tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post5989029712427637191..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: That Swedish Model AgainAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-56887284588023901312011-11-11T18:57:30.437-05:002011-11-11T18:57:30.437-05:00They are amiable, though not spontaneously so. Th...They are amiable, though not spontaneously so. They barely speak to strangers.<br /><br />A sweet, gentle people - with faults they refuse to acknowledge.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-62563281443005533972011-11-11T15:04:42.008-05:002011-11-11T15:04:42.008-05:00Nor is it especially high-minded to start discover...<i>Nor is it especially high-minded to start discovering socialism right after the poorest 20% (approximately) of your population up-stakes and heads for the US and Canada.</i><br /><br />Classic. A stiletto of a remark.<br /><br />Though not all Swedish emigrants were necessarily poor. I knew some Swedish Americans with a surname that began with "Von." Maybe they were poor aristocrats. <br /><br />Which reminds me of Milton Friedman's response to lower poverty rates in Scandinavians compared to the US: "Scandinavians in the US have a pretty low poverty rate, also." <br /><br />Swedish holier-than-thou attitudes during the Vietnam War lost a lot of credibility when one realized Swedish iron fed the German war machine in WW2.<br /><br />I met a fair amount of Swedish tourists in Latin America in the '70s. Most were pretty amiable, with the exception of the occasional Communist.Gringonoreply@blogger.com