Is life really better in Scandinavian countries?

[Anonymous]

These kinds of questions are dumb. If you love Scandinavian culture and can afford to live well there, then of course life will be better there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a personality thing: I want all the opportunities and all the responsibilities. Others don’t. I don’t want to live in a place where everything is done for me but there is a cap on what I can do/achieve. Others may be ok with it.

I think that’s fair. My personality is much more comfortable with a “cap.” I’m so over hyper capitalism. If you’re like me, it’s all about figuring out ways to resist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a personality thing: I want all the opportunities and all the responsibilities. Others don’t. I don’t want to live in a place where everything is done for me but there is a cap on what I can do/achieve. Others may be ok with it.

This accurately describes life in Scandinavia.

Achieve… financially, as in owning capital and building wealth. Am I the only one who doesn’t define achievement that way? You can still work hard if you love what to do. But more importantly, IMHO, the idea that I can achieve things outside of work. Raising a happy and healthy family is an achievement. Being physically fit and athletic is an achievement. Pursuing hobbies and creative activities is an achievement. If I could only work 30 hour a week and have other things taken care of, I would go back to my music. I would also rescue and train another dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a personality thing: I want all the opportunities and all the responsibilities. Others don’t. I don’t want to live in a place where everything is done for me but there is a cap on what I can do/achieve. Others may be ok with it.

I think that’s fair. My personality is much more comfortable with a “cap.” I’m so over hyper capitalism. If you’re like me, it’s all about figuring out ways to resist.

Yeah I am finished "achieving" I just want to dress and rest.

[Anonymous]

My BIL is a medical doctor in stockholm. His wife works high up at a big tech company (well there are almost no legit tech companies in europe but it is the european subsidiary of a big US company). They can barely afford a condo in the suburbs of stockholm with two bedrooms thanks to terrible government planning, socialist intervention and a near zero supply of places to live. So if you would like to be in the kind of place where a tech executive and surgeon call a two bedroom, 70 year old condo "a great lifestyle," then I guess Sweden is the place for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These kinds of questions are dumb. If you love Scandinavian culture and can afford to live well there, then of course life will be better there.

I disagree with this. It’s way more expensive and a lower standard of living if you’re UMC and well educated in the US. You’ll have to buy a smaller but more expensive home, spend more money on cars, pay more in taxes and be less able to outsource stuff you can easily outsource here in the US like cleaning services, takeout, babysitting etc. Even an UMC equivalent in Scandinavia will be using a large daycare for childcare.

Yes you get free healthcare and five+ weeks of vacation (note: in norway the five weeks comes from your salary), but if you’re UMC in the US and well educated you likely receive healthcare through your employer and earn 3-4 weeks of vacation plus some federal holidays.

Now if you work at Burger King then maybe you can argue that your lifestyle and COL will be better in Scandinavia. However I’d still argue NO because the tax burden is high for low wage earners there. The tax system is set up so that everyone pays into the system. Rent will be way more expensive and same for transportation, which will be 2 of the largest expenses for someone who is a low wage earner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BIL is a medical doctor in stockholm. His wife works high up at a big tech company (well there are almost no legit tech companies in europe but it is the european subsidiary of a big US company). They can barely afford a condo in the suburbs of stockholm with two bedrooms thanks to terrible government planning, socialist intervention and a near zero supply of places to live. So if you would like to be in the kind of place where a tech executive and surgeon call a two bedroom, 70 year old condo "a great lifestyle," then I guess Sweden is the place for you.

Lol yeah America is just awash is affordable housing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked in a Scandinavian country for many years and the poster who noted the homogeneity of the population is spot on. There is little discussion on how racist and unwelcoming they are to immigrants or non-white people. It’s not even subtle.

People criticize American individualism but most Americans would be shocked to live in a Scandinavian country and be expected to be the same religion (not religious), dress the same, lifestyle the same, food the same, I could go on….you must conform.

I’m so glad to be American and do whatever I want within reason. I can be who I want to be.

Even a month ago someone in Norway was convinced of hate crimes by posting something offensive on the internet. Can you imagine posting something hateful on Facebook and being sent to jail?

Have you ever been to Scandanavia? For example, Sweden is second only to the US in racial diversity with 20 percent non-white inhabitants thanks to generous asylum criteria for refugees. It’s got mosques, synagogues and temples which might give you a clue that not everyone practices the same religion. And it’s got 1 year maternity/paternity leave. I tried to google to see what you were babbling about regarding Norway and being put in jail for putting something on Facebook and couldn’t find it. Why don’t you include a source so we can judge.

Not that PP but the first thing that came up for me on the first try when I googled was this : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18918131.2021.1872762

In January 2020, two persons in Norway were condemned by a unanimous Supreme Court of Norway for comments posted on ‘closed’ Facebook groups. With the two decisions, the Supreme Court confirmed for the first time the boundaries of hateful, racist, and discriminatory speech in the context of online utterances in social media. It also established a new sanctioning standard for hate speech.

I'm not sure I would count a statement of condemnation as the same thing as imprisonment. Isn't that rather hyperbolic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BIL is a medical doctor in stockholm. His wife works high up at a big tech company (well there are almost no legit tech companies in europe but it is the european subsidiary of a big US company). They can barely afford a condo in the suburbs of stockholm with two bedrooms thanks to terrible government planning, socialist intervention and a near zero supply of places to live. So if you would like to be in the kind of place where a tech executive and surgeon call a two bedroom, 70 year old condo "a great lifestyle," then I guess Sweden is the place for you.

+100000 this sounds right. But you get one year of parental leave before you have to return to work to pay for your crappy overpriced two bedroom condo for which you split the mortgage with your spouse from your very separate bank accounts. You also get to drop your one year old off at a government run daycare center where they are sick nonstop. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BIL is a medical doctor in stockholm. His wife works high up at a big tech company (well there are almost no legit tech companies in europe but it is the european subsidiary of a big US company). They can barely afford a condo in the suburbs of stockholm with two bedrooms thanks to terrible government planning, socialist intervention and a near zero supply of places to live. So if you would like to be in the kind of place where a tech executive and surgeon call a two bedroom, 70 year old condo "a great lifestyle," then I guess Sweden is the place for you.

Lol yeah America is just awash is affordable housing!!

Well it is compared to Scandinavia! Read the links PP about personal debt there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked in a Scandinavian country for many years and the poster who noted the homogeneity of the population is spot on. There is little discussion on how racist and unwelcoming they are to immigrants or non-white people. It’s not even subtle.

People criticize American individualism but most Americans would be shocked to live in a Scandinavian country and be expected to be the same religion (not religious), dress the same, lifestyle the same, food the same, I could go on….you must conform.

I’m so glad to be American and do whatever I want within reason. I can be who I want to be.

Even a month ago someone in Norway was convinced of hate crimes by posting something offensive on the internet. Can you imagine posting something hateful on Facebook and being sent to jail?

Have you ever been to Scandanavia? For example, Sweden is second only to the US in racial diversity with 20 percent non-white inhabitants thanks to generous asylum criteria for refugees. It’s got mosques, synagogues and temples which might give you a clue that not everyone practices the same religion. And it’s got 1 year maternity/paternity leave. I tried to google to see what you were babbling about regarding Norway and being put in jail for putting something on Facebook and couldn’t find it. Why don’t you include a source so we can judge.

Not that PP but the first thing that came up for me on the first try when I googled was this : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18918131.2021.1872762

In January 2020, two persons in Norway were condemned by a unanimous Supreme Court of Norway for comments posted on ‘closed’ Facebook groups. With the two decisions, the Supreme Court confirmed for the first time the boundaries of hateful, racist, and discriminatory speech in the context of online utterances in social media. It also established a new sanctioning standard for hate speech.

I'm not sure I would count a statement of condemnation as the same thing as imprisonment. Isn't that rather hyperbolic?

The person is going to jail for 2 years for what they posted on FB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they get many things right that we don’t. The fact that they are so much smaller than the US is helpful in running programs. The US is more comparable to the EU. It isn’t just about racial diversity - it is regional cultural diversity that would make things more difficult in the US. Mississippi’s thinking is different from Massachusetts’ thinking….

I agree. It’s impossible to compare the US to such small countries. It’s better to compared specific states since our states vary so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BIL is a medical doctor in stockholm. His wife works high up at a big tech company (well there are almost no legit tech companies in europe but it is the european subsidiary of a big US company). They can barely afford a condo in the suburbs of stockholm with two bedrooms thanks to terrible government planning, socialist intervention and a near zero supply of places to live. So if you would like to be in the kind of place where a tech executive and surgeon call a two bedroom, 70 year old condo "a great lifestyle," then I guess Sweden is the place for you.

Lol yeah America is just awash is affordable housing!!

It's awash in affordable housing for a couple who are a tech exec and surgeon NO MATTER where you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a personality thing: I want all the opportunities and all the responsibilities. Others don’t. I don’t want to live in a place where everything is done for me but there is a cap on what I can do/achieve. Others may be ok with it.

This accurately describes life in Scandinavia.

Achieve… financially, as in owning capital and building wealth. Am I the only one who doesn’t define achievement that way? You can still work hard if you love what to do. But more importantly, IMHO, the idea that I can achieve things outside of work. Raising a happy and healthy family is an achievement. Being physically fit and athletic is an achievement. Pursuing hobbies and creative activities is an achievement. If I could only work 30 hour a week and have other things taken care of, I would go back to my music. I would also rescue and train another dog.

Not sure what to tell you but my friends in Scandinavia all have jobs and don’t seem to have anymore time than I do. I’d actually say they have less since they can’t outsource cleaning and do a lot of their own home repairs. I don’t know of anywhere in the world where you don’t have to earn a living and can just relax and pursue leisure pursuits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a personality thing: I want all the opportunities and all the responsibilities. Others don’t. I don’t want to live in a place where everything is done for me but there is a cap on what I can do/achieve. Others may be ok with it.

I think that’s fair. My personality is much more comfortable with a “cap.” I’m so over hyper capitalism. If you’re like me, it’s all about figuring out ways to resist.

How about you do what you need to do to live the way you want and let others do the same. I don’t want to get in your way and you shouldn’t get in mine.