Doomsday Clock adjusted

[Skidooski]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling

Quote

In announcing that the Doomsday Clock was moving 30 seconds closer to the end of humanity, the group noted that in 2016, “the global security landscape darkened as the international community failed to come effectively to grips with humanity’s most pressing existential threats, nuclear weapons and climate change.”

But the organization also cited the election of Donald Trump in changing the symbolic clock.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/26/the-doomsday-clock-just-moved-again-its-now-two-and-a-half-minutes-to-midnight/?utm_term=.a5a5449f0e92

 

 

[Kivalo]

Retarded!

 

[Skidooski]

Sure does fit their doom and gloom narrative of Trump having the football and we're all going to die 

[Momorider]

Was closer in 1953 and we are still here

[motonoggin]

It's just the end of capitalism, not humanity. 

 

[Highmark]

3 minutes ago, motonoggin said:

It's just the end of capitalism, not humanity. 

 

But I thought capitalism works so well in Scandinavian countries?  

[motonoggin]

15 minutes ago, Highmark said:

But I thought capitalism works so well in Scandinavian countries?  

Wut?

[Highmark]

Just now, motonoggin said:

Wut?

Bernie loved their model of capitalism and if I recall you did too then.   Now you want communism.    

[Anler]

17 minutes ago, Highmark said:

But I thought capitalism works so well in Scandinavian countries?  

I think thats socialism...

[Highmark]

Just now, Anler said:

I think thats socialism...

Oops, most Scandinavian countries don't have a MW.

[Anler]

Just now, Highmark said:

Oops, most Scandinavian countries don't have a MW.

They alsol have UHC. Its a pretty good model.. ..

[Anler]

Sweden

There is no general minimum wage, instead the companies sign agreements with the unions and these agreements set the minimum level depending on the employee's age and experience.

For example, these are the current (February 2016) minimum levels for employees in hotels or restaurants:

• Age 17:  84,50 sek per hour ($9,94)
• Age 18: 88,60 sek per hour ($10,42)
• Age 19: 96,80 sek per hour ($11,39)
• Age 20 and above, with no experience and no education required: 116,90 sek per hour ($13,75)
• Age 20 and above, with 6 years' experience and no education required: 124,90 sek per hour ($14,69)
• Age 20 and above, with no experience but education required: 124,00 sek per hour ($14,59)
• Age 20 and above, with 6 years' experience and education required: 132,00 sek per hour ($15,53)

[Anler]

Sweden

https://sweden.se/society/health-care-in-sweden/

[Anler]

[Highmark]

1 minute ago, Anler said:

Sweden

There is no general minimum wage, instead the companies sign agreements with the unions and these agreements set the minimum level depending on the employee's age and experience.

For example, these are the current (February 2016) minimum levels for employees in hotels or restaurants:

• Age 17:  84,50 sek per hour ($9,94)
• Age 18: 88,60 sek per hour ($10,42)
• Age 19: 96,80 sek per hour ($11,39)
• Age 20 and above, with no experience and no education required: 116,90 sek per hour ($13,75)
• Age 20 and above, with 6 years' experience and no education required: 124,90 sek per hour ($14,69)
• Age 20 and above, with no experience but education required: 124,00 sek per hour ($14,59)
• Age 20 and above, with 6 years' experience and education required: 132,00 sek per hour ($15,53)

 

Just now, Anler said:

Sweden

https://sweden.se/society/health-care-in-sweden/

Apples and oranges.  

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/10/15/bernie-sanders-scandinavia-not-socialist-utopia/lUk9N7dZotJRbvn8PosoIN/story.html

For example, Sweden was a poor nation for most of the 19th century (which helps explain the great wave of Swedish emigration to the United States in the 1800s). That began to change as Stockholm, starting around 1870, turned to free-enterprise reforms. Robust capitalism replaced the formerly agrarian system, and Sweden grew rich. “Property rights, free markets, and the rule of law combined with large numbers of well-educated engineers and entrepreneurs,” Sanandaji writes. The result was an environment in which Swedes experienced “an unprecedented period of sustained and rapid economic development.” In fact, between 1870 and 1936, Sweden had the highest growth rate in the industrialized world.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/19/sorry-bernie-scandinavia-is-no-socialist-paradise-after-all/

Scandinavia is the American left’s Shangri-La. It is the land of social democracy and of all good things. It is the answer to any objection that new welfare benefits can’t be adopted here.

But look how well they work in Sweden.

Bernie Sanders reverted to this article of faith when challenged over his socialism at last week’s Democratic primary debate. He invited America to sit at the knee of Scandinavia. “I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway,” he said, “and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people.”

There are a couple of things wrong with the Left’s romance with these countries, as Swedish analyst Nima Sanandaji notes in a recent monograph. It doesn’t fully appreciate the sources of Nordic success, or how Scandinavia has turned away from the socialism so alluring to its international admirers.

The first thing to know is that Scandinavia is inhabited by Scandinavians — a hard-working, responsible people who have had high levels of social trust and cohesion for a very long time. These are splendid qualities for any place to have. As Sanandaji points out, Scandinavia already had high life expectancy and other health indicators before it expanded its welfare state, and already had more equal societies.

You can take the Scandinavians out of Scandinavia, but not the Scandinavia out of the Scandinavians. Sure enough, they have thrived here in the United States outside of their social-democracy hothouse. The descendants of Scandinavian immigrants have median incomes 20 percent higher than the US average, and their poverty rate is half the average, according to Sanandaji.

No one remembers, but Scandinavia wasn’t always a watchword for social democracy. Indeed, Sweden was such a free-market success story that Republicans should be citing it in their debates. It started as a poor country in the late 19th century, then achieved take-off under a dynamic capitalist system into the middle of the 20th century. Its boom coincided with the time when its taxes were lower than those in the United States and the rest of Europe.

When Bernie Sanders and his ilk hold up Scandinavia as an exemplar, they are really thinking of a couple of decades beginning in the early 1970s when Sweden and others got their full Sanders on.

In Sweden, the effective marginal tax rate topped 100 percent in some circumstances. There is a reason that IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad fled the country in 1973. Sweden instituted a scheme to confiscate corporate profits and hand them over to labor unions. The idea was, in the words of a Swedish economist, to have “a market economy without individualist capitalists and entrepreneurs.”

This was about as logical as it sounded — and delivered predictable results. The socialist Golden Years weren’t so golden for economic performance. Entrepreneurship plummeted. Job creation and wages sputtered.

The Scandinavian story the last few decades has been a turn against socialism. Taxes have fallen and markets liberalized. Kamprad returned to Sweden.

It became obvious that generous-enough welfare benefits can undermine the initiative of even the heartiest Scandinavian stock, and these countries have been adjusting accordingly. An article in The New York Times a couple of years ago recounted the backlash against welfare dependence in Denmark. It cited a study that projected in 2013 only three of 98 municipalities would have a majority of residents working.

If no one will mistake these countries for Texas, they allow enough economic openness to stay vibrant.

“Scandinavian countries,” Sanandaji writes, “compensate for high taxes and labor market rigidities by following liberal policies in other areas, such as business freedom and openness to trade.” Denmark, of all places, is ranked 11th on the Heritage Foundation’s index of economic freedom — right above the United States.

Nothing will undermine the left’s faith in the Scandinavian model, but Bernie Sanders could learn a thing or two from the reformers in the countries that he so admires.

[Momorider]

Sweden has some of the highest taxes on earth  they have a VAT of 25% 

[Highmark]

Just now, Momorider said:

Sweden has some of the highest taxes on earth  they have a VAT of 25% 

I think to buy a car its 60%.    Land of the free.  

[motonoggin]

20 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Bernie loved their model of capitalism and if I recall you did too then.   Now you want communism.    

Well, I have come to the conclusion that capitalism will not self correct, and it is quite evident that it won't be fixed politically, so revolution is pretty much inevitable. 

It will go one of two directions. A trend towards socialism or a trend towards a more fuedal type society with a very large, very poor underclass. 

19 minutes ago, Anler said:

I think thats socialism...

It's closer, that's for sure. Workers get a larger share of the value that their work generates. 

[Highmark]

http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.454/sweden-to-become-a-third-world-country-by-2030-according-to-un.html

 

According to UN projections, Sweden will be a much poorer country by 2030, much worse than what anyone in the Swedish government indicates.

The UN report HDI (Human Development Index) predicts a significant decrease in Swedish prosperity, unlike their Nordic neighbors, who will retain their top positions and even strengthen them globally in the long run.

In 2010 Sweden had the 15th place in the HDI rankings but according to UN forecasts, Sweden will be #25 in 2015, and in 2030 on the 45th place. 

Sweden is one of few countries with such a sharp deterioration from what it had in 2010.

Finland demonstrates one of the world's best school systems, while the Swedish school have lost competitiveness. 

Fewer ends up on welfare dependency in their Nordic neighboring countries while Sweden continues to have a greater amount of family households forced to live on welfare, which are a couple factors causing the dropped global competitiveness.

Negative developments, or rather liquidations can be exemplified by Orrefors Kosta Boda, which in 1992 had 940 employees in Sweden and was a profitable industry. Today less than 100 remain in the company after further cost reductions and adaptations in order to meet global competition. 

Most of today's less developed countries such as Cuba, Mexico, the Baltic countries and Bulgaria according to the 2030 UN report will be passing Sweden in prosperity.

Even Greece, which today is more or less bankrupt, but will be on 13th place by 2030.

Sweden's leftist establishment and media believe a cornerstone of their perfect society is multiculturalism: large scale immigration from some of the poorest, most backward nations on earth. Swedes who disagree with that plan risk being labeled racist, fascist, even Nazi.

"We had a perfectly good country," Ingrid Carlqvist, a journalist said. "A rich country, a nice country, and in a few years' time, that country will be gone."

The logic should be really simple to understand, yet many have difficulties grasping it: If you import the Third World, it's what you'll get.

Here is the UN report:

[Highmark]

 

[Anler]

21 minutes ago, Highmark said:

 

Apples and oranges.  

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/10/15/bernie-sanders-scandinavia-not-socialist-utopia/lUk9N7dZotJRbvn8PosoIN/story.html

For example, Sweden was a poor nation for most of the 19th century (which helps explain the great wave of Swedish emigration to the United States in the 1800s). That began to change as Stockholm, starting around 1870, turned to free-enterprise reforms. Robust capitalism replaced the formerly agrarian system, and Sweden grew rich. “Property rights, free markets, and the rule of law combined with large numbers of well-educated engineers and entrepreneurs,” Sanandaji writes. The result was an environment in which Swedes experienced “an unprecedented period of sustained and rapid economic development.” In fact, between 1870 and 1936, Sweden had the highest growth rate in the industrialized world.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/19/sorry-bernie-scandinavia-is-no-socialist-paradise-after-all/

Scandinavia is the American left’s Shangri-La. It is the land of social democracy and of all good things. It is the answer to any objection that new welfare benefits can’t be adopted here.

But look how well they work in Sweden.

Bernie Sanders reverted to this article of faith when challenged over his socialism at last week’s Democratic primary debate. He invited America to sit at the knee of Scandinavia. “I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway,” he said, “and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people.”

There are a couple of things wrong with the Left’s romance with these countries, as Swedish analyst Nima Sanandaji notes in a recent monograph. It doesn’t fully appreciate the sources of Nordic success, or how Scandinavia has turned away from the socialism so alluring to its international admirers.

The first thing to know is that Scandinavia is inhabited by Scandinavians — a hard-working, responsible people who have had high levels of social trust and cohesion for a very long time. These are splendid qualities for any place to have. As Sanandaji points out, Scandinavia already had high life expectancy and other health indicators before it expanded its welfare state, and already had more equal societies.

You can take the Scandinavians out of Scandinavia, but not the Scandinavia out of the Scandinavians. Sure enough, they have thrived here in the United States outside of their social-democracy hothouse. The descendants of Scandinavian immigrants have median incomes 20 percent higher than the US average, and their poverty rate is half the average, according to Sanandaji.

No one remembers, but Scandinavia wasn’t always a watchword for social democracy. Indeed, Sweden was such a free-market success story that Republicans should be citing it in their debates. It started as a poor country in the late 19th century, then achieved take-off under a dynamic capitalist system into the middle of the 20th century. Its boom coincided with the time when its taxes were lower than those in the United States and the rest of Europe.

When Bernie Sanders and his ilk hold up Scandinavia as an exemplar, they are really thinking of a couple of decades beginning in the early 1970s when Sweden and others got their full Sanders on.

In Sweden, the effective marginal tax rate topped 100 percent in some circumstances. There is a reason that IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad fled the country in 1973. Sweden instituted a scheme to confiscate corporate profits and hand them over to labor unions. The idea was, in the words of a Swedish economist, to have “a market economy without individualist capitalists and entrepreneurs.”

This was about as logical as it sounded — and delivered predictable results. The socialist Golden Years weren’t so golden for economic performance. Entrepreneurship plummeted. Job creation and wages sputtered.

The Scandinavian story the last few decades has been a turn against socialism. Taxes have fallen and markets liberalized. Kamprad returned to Sweden.

It became obvious that generous-enough welfare benefits can undermine the initiative of even the heartiest Scandinavian stock, and these countries have been adjusting accordingly. An article in The New York Times a couple of years ago recounted the backlash against welfare dependence in Denmark. It cited a study that projected in 2013 only three of 98 municipalities would have a majority of residents working.

If no one will mistake these countries for Texas, they allow enough economic openness to stay vibrant.

“Scandinavian countries,” Sanandaji writes, “compensate for high taxes and labor market rigidities by following liberal policies in other areas, such as business freedom and openness to trade.” Denmark, of all places, is ranked 11th on the Heritage Foundation’s index of economic freedom — right above the United States.

Nothing will undermine the left’s faith in the Scandinavian model, but Bernie Sanders could learn a thing or two from the reformers in the countries that he so admires.

So you see how UHC can be an asset to a capitalist country..

[Anler]

8 minutes ago, Highmark said:

http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.454/sweden-to-become-a-third-world-country-by-2030-according-to-un.html

 

According to UN projections, Sweden will be a much poorer country by 2030, much worse than what anyone in the Swedish government indicates.

The UN report HDI (Human Development Index) predicts a significant decrease in Swedish prosperity, unlike their Nordic neighbors, who will retain their top positions and even strengthen them globally in the long run.

In 2010 Sweden had the 15th place in the HDI rankings but according to UN forecasts, Sweden will be #25 in 2015, and in 2030 on the 45th place. 

Sweden is one of few countries with such a sharp deterioration from what it had in 2010.

Finland demonstrates one of the world's best school systems, while the Swedish school have lost competitiveness. 

Fewer ends up on welfare dependency in their Nordic neighboring countries while Sweden continues to have a greater amount of family households forced to live on welfare, which are a couple factors causing the dropped global competitiveness.

Negative developments, or rather liquidations can be exemplified by Orrefors Kosta Boda, which in 1992 had 940 employees in Sweden and was a profitable industry. Today less than 100 remain in the company after further cost reductions and adaptations in order to meet global competition. 

Most of today's less developed countries such as Cuba, Mexico, the Baltic countries and Bulgaria according to the 2030 UN report will be passing Sweden in prosperity.

Even Greece, which today is more or less bankrupt, but will be on 13th place by 2030.

Sweden's leftist establishment and media believe a cornerstone of their perfect society is multiculturalism: large scale immigration from some of the poorest, most backward nations on earth. Swedes who disagree with that plan risk being labeled racist, fascist, even Nazi.

"We had a perfectly good country," Ingrid Carlqvist, a journalist said. "A rich country, a nice country, and in a few years' time, that country will be gone."

The logic should be really simple to understand, yet many have difficulties grasping it: If you import the Third World, it's what you'll get.

Here is the UN report:

Do they have $20 Trillion in debt? Guess what, we are the poorest country on earth in 2017.

[Anler]

24 minutes ago, Momorider said:

Sweden has some of the highest taxes on earth  they have a VAT of 25% 

So does Canada...

[motonoggin]

I mean, face it Highmark, you know this cannot continue this way.

You know workers are going to need a larger portion of the value they generate.

We can't keep this up forever, and no amount of tax cuts, welfare cuts, or other neoliberal half measures, is going to fix it. 

 

[Anler]

8 minutes ago, Highmark said:

 

That guy banging the brick on his head is you..