Talk:Sweden

Why did you erase the information from MissisppiMud?

'Sweden is highly socialistic, and poorer than Mississippi. The suicide rate is extremely high. The citizens of Sweden must pay most of their income to the government.'

I think they are worth knowing.--Sherman 09:05, 14 March 2007 (EDT)

No references to the poorer than Mississippi part. I don't think it's true. The same goes for the part about the suicide rate. Even though Sweden is far mote socialistic than the US there has been a change of direction in Swedish politics lately to a more rightwing government. /What

Suicide rates per 100 000 by country, year and sex Year Male Female 01 18.9 8.1 (Sweden) 01 17.6 4.1 (US)

According to the WHO

Removed

I removed the part which said something along the lines of: The swedes pay about 65% in taxes, if counting all taxes. This is simply not true as they use a scaling system if ones income is above a certain amount. I've written this.

Writing style

This article Template:Hide personal remark could use a very thorough re-write from an expert. Palmd001 20:12, 18 March 2007 (EDT)

Too much opinion and editorializing

I agree that this article is poorly written, but it appears to contain grammatical and syntactical errors related to English not being the writer's native language.

If this site is going to be taken seriously, it cannot show such obvious bias, opinion and editorializing. If the articles just stick to facts, the people who use this site can draw their own conclusions. This article can discuss the state of religion and the general position of Swedes on social issues without commenting that these things are somehow "bad." The conservative reader can draw this conclusion on his or her own without being told this is how he or she is supposed to think. --Vonratt 16:09, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

"however, most of the population have been taught in the state-administered schools that socialism is a superior economic system." Removed this sentence. It's just not true. Even if Sweden is a country where socialism is strong, this is not something thougth in school. Education in Sweden may be liberal, but it is not that biased. Christianity, for example, is still a part of the eduction, together with the other major religions of the world. Socialism is also taught, together with the other political systems. --What

true but Sweden follows a more moderate version of socialism called the social democracy which seeks to reform capitalism rather than destroy or abolish it.--Fg 16:40, 17 April 2007 (EDT)

Sweden IS not a democracy

"What", just tell me: Are you living in Sweden? I'm living in Sweden and I'm studying in a swedish school 5 days/week, I know what I'm talking about. The trade unions would'nt "possibly" strike, they would SURELY strike, because they are idiots and they are going to burn in hell forever! How can you call a country were the trade union rules over everything, a democracy?! /JohnG

I wrote nothing about trade unions and nothing about democracy. I simply didn't delete it, someone else wrote it. If you have reliable sources to back your claims with, then edit the article. What 08:29, 22 March 2007 (EDT)

while Sweden really is a social democracy.--Fg 12:46, 17 April 2007 (EDT)

We need an article on Democracy which would tell our readers what a social democracy is; and whether the United States is a "democracy".

Is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea a democracy? Is a regime which is "democratically elected" a democracy? Does that have any bearing on whether the people have the right to alter or abolish it? --Ed Poor 12:49, 17 April 2007 (EDT)

A social democracy is a economic and political system which is a moderate form of socialism which aims to reform capitalism in order to remove its perceived injustices and often has a democratic government.

In general, most modern social democrats support:

• A mixed economy, consisting mainly of private enterprise but with government owned or subsidized programs of education, healthcare, child care etc for all citizens.
• Regulatory systems over private enterprise in the interests of workers, consumers and fair competition.
• Advocacy of fair trade over free trade.
• An extensive system of social security (though usually not to the extent advocated by democratic socialists or other socialist groups), notably to counteract the effects of poverty and to insure the citizens against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement.
• Moderate to high levels of taxation (through a progressive taxation system) to fund government expenditure.
• Environmental protection laws (although not always to the extent advocated by Greens), such as combating global warming and increasing alternative energy funding.
• Immigration and multiculturalism.
• A secular and progressive social policy, although this varies markedly in degree. Most social democrats support gay marriage, abortion rights and a liberal drug policy, while others are either non-committed or opposed to these policies.
• A foreign policy supporting the promotion of democracy, the protection of human rights and where possible, effective multilateralism.
• As well as human rights, social democrats also support social rights, civil rights and civil liberties.

--Fg 16:20, 17 April 2007 (EDT)