Free Republic

Ever been to Norway? We visited it this summer. Clean cities and towns, lots of hills and fjords, very green foliage, a really pretty place. Summertime temperatures were just perfect (winters hit 35 below). As "nanny states" go, Norway is just about the top of the heap. Supposedly, Norwegians are some of the happiest people on earth. They seem to just send most if not all their money to the government and they are taken care of pretty much cradle to grave. We did notice some things about Norway, though, that don't immediately meet the eye; that's because they aren't...

Here's a reply to that question coming from "tiny" Sweden (please see youtube link below). Yes, it's true some of our unaware teenagers daily are slandering America on You Tube. Hopefully, you'll survive it. The average, decent, well educated European may eat snails, yet is an reliable ally of the US. America is not alone.

According to American Liberals, publications like the Economist, the Guardian et al and various studies, Scandinavia is the most successful society on Earth. Despite Breivik and Malmö. Whether it actually is true or not, let's say the average Scandinavian enjoys a higher standard of living than the average German, Dutch, Briton or American. What could be learned from it? Should other countries try and copy our concept of society? Does the Scandinavian model of taxation explain Scandinavian prosperity? Hardly. The way in which Scandinavian wealth is taxed and redistributed says absolutely nothing about how it was created in the first...

There are many problems with parroting socialist-first studies, as Wilson does, especially from Scandinavia, where Orwellian speech codes prevent free-thinking academics from reaching the “wrong” conclusions. But I digress. You see, scientific truths always find ways of getting out, eventually, so one can detect a pattern. Take gay marriage and marriage-like unions and think about where children are more at risk. From The Ruth Institute: What types of unions have the highest rates of divorce? •Opposite sex married couples: men and women are so different, it is a wonder they ever stay married. •Male unions: men are naturally less committed,...

To anyone sane of mind, it's pretty obvious that something, basically, is wrong about the way large parts of European and American economy is run today. Scandinavia is an exception - and a bigger one than most people are aware of. Our German neighbors are beginning to realize this and lately Chancellor Merkel have been very successful in restoring economic growth on German soil. Presently, the German economy, after 20 years of a sad standstill, is growing at a pace nearing that of Sweden. Scandinavia (including Finland) taken as a whole is today the World's 10th largest economy despite it's...

(Translation from Swedish into English:) Stockholm: More and more Swedish families have a third child. "Trebarnstrenden," - The "three children trend" which has become increasingly manifest since the 1990s, was unexpected by demographers at Statistics Sweden (SCB), which lies behind the study. - We had expected a reduction of third child births given that women become older when they have their first child, about 29 years, and therefore would have a hard time getting a third child, says Lotta Persson, demographer at Statistics Sweden who carried out the study. Even in the early 1990s there were many who got a...

Almost 100 years after the great Swedish migration to North America, dialect researchers from Gothenburg are heading across the Atlantic in hopes of learning more about the evolution of the Swedish language, The Local’s Karen Holst explains. Wild myths that solve the mysterious birth of language and its dispersal often include floods, catastrophes or punishment by the gods. In Hindu stories it was a tree being humbled, in North American Indian folklore it was a great flood, in east Africa it was starvation-induced madness, in the Amazon it was stolen hummingbird eggs and in aboriginal Australia it was a goddess’...

The Yale Glee Club chose Sweden to kick off a reprise the US singing group's 1928 international tour undertaken to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Contributor Lina Sennevall finds out why. The stately harmonies of the Yale Glee Club filled the halls of the Adolf Fredrik Church in Stockholm on a recent evening. The performance is one of four Swedish concerts the prestigious singing group gave as part of a European tour retracing the steps of the choir’s landmark 1928 tour which helped the group gain recognition as one of the first American singing groups to tour the Scandinavian countries and...

- Perhaps, but Northern Europe didn't get rich by adopting policies resembling what Obama today is doing to the US.

My ancestors have lived close to Russia since the dawn of Mankind. We have lost territory to them, counqured it back and so forth. In 1809, Sweden had to give up Finland to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. Later on, Finland became sovereign and stood up very well to the test when challenged by Stalin in the wake of WWII. Tiny Finland in fact even ridiculed Stalin and his Soviet warriors in the legendary Winter War. Most often, Stalin is seen as a brutal yet efficient ruler, but Finland, aided by Sweden, really demonstrated to the World how weak and...

I was born in Sweden 41 years ago and since 1988 I work there. Compared to when I begun my career, wages are much higher, prices have not gone up much and taxes are way lower. Recently, our economy has displayed GDP growth figures of 7.3%. Do we Scandinavians set an example for other nations? I think we do. Germany has recently begun listening to what Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden have to say in the area of economic policy and national budget discipline. One fine day, France, Italy, Britain, Japan and the US perhaps will too.. The article: "The...

The Church of Sweden has advised pastors to avoid christening asylum seekers that have converted to Christianity due to the risk of reprisals in the case of repatriation, reported news agency TT. One of the reasons for the recommendation is because it can cause danger and increase risks if a person who has converted to Christianity is later sent back to their home country. Another reason is that the motive for the christening can be questioned by some who suggest that asylum seekers convert to Christianity to increase their chances of staying in Sweden. The issue is being addressed in...

1. I'm convinced several forum members who are impressed by Sweden's Liberal policies on immigration wish to contribute in a constructive manner to this thread:) 2. Which is the biggest shopping mall on Earth? According to Forbes, no mall in the entire US enters the top ten list! (See link below) However, there are many ways to count. If you'd measure them by the number of shops, Emporia would beat number 10 on that list by around 100% even though it will have only half the size. Furthermore, the yearly combined sales of a mall like Emporia, located in an...

No one really knows how to measure such wealth as billionaires as the likes of Kamprad and Gates dispose of. Kamprad's ranked as number 11 by Forbes on their 2011 listing of the World's wealthiest persons, but after recent news of his hidden possessions in the tax haven of Lichtenstein, some experts rank Ingvar Kamprad as number one. In any case, I, being Swedish myself find it interesting that two of the 15 richest men on Earth are Swedish (although I'm not one of them myself) and that small Scandinavia has more of companies listed on the Forbes Global 2000...

There is actually nothing to be afraid of here in life. But most people act like disorganized creatures running around recently having their necks cut off. Prior to Gustavus Adolphus, monarch of tiny Sweden, decided to break the backbone of Catholicism in the 17th century, he told his troops; "Fear not, O little flock, the foe Who madly seeks your overthrow; Dread not his rage and power; What though your courage sometimes faints, His seeming triumph o’er God’s saints Lasts but a little hour. Be of good cheer; your cause belongs To Him who can avenge your wrongs; Leave it...

Around a.d. 1000, Scandinavia was Christianized. This clip could be said to feature how the Christian nation of Sweden was secured. Most historians would say Denmark is an even older Christian nation. The flag of Denmark is commonly considered to be the oldest existing flag on Earth.

Being a four year old toddler, my grandpa robbed me from my mother's knee and taught me the realities of life; "We men work and when work is finished, we'll enjoy grandma's great cooking". My grandma knew how to cook. I'm fortunate. I've enjoyed the greatest childhood any person could dream of. Despite the torture of Swedish Liberal schools. My maternal grandfather owned three summer houses by the age of 30 and managed them all by himself (with a little aid from his family though). His father worked at a factory. My paternal grandfather was just like him. He had...

STOCKHOLM—Sweden's gross domestic product surged in the fourth quarter of 2010, rising the most since records began, easily beating forecasts and offering further support to the Riksbank's plans to raise interest rates during 2011. Economic output in Sweden grew 7.3% in the three months to Dec. 31 compared with the same period in 2009, beating economists' estimates of 6.9%, and expanded 1.2% compared with the third quarter against forecasts of 0.9%, Statistics Sweden said. GDP growth of 7.3% was the biggest quarterly rise year-on-year since Statistics Sweden started measuring such figures in 1970, said Per Ericson, an analyst at the...

Many Americans of today enjoy a high standard of living, but unemployment is on the rise and no signs of economic recovery is in sight (please correct me if you think I'm wrong). In order to make things worse, USA has also elected a certain Liberal named Obama for president. By and by, America, a nation which still is admired by many over here in Europe (I'm Swedish by the way), a nation which once ruled the World, is becoming more and more like a backyard of today's international business scene. Yes, it IS that bad. I live in Gothenburg,...

A year after claims about an exodus of Jews from Malmö made global headlines, many Jewish residents still don't feel safe in southern Sweden, The Local's Karen Holst discovers. The past couple of years have been turbulent for Malmö's Jewish community. A spike in anti-Semitic attacks in 2009 prompted a number of Jews to leave the city altogether, concluding they would never feel accepted there. Controversial comments by the town's long-serving Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu also put Malmö in the spotlight, drawing criticism from within his own party, as well as from influential Jewish organisations aboard. And in December...