...in times of "communism", there was far more freedom than it gets to be in the US. It's sad that a country that boasts to be the most 'free' in the world, slowly becomes another empire of evil, democracy no longer fulfilling its purpose, law in hands of corporations, money being the highest value, crime and violence becoming leading powers driving the economy. It's just sad.
You know, if you're going to burn your karma, you might as well bring some facts to the table to back it up. Heck, just post in Polish, Im sure we could Babel fish a translation from ya.
Except of really absolutely necessary laws, the only limitation was: Don't fight the system. At least, not from outside. Which means: You could join the party, climb the career ladder and once gaining significant power, help guiding the system towards something more 'accessible'. And that was often done. They stopped condemning rock music, instead they pursued engaging it on their side (see the Manaam band), they had to ballance giving as much freedom to people against bec
it wasn't freedom that people fought for. It was the shiny shop shelves bending under weight of wares, it was fast cars, big luxury houses that most of the people who fought thought they would have. Their mistake as to the character of capitalism appeared shortly after, and homeless, redundant, criminals came as a shock. Nobody who came from the US with a bag of dollars ever mentioned them. Nobody mentioned that people may die because they can't aford medicine; they can freeze to death because real estate
I'm swedish, and I like living here, but get your facts straight!
Living here is good, that is true, but it is not the utopia you make it out to be.
You are describing Sweden in the 70's, not in the 00's. (Being completely intact after WWII gave us a good head start...)
After a slight crisis in the 90's national debt is up, unemployment is up a bit, and we are over all more on par with other western european countries.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm told [cia.gov] that Sweden's unemployment is 4% and national debt is 30% of annual GDP, or about US$7500 per capita.
Well...
The open unemployment rate was around 5% [riksbank.se] in october 2003.
And, concerning the debt:
The CIA Worldbook uses old numbers (1994).
It only counts external debt, not internal.
The total Swedish national debt is 50% of GDP (end of 2002) and currently sinking slowly.
It may sound like a lot, but is actually less than the total would have been during the period the CIA Worldbook covers (we had a economic crisis in the early 90's. Since then, the administration has made a point of getting rid of the debt,
"Be there. Aloha."
-- Steve McGarret, _Hawaii Five-Oh_
When I remember Poland... (Score:1, Insightful)
It's just sad.
Re:When I remember Poland... (Score:-1, Flamebait)
Re:When I remember Poland... (Score:5, Interesting)
Except of really absolutely necessary laws, the only limitation was: Don't fight the system. At least, not from outside. Which means: You could join the party, climb the career ladder and once gaining significant power, help guiding the system towards something more 'accessible'. And that was often done. They stopped condemning rock music, instead they pursued engaging it on their side (see the Manaam band), they had to ballance giving as much freedom to people against bec
Re:When I remember Poland... (Score:5, Interesting)
Get your facts straight... (Score:4, Informative)
Living here is good, that is true, but it is not the utopia you make it out to be.
You are describing Sweden in the 70's, not in the 00's. (Being completely intact after WWII gave us a good head start...)
After a slight crisis in the 90's national debt is up, unemployment is up a bit, and we are over all more on par with other western european countries.
Re:Get your facts straight... (Score:2)
Re:Get your facts straight... (Score:2)
The open unemployment rate was around 5% [riksbank.se] in october 2003.
And, concerning the debt:
The total Swedish national debt is 50% of GDP (end of 2002) and currently sinking slowly.
It may sound like a lot, but is actually less than the total would have been during the period the CIA Worldbook covers (we had a economic crisis in the early 90's. Since then, the administration has made a point of getting rid of the debt,