[The Great RJ]

US manufacturers could lean a lot from Ikea. My wife recently purchased a desk from Ikea and I was impressed by the quality and design. We had several previous assemble it yourself desks from US makers and found the pressed sawdust covered with a plastic ersatz wood skin, simply does not last. If you fail to get one of the assembly pins in straight whole pieces of the panel can come off. The Ikea design used real wood veneers and sandwich type panels that are far more sturdy than pressed wood. The directions took a little getting used to, but my wife and I were still speaking to each other after we got it assembled.

The Ikea in Minneapolis has a great 99 cent breakfast.

[WesternCulture]

“The Ikea in Minneapolis has a great 99 cent breakfast.”

- Incredible.

IKEA meals are very affordable in Sweden too.

I don’t know exactly what IKEA breakfasts cost here in Gothenburg, but if the price is anywhere near that of their Minneapolis store, a Swedish Volvo worker would have to work a mere 2 minutes just to survive.

Despite certain disagreements in the field of international diplomacy the last decades, I believe the US and Sweden are two countries that have a lot to offer each other.

If there were no journalists and no MSM’s, Europeans and Americans would be the best of friends.

SWEDISH NATIONAL ANTHEM:

mms://stream.episerverhotell.net/nationalanthem

Translation of the lyrics:

“Thou ancient, thou freeborn, thou mountainous North,
In beauty and peace our hearts beguiling,
I greet thee, thou loveliest land on the earth,
Thy sun, thy skies, thy verdant meadows smiling.
Thy sun, thy skies, thy verdant meadows smiling.

Thy throne rests on mem’ries from great days of yore,
When worldwide renown was valour’s guerdon.
I know to thy name thou art true as before.
Oh, I would live and I would die in Sweden,
Oh, I would live and I would die in Sweden.”