Abolish The European Union

FrontPageMagazine.com | 5 June 02 | Robert Locke

[anguish]

Anyway, I have to tell you that even the socialist slime in the Swedish government is thinking about lowering taxes on the golden brew - because of the EU. Since people in southern Sweden easily can drive to Denmark (where beer flows in the peoples veins) and buy cheap beer without paying duty on it, they finally figured out that the high taxes are hurting Swedish breweries.

[DrDavid]

I've heard about the Stockholm to Helsinki ferry. Swedes going to Finland to drink. Then the Fins go to Russia for the same reason!

[Redbob]

Maybe "guilt" was the wrong word: perhaps it's simply a failure to acknowledge guilt and take responsibility for some of the most heinous acts ever performed by alleged human beings.

Altogether too many Germans, if they've had a few beers, and think you're "safe" will venture that the Nazi's "weren't all that bad", and they "had a few good ideas."

If you don't believe me, you haven't spent any time in the bars tourists don't go to in Munich.

[anguish]

The chain of traveling drinkers is even a step longer - Norway -> Sweden -> Finland -> Russia. However, these days the Sweden-Finland ferries must stop by at Åland islands (Finnish islands with Swedish population) since the taxfree shopping on international water has been banned. Åland has some sort of special status making it possible to sell tax-free on those tours. This has led to overtrafficing of the waters outside Åland :)

[DrDavid]

The list of problems solved by Governments is probably as short as the list of Italian war heros!

[anguish]

Maybe "guilt" was the wrong word: perhaps it's simply a failure to acknowledge guilt and take responsibility

They do acknowledge that the Nazi's did wrong, and many also feel some sort of guilt that they shouldn't feel (unless they are old enough to have been apart of the nazi horror). Germany as a nation has, IMHO, taken the responsibility it should.

Altogether too many Germans, if they've had a few beers, and think you're "safe" will venture that the Nazi's "weren't all that bad", and they "had a few good ideas."

Though I strangely enough haven't visited Munich (but most of Germany), I can't say that I agree with you. Maybe because I don't feel like bringing the subject up every time I go there, I don't know. However, the times the conversation has gone that way I must admit that the "few good ideas" argument has come up, but I've never heard any Germans saying that the Nazi's "weren't all that bad". Might seem like the same thing, but from what I can understand at least some Germans admire the speed the Nazi's built a strong country out of the pieces they had, although they detest what the Nazi's did with that strength.

[Da_Shrimp]

Americanized but very small British military...

Small, yes (sadly), but Americanized? Not sure about that: we use some American stuff, but a lot more of our own..

[rmlew]

I like the low crown.
I was in Malmo last summer and it was cheap.
I'm going back in August and I hope the Krona remains comatose.

The Problem wi the Euro is that it will permanently bind Sweden to the EU. I suppose Sweden is so socialist it is a lost cause, but the idea is still bad.

[rmlew]

But do the voters do anything but get bribed into slavery?

There is no real free-market party or constituency in Sweden. Neither the Moderates nor the Christian Democrats (which my grandparents always vote for) want to end the welfare state. At most they want to make it more efficient and not add new programs.

[kettle belly]

When it comes down to it Europeans of all flavours dislike the EU. Every time any country holds a referendum on anything to do with it & all respectable politicians campaign stongly for it, they either lose or win by about 1%. If you look at the early history of the European movement (or the Bilderberg group - pretty much the same thing) you will see the CIA was funneling money to them - the idea has never had to survive on it's own. Incidentally if the Germans are feeling guilty about Adolf they have a funny way of showing it. As open Nazis like Tudjman (Croatia) & Izetbegovic (Bosnia & the SS) can attest. There is a significant minority in Britain who would much prefer Nafta, if offered>

[Feiny]

"Some examples of the dirigiste economic policies of EU nations:

1. High taxes on everything from incomes to retail goods.
2. High social charges on employers.
3. Legally-entrenched labor union power.
4. Laws against firing people, which just cause employers not to hire them in the first place.
5. Massive subsidies for obsolescent industries like agriculture and steel.
6. Cozy cartels to restrict competition and divide up markets.
7. Massive government intervention in business decisions.
8. Outright government ownership of sectors of the economy.
9. Anti-business cultural attitudes.
10. Protectionism against American and Asian goods."

Please explain to me how these don't apply to America.

[anguish]

The Swedish economy as a whole doesn't suffer because of the low Krona either, so it's not just tourism (like you going to Malmö) that's good. Sweden's economy is mainly export-driven, with huge trade surpluses, so the export companies are doing well. However, when the Krona rushes up'n'down against the dollar (up this time, so it might be a bit more expensive when you visit again), it's not good at all. Stability at the levels we're at now would be good.

The euro, if or when the Krona is gone, will also make it a lot cheaper for the private sector (all medium to huge companies) that trades with the rest of Europe when they don't have to shuffle between currencies.

As for free-market parties in Sweden, the closest is, as you mentioned, the Moderate party (the ones I vote for). The party has a conservative and a quite liberal wing, but is moving to the right a little at the time (all parties but the extreme left is actually in this motion to the right).

The Moderate party majority wants to scale down the welfare state, but not completely scrap it. Even I, who belong in the conservative wing, wouldn't want to completely end it either, but rather get rid of most of the services now provided by the state. As long as private alternatives are allowed (and encuraged), I must admit that I like the free schools and healthcare. It's a system that actually can work in a small country such as ours, at least until we get so diverse that the Swedish family is no more.

But... by the time things are like I would like them to be, the only Swedish FR-donating member will be long gone.