From: Colin Hales (colin@versalog.com.au)
Date: Mon Jul 08 2002 - 17:55:31 MDT
Anders Sandberg:
<whopper snip>
>
.................
>
> Free markets and free trade were the basis for the Swedish miracle. =
> Sweden was not an exception, and therefore it is no surprise
> that the =
> shift away from free markets undermined the miracle. Even worse, the =
> fall of wealth in Sweden has also produced an increasingly statical =
> mentality in people, which further undermines the possibilities for =
> advancement. The greatest damage of the welfare state is the loss of =
> moral values, and increasing alienation and suspiciousness between =
> people.
> ........................
<snip>
My brother moved to Sweden (Goteborg, later Stockholm) from Melbourne in the
80s. It has been interesting to hear his story of the expatriate Australian
in the Swedish system.
He has been a contractor (interior design, autoCAD - now spends his life
doing 3D rendering of same) for most of his career and when he went to
Sweden he continued to do so. This means that he is set up as a business
person in the same way that anyone would. Invoicing, chasing clients - the
usual.
In social circles, when he found himself describing what he did for a
living, he found himself regarded as a kind of 'criminal'! The attitude of
the locals to the self employed seems to be one of contempt. There is a
belief by the locals that this kind of self-actualisation is an embodiment
of some form of 'greed' that seems to be found almost offensive. There is a
presumption of untoward and undeserved privelege/rorting of 'the system'.
Other aspects I found interesting
1) The big hand of the state comes out of the sky each month into your bank
account and removes some of your take home pay in state enforced savings.
(Not sure how this relates to any superannuation/retirement funding system),
apart from the usual witheld income taxation and sales related taxation.
This is initially quite an invasive imposition to one not used to it. The
clear message "You are not capable of sensibly and/or equitably handling
your finances long term, so we'll do it for you, now get out of the way, we
have access to your bank account".
2) Even as a self employed person, if the work dries up you are entitled to
immediately get some sort of wage support from the government. Now there's
an incentive to make something work!
3) If asked if he could ever be regarded as Swedish by the locals he would
say no, no matter how long he lived. This is quite a shock to someone from
Australia, where place of birth and appearance are relatively meaningless.
My brother has light caucasian features and his dress and hair...looks
Swedish. He is told he has 'no accent'. I think he has learnt to fake being
a local. He knows that being perceived as a local is important. I think his
ability to fake a swede somehow enabled his original residency.
4) By the sound of it my brother will never own a house and maybe not even a
car. This is not something that concerns him, but it is interesting to note
that as life-options they are somewhat distant in spite of qualifications,
talent and hard work.
5) In business dealings in the building industry has the most incredible
procedural/consultative processes. Literally years are spent ensuring that
the rights of every possible involved party have been addressed, to the
point where it can take a decade to get a building permit and the rights of
a minority party can eliminate a project completely.
In moving to Sweden (I still don't know why - It's the sort of thing my
brother typically just 'does'. He's like that), my bother described it as
living in a kind of economic cage or, perhaps more accurately, like living
with a safety net so securing that you never actually get off it onto the
trapeze of life. Being a very tolerant and accepting person, my brother
simply works within it, although frustrated at times, quite happily. He has
a partner and a son.
One other interesting issue is that of the experience of Swedes as tourists
in Australia: There is an 'I'm out of the cage' aspect to their experience.
Some handle it better than others. (My brother has had various friends stay
in Melbourne over the years in his visits). I remember one poor soul who
actually ended up in a psych ward! I think he arrived with a disorder of
some sort and the experience pushed him over the edge. [I think it may have
been the depression disorder that relates to the light levels at those
lattitudes - the .au light blew out his pineal gland :-) ]
I hope to visit bro and family in the not too distant future.
You can see why the article caught my eye. It seems to match my brother's
experience somewhat. I was wondering if it was just his view. The only other
'spin' on Sweden has been as an example of modernity, a model society to aim
for. The 'A Swedish study has uncovered evidence that.......' is a weekly
news item.
As a leaf it can be hard to tell whether the forest is healthy.
What's your slant on this, Anders? How does the forest look to you?
cheers
Colin Hales
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