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Posted on 09/18/2007 6:33:48 AM PDT by WesternCulture
The government has pledged to introduce income tax cuts worth 10.8 billion kronor ($1.6 billion) at the beginning of next year.
Writing in Dagens Nyheter, the four party leaders promised that this second wave of income tax cuts, combined with the first, would result in a total increase of 1,000 kronor per month in take home pay for all those in gainful employment.
"We have hereby fulfilled an important promise from last year's election campaign," wrote Fredrik Reinfeldt, Maud Olofsson, Jan Björklund and Göran Hägglund.
The leaders also noted that the number of people employed in Sweden had risen by 131,000 over the course of the last year.
"Overall, by 2010 the development of household finances will entail a historic improvement in standards for large sections of Sweden's low and middle income earners," the leaders wrote.
$1,800 isn’t exactly a fortune anywhere in the industrialized world, but in Sweden that money will at least buy you
- Two ordinary computers
or
- Two smaller plasma TVs or one large one
or
- 12 dinners at an upscale restaurant for two persons
or
- A weekend in Rome, London, Paris, Barcelona etc for two, staying at a nice hotel, eating well and doing lots
of shopping. Or why not take your Volvo down to Germany and load it up with alcohol, something which is much cheaper there? Yeah, that would be my choice.
There, I handled all of the Dem's arguements, for them. :-)
Bored Swedish housewives and girlfriends hardest hit...
L
Excellent!
Sometin’s up in Sveeden!
- Hardly surprising, this is exactly what the Swedish left-wing politicians and other Swedes who are brainwashed into believing things like “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer” are saying.
It doesn’t matter what measures are introduced and what the outcome of them is, to some people Socialism is a religion.
I’ve even talked to persons over here in Sweden who are saying they’ve become poorer due to actions of the new government, despite simultaneoulsy admitting they have more money to spend (as a consequence of tax cuts that already have taken place)! These ignorants aren’t talking about inflation (it’s lower than the recent increases in wages), or consumer prices (the strength of our currency are making a lot of imports cheaper and this is, to a large extent, reflected in consumer prices). They are simply under the notion that any right-wing government always are out to steal money from ordinary people in order to enrich the wealthy.
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I read a vanity a few days ago by someone who lived in Sweden. They said there just aren’t any jobs. So when this article notes that “jobs are increasing”, it seems they are addressing a problem the country is having.
- There are plenty of jobs and many employers have huge difficulties finding staff, but it’s much more difficult getting a job in Sweden if you are a foreigner/of foreign origin or if you lack education compared to the US. The companies that are screaming for labor are mostly high-tech ones who’re looking for very well educated specialists of different sorts.
Another aspect is that a lot of people who are ‘officially unemployed’ actually do work, but work illegally (this is perhaps more common among immigrants, but also rather common among native Swedes). This way they get a generous unemployment benefit, a decent income and pay no income taxes.
Officially, unemployment is around 5%.
Heck, I'm hearing that in the US. Contrast that with my own experience...
We *just* found someone that was capable of handling an entry-level computer job. Basically, all we were looking for was someone with some phone and communications skills, who would show up on time, and could tell the difference between a computer and a breadbox. And it took my company over 2 months to find this guy.
You'd be amazed. We had people blow off interviews, show up late to interviews - had one kid take a technical interview call from me (scheduled well in advance) on his cell phone while he was getting groceries (and he was *very* distracted, I might add). There was another who seemed very competent, but every other word out of her mouth started with F*** (on a phone interview, for a job that's mostly talking on the phone! incredible!) Another guy told us - flat out TOLD US- that he didn't want a help desk job (My next question was "Well, why are you here interviewing for one? That ended the interview.) And these people wonder why they can't find jobs.....
AND!....all of these people were the ones that made it through 2 screens - our headhunter and our own HR. At least in my area, pickings are pretty slim for competent help.
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