Do we have a chance?
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We lack the homogeneity and when they grow older and informed and pay bills they’ll become pubs. Rinse repeat.
Americans are never satisfied with where we are. We buy a BMW and are happy until our neighbor buys a Ferrari. Our 75 inch TV is great, until we have a friend with a 100 inch. We really require an overhaul.
I had a buddy wonder why people get so angry when they find out a coworker makes more. He suggested if we were happy with our pay before finding out someone makes more, why should that make us suddenly unhappy with our pay. Our pay hasn't changed. He suggested we should be happy for the other person.
We need to learn to be happier with where we are. I've listened to some conversations about the younger generation. One was by a Libertarian about how the job market is changing, many youth work for 6-8 months in a gig economy, then quit for a month or two and travel the world and then get another gig job. That may well be a more mentally healthy way of doing it as I'm not sure the rat race really works for our mental health.
The materialism in the U.S. is a problem. It goes hand in hand with our apparent need to hoard wealth.
I think the homogeneity plays a role. They're not nearly as divided as we are. We're not so much a melting pot anymore. but rather an increasingly balkanized society.
A buddy married a Swede, and they moved back about 8-10 years ago. It's an entirely different ball game there, according to him.
We should probably quit keeping score in sports too, huh?😉
This thread reminds me of that debate moment. You almost got there Tim.
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Not relevant at all. Scandinavian countries are very competitive about things like that. Watch the Tour de France. They just don’t see status symbols as victory.
it's the Amish problem isn't it? Finland doesn't have any Amish mafia presence.
definitely. i have a close buddy lives in sweden. played soccer in college then went to work for schering-plough in europe
What does it mean to be an American?
We lost that somewhere. I used to know, now i don't. Our homegeniety should be based on common ideals about freedom, liberty, and being able to work your way up the socio-economic ladder. A lot of people have helped to kill this:
-Corportations by moving jobs
-SJWs by driving division
-Nativists by responding to the SJWs and creating slogans like America First (but really just the white ones)
- and on and on
Personal freedom and individual responsibility are what I've considered the cornerstones of what it means to be an American, but they're long gone in large swaths of the population.
I'd throw community in there. Which requires assimilation. Which seems to be taboo these days. Sigh.
Good list. Add these:
- the Forever Wars
- open borders and unfettered immigration
- greed in corporations, individuals
- clever disguising of Marxist groups grifting and destroying
- terrible politicians
Would bet not all Scandinavians are happy (assuming they know what happiness should feel like).
Same goes for Americans who have the resources to do whatever whenever they want (personal freedom).
Am thinking happiness is a state mind over which I have control. Given this, I refuse to believe I am not happy.
Occasionally I sense some gloom creeping in. Friends and Happy Hour soon restore my happy state of mind. My wife's Swedish relatives taught me this when visiting Sweden over 60 years ago.
Progressives tend to really misunderstand Scandinavian countries.
If you are sleeping on the street in Oslo or Stockholm or Helsinki you will be arrested and taken to jail. If you are using drugs in a public place you will be arrested and taken to jail. They don’t tolerate the urban filth and decay that progressives have wrought on American cities.
They are capitalist countries with a massive social safety net because they have stronger social cohesion and there are many fewer unproductive members of society.
That is opposed to America where the Top 5% subsidizes 50% of the population (Romney got in trouble for saying this). Of course we’re going to have social unrest and bitterness.
I don't tie wealth or resources to personal freedom. Personal freedom, to me, is the ability to live your life the way you want to live it without the encumbrance of others (including the govt) curtailing it. That's how you think, how you act, how you worship, who you associate with, who you choose to engage with in transactions, etc...
Tied closely to that is personal responsibility. You're responsible for the outcome of your choices, and those choices shouldn't have a direct negative impact on another person's personal freedoms.
There are volumes written about that, so this is just my cliff notes, 30k-foot flyover version.
Other than that, I agree with your post.
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Nail hits head. We have large groups of people that don't work or barely work and live off assistance. They don't. We have certain groups of people that commit violent crimes at an alarming rate. They don't. The Dems here encourage and facilitate it. This isn't complicated.
I don't know how true that is:
2.1.1. Sleeping Rough It is not prohibited to sleep rough in Sweden per se. However, the Act stipulates that using a public place within a local planning zone in a manner not in accordance with its intended purpose requires a permit. Non-permit holders may be punished with a fine. A permit is however not required if the use is temporary and is to an insignificant extent that does not encroach on someone else’s permit (the Act, chapter 3, section 1). Since the purpose of, for example, a pavement or a public park is not to provide sleeping space, such usage will require a permit unless it fulfils the exemption requirements above. Consequently, it may be permissible to sleep rough without a permit if a person changes his or her place of sleep frequently (for example to a new location each night) and occupies a comparatively small area without encroaching on another person’s permit to sleep rough.
Helsinki has almost no outdoor sleepers but they have invested heavily in providing indoor accomodations:
The city with no homeless on its streets
What can UK cities learn from Finland, where the number of rough sleepers has fallen dramatically?
www.bbc.com
According to Wiki, we have 19.5 homeless per 10,000 here in the US. Finland has 7.9, Norway has 6.2, Sweden though has 25.9. If you read the first link, a lot of Romani have moved to Sweden.
List of sovereign states by homeless population - Wikipedia
I haven't looked at the other countries, Oslo has a VERY open drug scene.
So two of the three do much better than the US in having lower homelessness. Sweden, not so much
ChicagoFire, intrigued by Romey's 5% subsidizing the 50% of the population.
Researched it and couldn't find it. Need help.
Did find a talk he gave where he says 47% of the voters are government subsidized and will vote for Obama (see below).
Anyhow, Chicago Fire, would love a link to the Romney quote.
That no
Matter what, our democratic process was the fia
I don't know how true that is:
2.1.1. Sleeping Rough It is not prohibited to sleep rough in Sweden per se. However, the Act stipulates that using a public place within a local planning zone in a manner not in accordance with its intended purpose requires a permit. Non-permit holders may be punished with a fine. A permit is however not required if the use is temporary and is to an insignificant extent that does not encroach on someone else’s permit (the Act, chapter 3, section 1). Since the purpose of, for example, a pavement or a public park is not to provide sleeping space, such usage will require a permit unless it fulfils the exemption requirements above. Consequently, it may be permissible to sleep rough without a permit if a person changes his or her place of sleep frequently (for example to a new location each night) and occupies a comparatively small area without encroaching on another person’s permit to sleep rough.
Helsinki has almost no outdoor sleepers but they have invested heavily in providing indoor accomodations:
The city with no homeless on its streets
What can UK cities learn from Finland, where the number of rough sleepers has fallen dramatically?
According to Wiki, we have 19.5 homeless per 10,000 here in the US. Finland has 7.9, Norway has 6.2, Sweden though has 25.9. If you read the first link, a lot of Romani have moved to Sweden.
List of sovereign states by homeless population - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I haven't looked at the other countries, Oslo has a VERY open drug scene.
So two of the three do much better than the US in having lower homelessness. Sweden, not so much
Excelkent post. I like substantiated facts.
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