Tag: Sweden

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…since we got back from the U.S. We had quite a packed schedule while in the States and only now have I found time to devote to JBD. So, thanks to the Miles Davis Archive on Youtube, you can enjoy two sets from the Konserthuset in Stockholm, recorded October 13th, 1960:   Preview Open

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Join Jim and Greg as they welcome a new congressional map in New York that should give Republicans better chances to win more seats than the heavily gerrymandered version from Democrats that multiple courts have struck down. They’re also pleasantly surprised to see Russian President Vladimir Putin say Sweden and Finland joining NATO will not be seen as a direct threat to Russia. And Jim takes a deep dive into the skyrocketing cost of diesel fuel, what’s behind it, and what the consequences will be.

Ayaan speaks with Paulina Neuding about rising crime rates in Sweden, humiliation robberies against children, and what Swedish identity looks like today. They consider the social cost of speaking up, and how not saying anything is far more harmful.

Paulina Neuding is a journalist based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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More than a couple tries were taken to get where I wanted to be with this group writing post. It began as an exploration of the filmography of Cab Calloway (yes, I have been watching too many Al Jolson movies), then became a review of/pitch for watching a Russian indie film, and finally manifested as […]

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Second Look at Sweden’s Response to COVID-19

 

It’s not too late to learn from Sweden‘s management of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first phase winds down and the results can be tallied, it is clear that Sweden is in an enviable position both economically and medically.

Rather than relying on speculative models to justify draconian policies, Sweden’s public health officials noted the lack of evidence that social isolation mandates could reduce COVID-19 deaths over the full course of the virus. Plainly put, you can change the timing of the damage but you can’t make the virus go away.

So Sweden pursued a policy of targeted precautions rather than the shotgun approach adopted in the US. Only the most vulnerable were isolated. There was no lockdown. Businesses stayed open. Students attended school. Patients continued to receive non-COVID medical care.

The American wit Will Rogers once said, “All I know is what I read in the papers.” And as far as James and Toby are concerned, ol’ Will wouldn’t have known anything about the state of the world today. Why is the mainstream media missing so much during this pandemic and why do you have to turn to obscure websites – like LockdownSceptics.org – to find out what’s really going on?

 

Long Term, We’re All Swedes

 

There has been considerable debate regarding the validity of the Swedish approach to mitigating the effects of COVID-19. At National Review, John Fund and Joel Hay have written an excellent article detailing the successes of the Swedish “herd immunity” strategy. Next to it is Theodore Kupfer’s thoughtful response. The debate regarding the Swedish strategy vs. the US strategy will likely go on into the foreseeable future, with political, social, economic, and healthcare ramifications. Until all the data is in, we will most likely not know if Sweden’s gambit was worth the risk or if the path the US took was the right one. I think, though, that much of this debate misses out on an essential truth, one that we’ve turned a blind eye to, perhaps on purpose.

In the long term, we’re all Swedes.

Let me explain. One of the primary reasons that the Swedes went this route was that the other options simply were not sustainable.  From the Fund/Hay article:

Why Can’t We Be More Like Sweden?

 

Why can’t we be more like Sweden? Boy, I never thought I’d write those words, but I just did. You may ask in what way would I like the US to be more like Sweden? Well, it turns out they are the only country in the western world in which the government has not unilaterally shut down society in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, they are just as interested in the economic, social, and psychological health of their citizens as they are in minimizing death and illness from the coronavirus. They are, therefore, treating their citizens as responsible, rational adults.

So far, Sweden has closed its borders to non-EU nations, has restricted public gatherings to less than 50 people, and, well, that’s about it for enforced prohibitions. Otherwise, the government has issued a number of advisories including asking people to practice social distancing, work from home if possible, students over 16 are asked to study from home, and those 70 and over are urged to self-isolate. Most private businesses remain open, restaurants still offer table service, private meetings and parties continue apace, and elementary schools are open. This does not mean that Sweden has not yet felt any pain from the virus. According to the NBC News article I linked to as of March 31, Sweden had recorded approximately 4,500 cases of coronavirus and 180 deaths therefrom.

I’d be interested in what the people here at Ricochet who have been paying much closer attention to the numbers than have I, such as @rodin and @arizonapatriot have to say about Sweden’s coronavirus policy. I’m also interested in what the numerous Ricochet physicians think about the policy.

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  So there’s Virginia, where their Minstrel Governor plans to take guns away from law abiding citizens. Virginia is for lovers (if not for their unwanted progeny): as soon as Virginia’s police officers have disarmed the people, gun violence will all-but-cease, and any residual danger to the already-born citizenry will be handled expertly by the […]

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NY Times Finally Finds a Downside to Mass, Unregulated Immigration

 

In the United States, mass, unregulated immigration is seen as the key to a permanent, Democrat governing majority when third-world migrants and their offspring tip every large red state to blue. This majority will, in turn, impose the full panoply of Nordic taxes and welfare services. For the sake of cheap labor (and a welfare-funded consumer market), big business is firmly in the camp of supporting the mass importation of the very voters that will destroy the capitalist system, thus fulfilling Lenin’s prophecy that “the capitalist will sell you the rope you will hang him with.”

In Sweden, on the other hand, some see mass immigration as a potential threat to the socialist welfare system.

Socialism Like . . . Sweden?

 

A few months ago Ricochet member @mattyvan put up a great post about Sweden, Sweden. Lessons for America? , which included an hour long documentary about Sweden’s economy. Since then we have seen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez become one of the most popular young Democrats and one of the oldest, Bernie Sanders, announce that he will run for president in 2020. With admitted socialist becoming more and more more prominent, it might be worth revisiting this topic.

While Cuba and Venezuela give us good examples of what socialism can do to a country, they do not exactly tell a happy story. So, the folks promoting “Democratic Socialism” are telling us to look to Sweden as an example of what we can do in America. The problem is, Sweden doesn’t really fit the model of what Bernie and company are trying to sell.

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(The current riots and car-burnings in Sweden reminded me of this post from 2013) The government of Sweden didn’t do a very good job of protecting its citizens and their property from the rampant rioting that took place in late May.  Government agents did, however, fulfill their duty of issuing parking tickets…to burned-out cars. Preview […]

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Terror in Stockholm Tonight

 

What we know now is that one or more assailants hijacked a truck in central Stockholm and drove a truck into a crowd on the busiest street in the city at 2:53 pm, just ahead of the Friday afternoon rush.

Three people have been confirmed dead and 15 or more are seriously injured, all of the hospitals are on high alert, and all public transport has been shut down, including the traffic in and around the central station.

Two hours after the initial alarm, the visibly shaken Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven confirmed that this was a terror attack and that all government buildings are put on lockdown.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to President Trump ordering missile strikes against a Syrian airfield in retaliation for Syria’s use of chemical weapons.  They also discuss another terrorist attack involving a truck, this time in Stockholm.  They’re stunned to see reports that Trump may be considering replacing his top two advisers.  And they welcome Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

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I ran across an article on Big Think that I thought some might find interesting. A naturalized Swedish citizen has launched an international competition through his The Global Challenges Foundation for an award called New Shape. The Swede feels that current systems are inadequate and that he is willing to pony up $5 million to […]

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(My inspiration for putting up the Sweden series is that our prez, who is always (shall we say) more concerned with the larger picture than boring details and not so concerned with (shall we say) precise word choice, has – again – misspoken. As is often the case, though, his misspeaks may show a deeper […]

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Bernie and I Gotta Tell Ya, the Swedish Way Works! (Part One)

 

Except I’m talking about the historical Swedish way. Bernie is talking about the modern Swedish fairytale. With Sweden back in the news, here’s Part One of a two part series from Dancing On the Edge of the Widening Gyre. We’ll look a bit at the “immigration and crime” controversy, among other things, in Part Two.

The Swedish system is the vaunted Socialist Third Way, proof that, done right, socialism works. Actually, by Mises’s classical liberal definition, the Swedish Way might more accurately be called fascism that works. That is, much of the Third Way is not state ownership of the means of production but private ownership under state planning and control. Whatever. If you wish to call it socialism, you could make that case. However, if it’s socialism, it’s nice socialism; no gulags, purges, or kangaroo courts. Likewise, if it’s fascism, it’s nice fascism; no death camps, government-sponsored mobs in the streets, or ultranationalism. Call it either. The point is, the Third Way works.

Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism, explains that H.G. Wells advocated a nice form of fascism which he called “liberal fascism.” In other words, Wells might be called the father of the Swedish Way. Whether we go with “liberal fascism” or “liberal socialism,” it’s a gentler, kinder, egalitarian, and successful alternative to free markets. So believe democratic socialists, regular socialists, leftists, and progressives throughout the world.