE), told FoxNews.com gender reassignment surgery is just one of several areas where student health care should be on par with that offered to faculty, staff and their dependents....

 
Irate parents pummel gov't official over porn in class - By WND Staff October 13, 2019 - 'If it's not suitable to talk about with adults, how can it possibly be suitable to talk about in schools?' Parents infuriated over school-mandated lessons that "promote pornography" have confronted the education secretary in the United Kingdom.  It happened at a recent National Parent Forum of Scotland event.  The Christian Institute explained that one of the parents faced off with Education Secretary John Swinney over the curriculum. "When [a] father gave a graphic description of what he claimed was being taught, he was asked by the chair of the event to tone down his language. He responded by saying if it's not suitable to talk about with adults, how can it possibly be suitable to talk about in schools?'" the institute said. The parents charged the lessons are "corrupting children.".........