Report abuse »

Also, it’s very easy to think Sweden is far better in many ways when you’re living there as an American with all of the rights and privileges we have. But try living as a Swede and being told you can’t leave the country to go on vacation/visit a friend because you can’t find a job and should be home looking for one, not traveling. And that’s just one example. I love Sweden, but I don’t like seeing anyone bash their own country just to look good in the eyes of another.

Report abuse »

“In 2003, there were 189 homicides reported in Sweden.[3] In 2001, there were 169 reported, which gives a rate of approximately 2 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.”

“Recently, however, the homicide rate has stagnated.[7] While the homicide rate decreased continuously between 1991 and 2000 from 9.8 homicides per 100,000 persons to 5.5 per 100,000, it has remained level through 2005.”

The homicide rate in the US is still more than double that of Sweden, and that’s after having gone down 9,8 in the 90’s…
Stop lying!

Report abuse »

30 percent of social workers and so-called case workers have been
threatened or attacked, then we obviously have some more
uttered to advise and handler futile.

Crimes against these and other vulnerable groups should not be recorded
properly (read halfway down below in the post under this link)

When police officers in gang cities – the five largest – and a couple of
threatened in their homes, their cars and outbuildings burned, and their whereabouts
limited so we obviously have some more to the band.

When 40 percent of welfare benefits went to non-western immigrants
late 2005, so of course we must make sure that not less than 50 percent
of welfare is transferred to the group in 2010.

When the violence and the number of homicides and attempted homicides rise sharply, then
number of these offenses, of course, grow explosively.
Home Robberies rose in such numbers, 2006-2009: 16-23-56-more
than 100, and so must increase year by year, of course, increased
further.

5 times more murders and attempted murders in 20-year period from 1985
to 2005, although the ethnic Danish population during the same period went
back with nearly 300,000. During the same period the number of alien
immigrants, however, increased by a factor of 10 1967-2005, d.v.s. at 38 years
is the number of murder and attempted murder increased by 644% or 6.4
times. From 1967-2008: increased 7.53 times.

If you want know anything about Denmark:
http://danmark.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/shall-you-even-get-enough-yes-i-think-so/

Report abuse »

One wonders where you get your misinformation.

In the first place, poverty doesn’t cause crime. Culture does. Some of the lowest crime states, such as The Dakotas, are among the poorest. Moreover The US has a lower crime rate than Sweden and many other European nations:

http://danmark.wordpress.com/2006/07/01/last-comparison-of-crime-rates-between-nations-ever/

No shortage of upward mobility here in the US. Just look at Asian immigrants, many who come here with next to nothing and in short order make more on average than white Americans.
What dooms upward mobility is having a kid out of wedlock and also means the kid is more likely to fail.

Report abuse »

I read a very interest essay by a fellow of the conservative Hoover Institute a few years back. The essay was about why we, the US, should not ok same sex marriages. However in the essay he twice pointed out that Sweden had eleminated its underclass by having universal healthcare and universal education up to and including college. He pointed out how yes there were poor people in Sweden, but they did not produce a large under class of crime causing people. He pointed out that in Sweden a person born to poor parents had a very realistic chance of doing much better than his/her parents – not so in the USA. Here the old boot straps pull up is a figment of imagination by all but about one percent of the born poor.

We are divided more and more by the haves and have nots. The haves, have healthcare, have a home, have a job and don’t give a darn fro the have nots. Here, for sure in the South, the poor are poor because they are lazy. Oh the American Christians will send a few buck to a cause now and then like Katrina or Haiti, but they will not look at the cause of poverty and do anything about it, because it might mean higher taxes and they might not be able to buy their four ton gas sucking pickup truck to drive three miles to work and back in.

Report abuse »

While I am no republican I think you are quite wrong comparing them with the Swedish democrats. Let us not sugarcoat the agenda of the SD. Republicans have traditionally been for lower taxes and smaller government. There are lots of different kinds of republican as well. I don’t know how it is in the south but in the Northeast republicans favor low taxes. Most of them that I know own small businesses and are looking for policies that will help them grow their business.

I think Sweden is much better on this respect though. I was really talking about Norway and Denmark.

I would agree that many Arabs that move to the US have a higher education level and speak the language. Still the research out there suggests that similar cohort groups, at the same education levels, have an easier time finding a job in the US. This is true for immigrants from non-OECD coutries. There are lots of studies that support this. The tax and employment policies may have something to do with this. I am not sure.

Report abuse »

I would never call the US a utopia. I don’t agree with many of the political decisions made for a number of years now (although I am still giving this president a chance). Yes, there is poverty, and we need a decent health care bill to actually pass. But what was described here was a severely warped view. Many of the people (including Americans) who post on this (especially in the comments) seem to be looking for a place where spouting racist trash in a public forum is okay – and the hate commonly expressed on this site appeals to them. Sweden seems to attract and condone that sort of behavior, what with athletes turning to some of the ugliest points in history to taunt rivals, discrimination against the very immigrants they claim to help, and a general ‘holier than thou’ attitude while they lecture the world. If you really want the peace on earth you agitate for a little acceptance would go a long way.

By the way, Americans as a whole are hard working, and certainly not lazy. And, at least in the area I come from, we even dress nice. Like someone said earlier, even in a big city like Chicago – get off the tram and look around. Decent people, who offer directions and help, and even occasionally smile at strangers. It’s not all good, but it’s alive.

I’m looking forward to going home. Perhaps I have done well for Sweden in the job I was brought to do, but I don’t belong here, and even if I wanted to join into the faceless mass, I doubt if I could.

This is the first time I have ever been anything but pleasant here – but enough is enough. America gets regularly racked over the coals for her faults and convienently ignored for her virtues and generosity. I truly hope that the friends I have made here are the true face of Sweden, and that the hate reflected on this site is the work of a nasty minority.

Report abuse »

It certainly hasn’t been my impression that Swedes are happier than or morally superior to Americans. Regarding the happiness, quite the opposite.

The mobility in American society fosters the attitude that you can greatly improve your lot in life. That includes a great many in the bottom 30%. I know. I was a part of it once.

I don’t know where, other than Karl Marx, you got the absurd idea that an individual becoming more successful means someone else must become impoverished.

There’s a tradeoff. One system limits upward mobility with high taxation and regulkation, but provides more social services. The other provides more opportunity, but entails more struggle.

You obviously prefer the former. I’ll take the latter. I’m Grandpa got on that boat.

Report abuse »

And employment? Most Arabs in the USA get in the country in the first place because of WORKING PERMITS. Most Arabs in Sweden are asylum seekers or refugees. People who for starters do not even speak the language. -.-

@Bruce: Sure, if you define having more cars and bigger houses as “living better.” The bottomline is that the people who choose to live in the US choose to accept the fact that their financial gain means the loss of someone else’s financial means. The American system relies on that bottom 30% living in poverty. People may fall up or down the financial ladder but the American society is built to have such contrasts. Now, I myself could never live in such a society. It’s why I choose to remain in Sweden (and to contribute to the system) even though I may make more money elsewhere.

Money and financial wealth isn’t everything. Living in a healthy society with happy people is.

Report abuse »