Why so many human development indices favor Scandinavian countries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

So they are having trouble dealing with diversity.

Just gonna put this here for the naysayers:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-crime-rape-law-trfn-idUSKBN23T2R3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

So they are having trouble dealing with diversity.

And here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45269764

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

I wish we had similar social services here. We can certainly afford it.

Not when most (70%) of the population is overweight or obese and demand/require weight loss/insulin/BP drugs.

[Anonymous]

France also has a strong social safety net like the Scandinavian countries. Why has France not had the same level of success?

What makes the Scandinavian countries different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's because they don't have a systematically disadvantaged underclass.

Agreed. Poverty and having a huge wealth gap between different demographics breeds crime (and resentment). Those Nordic countries have much more egalitarian societies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

That is because of the homogenous society - shared values, shared culture, everyone pays into the system.
A country cannot have these nice things if there is unlimited illegal immigration, people that do not pay into the system and divergent cultures.
I know that vexes a lot of progressives, but there a lot to be said about homogeneity.

It’s not homogeneity, it’s egalitarianism. A society where everyone, regardless of race, has equal access to education, housing, healthcare, etc… is a happier society. It has nothing to do with race or immigrants. I know that’s hard for Americans to understand. We are so used to associating poverty with brown/black skin color. But it’s the systemic racism in this country that leads to inequality, poverty, crime, etc…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cue the racists who’ll say it’s because they are homogeneous countries. I have family in both Sweden and Finland and have traveled extensively in both. They are not as homogeneous as people think. Also, not as happy as these “studies” show.

Is there any conversation to be had without the injection of skin color? We are all god's children. Love all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

That is because of the homogenous society - shared values, shared culture, everyone pays into the system.
A country cannot have these nice things if there is unlimited illegal immigration, people that do not pay into the system and divergent cultures.
I know that vexes a lot of progressives, but there a lot to be said about homogeneity.

It’s not homogeneity, it’s egalitarianism. A society where everyone, regardless of race, has equal access to education, housing, healthcare, etc… is a happier society. It has nothing to do with race or immigrants. I know that’s hard for Americans to understand. We are so used to associating poverty with brown/black skin color. But it’s the systemic racism in this country that leads to inequality, poverty, crime, etc…

I take homogeneity to also mean similar levels of income, just like the word diversity is often used to mean a diversity of socioeconomic levels. You hear that often in regard to schools.

So yes, part of the Scandinavian success story is their homogeneity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:France also has a strong social safety net like the Scandinavian countries. Why has France not had the same level of success?

What makes the Scandinavian countries different?

Junte law

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

I wish we had similar social services here. We can certainly afford it.

Not when most (70%) of the population is overweight or obese and demand/require weight loss/insulin/BP drugs.

"Ya kin pry mah 64 ounce Big Gulp o' high fructose corn seerup from mah cold, dead hands!!!!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

I wish we had similar social services here. We can certainly afford it.

Not when most (70%) of the population is overweight or obese and demand/require weight loss/insulin/BP drugs.

"Ya kin pry mah 64 ounce Big Gulp o' high fructose corn seerup from mah cold, dead hands!!!!"

She looks pretty damn good to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

I wish we had similar social services here. We can certainly afford it.

Not when most (70%) of the population is overweight or obese and demand/require weight loss/insulin/BP drugs.

"Ya kin pry mah 64 ounce Big Gulp o' high fructose corn seerup from mah cold, dead hands!!!!"

She looks pretty damn good to me

I'm sure that's what we need in a leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

Study after study shows that the rate of assimilation is the same for the European immigrants of the late 1800s-early 1900s as it is for modern immigrants. Here's a good one that looks at what immigrants name their own babies. Shocker, the trends today are very similar to the trends back then. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7508458/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

Study after study shows that the rate of assimilation is the same for the European immigrants of the late 1800s-early 1900s as it is for modern immigrants. Here's a good one that looks at what immigrants name their own babies. Shocker, the trends today are very similar to the trends back then. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7508458/

True, but it's still an issue. The fact that it's an observable, repeating trend weakens the racial homogeneity argument, which is one argument people use to say we can't have the same level of social services in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:France also has a strong social safety net like the Scandinavian countries. Why has France not had the same level of success?

What makes the Scandinavian countries different?

Islam

France really struggles with Islamists

Any democratic country over 10% Islamic is gonna have problems

If Islamists get to be over 10% of the population in Sweden I am confident they would handle it even worse than France because Swedes don’t have an outward mindset or even try to do the “libertie/fraternitie/egalitie” thing which the median Frenchman does still believe in.

That said, France is way nicer to live in as an expat than Scandinavia. Lyon, nice, strasbourg, Mulhouse, annecy, Toulouse, etc are all way better QoL