The Swedish model | Fausta's Blog

Fausta's Blog

No, not this one,

not this one, either,

this one: The Swedish model for economic recovery (emphasis added)

After its crisis, Sweden reduced public expenditures by 20 percent of its gross domestic product, slashing social transfers such as unemployment benefits and sick-leave compensation. It cut its public debt in half (its debt, as a proportion of the economy, is now about half that of the United States). It cut marginal tax rates and simplified its tax code so much that nearly two-thirds of Swedes simply confirm by phone that the declaration automatically prepared for them by the tax authorities is correct. The banking system was thoroughly reformed and emerged unscathed from the global financial crises.
Structural reforms were also adopted. Successive governments deregulated one market after another and privatized as market conditions permitted. All children receive vouchers so their parents can choose private or public schools at public expense. Swedish social security became a true insurance system, rather than a pay-as-you-go one with huge unfunded liabilities as in the United States.
Sweden remains a social welfare society, and government spending still accounts for half of its economy; it finances all education and health care, as is common throughout Europe. Sweden did not dismantle the social system but, in addition to drastically reducing its costs, adopted macroeconomic and structural reforms to make it sustainable and greatly enhanced its efficiency by privatizing the delivery of many educational and medical services. The country’s guiding principle is that a successful social welfare society must be fiscally conservative and administratively efficient. This is the central Swedish lesson for the crisis countries of the euro zone and elsewhere.

Economic policies based on competition and openness, carried on a free-market economy and a high degree of government efficiency.

A model for our hemisphere.

And yes, a little Rule 5 for all is always good for catching your attention to the subject of economics, isn’t it?
Fausta’s blog: an equal-opportunity rule fiver!

Sweden Should Be Commended

capitolhillcubans

By  Jay Nordlinger in National Review:

An Honor Roll

In today’s Impromptus, I report some good news out of Sweden. What, Muslim immigrants assimilating? No, no — but almost as good: A group of Cuban dissidents and democracy activists met in Stockholm for a “week of hope.” They were sponsored by a Cuban exile group, of course. But look: They were also sponsored by the Swedish government. And they met right in parliament.

As I put it, “Sweden has come a long way since Olof Palme, who so loved mass-murdering Communists in Hanoi and elsewhere.”

Here in the Corner, I wanted to add something about Sweden and Cuba. At the recent Oslo Freedom Forum, Roberto de Jesús Guerra spoke. He is an independent journalist in Cuba — that takes incredible bravery, including the willingness to be imprisoned repeatedly — and he was on his first trip outside of Cuba. I wrote about him here.

I did not mention this — that he named the embassies in Havana that allow dissidents and democrats to come in and use the Internet. Would you like the complete list? The embassies of the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Holland, and the U.S. interests section (which is housed in the Swiss embassy). That’s it. “The rest of the diplomatic corps in Cuba does not give us any type of help,” said Roberto.

The Czechs have been helping the Cubans for a long time. That is a special relationship. Václav Havel was a great supporter of the Cuban opposition. In 2005, I wrote a piece called “Solidarity, Exemplified: The amazing story of the Czechs and the Cubans.” I’m glad the U.S. interests section is still allowing people to come in, even under an administration bent on making nice with the Castros. Sweden? A marvelous development, and a surprise to me.

Holland? That too is a surprise. Completely stumps me. Am glad and admiring, though.

Just about every other country would rather smooch the Castros’ geriatric, murderous butts than lift a finger for the Cubans. As Jeane Kirkpatrick put it to me, a long time ago now, that is “both a puzzling and a profoundly painful phenomenon of our times.”

Sweden stunned by third night of rioting

worldnews

By Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander, Reuters

STOCKHOLM - Hundreds of youths set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in suburbs of Stockholm Tuesday night in Sweden's worst disorder in years.

A police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts center was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

It was the third night of unrest, mainly in suburbs where many immigrants live.

The riots, in one of Europe's richest capitals, have shocked a country that prides itself on a reputation for social justice, and fuelled a debate about how Sweden is coping with both youth unemployment and an influx of immigrants.

"We've had around 30 cars set on fire last night, fires that we connect to youth gangs and criminals," Kjell Lindgren, spokesman for Stockholm police, said on Wednesday.

He said eight people had been arrested on Tuesday night, but there were no reports of injuries.

The riots appear to have been sparked by the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby this month, which prompted accusations of police brutality.

Riot police spent a second night outside Stockholm trying to control protesters angry about a recent police shooting, NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

"Everyone must pitch in to restore calm - parents, adults," Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday.

After decades of practicing the "Swedish model" of generous welfare benefits, Sweden has been reducing the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest growth in inequality of any advanced OECD economy.

While average living standards are still among the highest in Europe, governments have failed to substantially reduce long-term youth unemployment and poverty, which have affected immigrant communities worst.

The left-leaning tabloid Aftonbladet said the riots represented a "gigantic failure" of government policies, which had underpinned the rise of ghettos in the suburbs.

"We have failed to give many of the people in the suburbs a hope for the future," Anna-Margrethe Livh of the opposition Left Party wrote in the daily Svenska Dagbladet.

An anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, has risen to third in polls ahead of a general election due next year, reflecting unease about immigrants among many voters.

Some 15 percent of the population is foreign-born, the highest proportion in the Nordic region. Unemployment among those born outside Sweden stands at 16 percent, compared with 6 percent for native Swedes, according to OECD data.

Among 44 industrialized countries, Sweden ranked fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to U.N. figures.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Blogueros cubanos en el Parlamento Sueco

 

Leer en martinoticias >>

U.S. Seeks Extradition of Alleged Cuban Spy Living in Sweden

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- U.S. officials say they are stepping up efforts to extradite an alleged Cuban spy they charge convinced a federal clerk to give up national secrets for decades. Justice Department officials want to arrest Marta Rita Velasquez, 55, an American born in Puerto Rico who they say recruited Ana Belen Montes to give U.S. secrets to Cuba, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
Velasquez, who was indicted in 2004 for conspiracy to commit espionage, has been living in Sweden since 2002. Her indictment was sealed until recently after U.S. officials learned Velasquez knew of the charges.

Under a treaty with Sweden, espionage is considered a "political offense," so the U.S. cannot ask Stockholm to extradite her. By publicizing the indictment, Washington hopes the Swedes will feel pressure to return her to the United States. Montes is serving a 25-year sentence for espionage. At the time of her arrest, she worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency. The women met in the early 1980s, officials say, while Montes was a clerk at the Justice Department. Velasquez allegedly used her political connections to get Montes a position at DIA in 1985.

[Photos] Cuba's spy Marta Rita Velazquez at home in Stockholm?

Along the Malecón/ Tracey Eaton

Possible residence of Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, accused Thursday of conspiracy to commit espionage. See FBI press release.

Empleada de limpieza secuestra un tren que luego choca contra un edificio

The future electric car may be one big battery [all around]

ReutersVideo

Swedish researchers believe the problem of battery efficiency in electric cars can be solved by turning the car's entire frame into one, big battery. They say their solution would remove the drag created by today's heavy batteries, vastly increasing the range of electric cars. Jim Drury has the story.

Please help the Cuban opposition: Aaron Modig, Witness to Paya's Death

Capitol Hill Cubans

Aaron Modig

The Sweden-based website, Miscelaneas de Cuba, has interviewed Aaron Modig, one of the two activists who survived the car crash that killed Cuban pro-democracy leader Oswaldo Paya.

The other, Spanish activist Angel Carromero, has been sentenced 4-years in prison by the Castro regime for vehicular homicide.

You can read the entire interview here.

But here are some noteworthy excerpts:

What was it that first took you to Cuba?

Modig: I have done similar types of political work in several countries. Before I went to Cuba I had been twice to Kenya and once to Cambodia, working on similar projects. I realized that I like to help and that’s really my main motivation. I had found a way I could help and share my experience of working in politics here in Sweden, so when the opportunity arose, the trip to Cuba was an obvious choice.

What do you remember about Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero as individuals?

Modig: I met Oswaldo two days before our trip on the Sunday and I had met Harold once before the trip. I am sort of handicapped as I don’t speak Spanish, so it was difficult to communicate, and as Oswaldo didn’t speak English, Harold was translating most of the time.

What I remember most about Oswaldo was his heartfelt gratitude at us being there to do this work. I also remember him telling stories now and then during the trip, which Harold translated. In one of the stories, Harold told about his expulsion from the University, back in period of the Varela Project. Oswaldo also spoke about the project itself. Harold had been expelled when the other students were made to vote him out. This was a very unfortunate event. He was more or less thrown out of the University.

Oswaldo showed me the empty fields where people used to grow sugar cane and he also told me about a relative of his who’d had a farm with livestock and pasture confiscated by the state to stamp out any commercial activity.

Two evenings before the trip, we had been in a bar in Havana, Oswaldo’s daughter Rosa María, Oswaldo, Ángel, Harold and me, and again, I had faced the same problem: they were talking in Spanish all the time and I couldn’t really understand, but I knew they were talking about the economic crisis in Spain and how it was affecting people. Luckily, Harold was there to translate the conversation, but as the discussion was very heated, I couldn’t catch everything or participate myself.

You have stated on the Christian Democratic Youth homepage that Ángel Carromero was not driving excessively fast. These pictures show the road where the crash happened. What do these pictures tell you? 

Modig: I can’t remember this particular stretch of road. I was sleeping before the crash. On the other hand, we had been travelling for a long time that day - we had set off at 6 am. As far as I am aware, the crash happened around 2pm, sometime after lunch. As far as I remember though, Ángel never drove recklessly as has been claimed. 

You lost consciousness immediately after the crash. When did you find out that Oswaldo and Harold were dead?

Modig: I found out at the hospital. I was recovering there after the crash.

Was it the Security Police who told you they were dead?

Modig: No, no, no. I found out through friends here in Sweden. No-one at the hospital told me anything. I had my Swedish mobile phone with me while I was in the hospital. My friends told me “there are rumours that they are dead”. The Cuban authorities never informed me of their deaths, either then or later. It is possible they mentioned it during the interrogations, but I can’t be sure of that detail. The questioning came several days later.

What was your darkest hour? When did you realize the seriousness of the incident?

Modig: I think there were two periods that were really hard. To begin with, I was very confused, and I have thought long and hard about it. By my calculations, I was unconscious for about 30 minutes, which is quite a long time anyway. I suffered headaches for several weeks afterwards. As I said, I was generally quite confused, but there were a lot of people around me in the hospital and they took over me, I had a drip in my arm, I had to walk up and down, they needed to x-ray my neck a couple of times, they did other examinations and blood tests, so it was messy, I just remember falling asleep as soon as I got back to bed.

Later on, two armed men in green uniforms appeared and sat alongside my bed. It was only then, and I’d had contact with my friends in Sweden too, that I started putting the pieces together and I remembered we had been driving and became aware that two of the other passengers had died. It dawned on me that my situation there was not totally legal, I was in a hospital 700 km from the nearest Swede or diplomatic representative. I was in the middle of nowhere, in another part of the world where I could not speak the language and, suddenly, I had armed police guarding me.

Then it occurred to me that I could be made to disappear here, if they wanted that to happen. At that moment I felt totally powerless for the first time. I don’t even remember whether I was afraid or not. Reason dictates that I should have been, but I don’t remember, maybe because I still was very confused.

The second tough time was when they took me from Bayamo to Havana by plane, because I was thinking that even if not much had happened in Bayamo, at least the Swedish Ambassador had been there and she had been aware of what was going on. But when they actually took me from Bayamo to Havana, they did not inform the Swedish Ambassador, or me either in fact, where they were taking me and I had no idea of what was going to happen. I ended up locked in a room, with all my belongings taken from me and three armed guards watching over me. This was in a house in Havana with a high wall around it.

At that point I thought: “this could go either way”. However, while I had been afraid for my life at the beginning, I wasn’t by then, because I was sure the Embassy knew where I was; that I had survived the crash. But was also thinking that this thing could turn ugly - maybe I would be imprisoned or punished.

What are your wishes for Cuba in the future?

Modig: Naturally, I want a free Cuba, where voicing your opinion is seen as normal and natural in all possible contexts, a place where politics and the different possibilities for social development can be openly discussed, just as is the case here in Sweden and in many other countries around the world. That is the kind of society I think Cuba should have. Any other type of government is a form of repression.

What would your message be for others who would like support the Cuban opposition?

Modig: Please help the Cuban opposition if you have any chance to do so, any possibility to help, please do. That is all I can say.

EmildeApie s/ "La Cubanada" y Alexis Ferrer

EmildeApie

Mas  Aqui >>

Ikea habria usado a presos de Cuba y la Alemania comunista en los 80

Efe | Berlín/

La cadena sueca de muebles para el hogar Ikea utilizó a finales de los 80 a presos de la Alemania del Este y también de Cuba para la producción de sus productos, según informa el diario alemán 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung' (FAZ).

Según ese medio, la compañía escandinava suscribió a finales de esa década un acuerdo con las autoridades de la extinta República Democrática Alemana (RDA), a raíz del cual intervinieron en la producción de sus artículos tanto prisioneros del territorio germano-oriental como de la isla caribeña.

El acuerdo fue suscrito en septiembre de ese 1987, dos años antes de la caída del Muro de Berlín, tras una visita a Cuba de una delegación del Comercio de Artes y Antigüedades (KuA) y Delta Export Import, dos empresas de la RDA.

Según las informaciones del diario alemán, la delegación, integrada por cinco personas, contactó con un representante de la firma cubana Emiat, el teniente Enrique Sánchez, que producía muebles de jardín para la cúpula política cubana.

Tal empresa estaba vinculada con centros penitenciarios del Ministerio del Interior, afirma FAZ, que se remite a documentos de la RDA. Un mes después de esa visita, se firmó en Berlín el acuerdo correspondiente con Ikea Trading Berlín, una delegación de la empresa sueca en la entonces ciudad dividida.

En el contrato se contemplaba la producción de sofás, así como unos 10.000 mesas infantiles y 35.000 mesas de comedor. La primera partida fracasó, por déficit de calidad, a lo que siguió una intervención directa de la empresa germano-oriental sobre sus socios cubanos para que se ciñeran a las "normas de Ikea".

La informaciones de FAZ siguen a las difundidas unos días atrás por medios suecos y alemanes, a partir de documentos contenidos en las actas de la Stasi -la policía política germanoriental- acerca de los contratos suscritos por la compañía sueca y la RDA. Ikea se comprometió entonces a investigar con meticulosidad ese caso que, de resultar cierto, "lamentaban profundamente".

Por otro lado, en febrero, el comité de trabajadores de Ikea Francia denunció a la compañía por el presunto espionaje de sus trabajadores y clientes desde 2003, según revela el semanario 'Le Canard Enchaîné'.

Conjoined Twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco's Separation Surgery Successful

abcnews.go.com - Angelica and Angelina Sabuco, the two-year-old twin girls born connected at the chest and abdomen, successfully underwent separation surgery on Tuesday at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stan...More >

Legisladores suecos por cambios democráticos en Cuba

MrEmilloco
El Parlamento de Suecia aprobó una declaración sobre política exterior que enfatiza la necesidad de cambios democráticos y económicos en Cuba, y además expresa apoyo a la oposición en la isla.

El Parlamento de Suecia aprobó una declaración sobre política exterior que enfatiza la necesidad de cambios democráticos y económicos en Cuba, y además expresa apoyo a la oposición en la isla.
Una parte del texto de la Declaración de Política Exterior para el 2011 sostiene que "la necesidad de reformas democráticas y económicas en Cuba sigue siendo grande".

WIKICUBA: Affaire Ardin-Assange y Miscelaneas de Cuba

Ya se esta convirtiendo en rutina las mutuas acusaciones y las renuncias abruptas entre disidentes, provocadas por revelaciones directas o indirectas de Wikileaks, con la ayuda  generosa de la gestapo cubano. -------------------------------------- 

“Affaire Ardin-Assange pone a Suecia en Evidencia. Editorial Cuba Nuestra, 22 de diciembre de 2010

Consejo de Redacción de Misceláneas de Cuba, Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas: De izq. a der.: Juan Collins, Francisco Diez, Luis Couso (sentado) Mileydi Vidal, Alexis Gainza (Director saliente), Eniel Bosch (agachado en primera fila), Osvaldo Alfonso (Director entrante) y Julio C. Soler Foto: Oscar Mario Rodríguez.

La solucion al problema de Cuba/ Humor

Desde Mala Idea

La solucion al problema de Cuba

Mucho se debate sobre los males que aquejan al cubano que vive en la isla y a la sociedad en general. Hay opiniones y opinantes de todo el espetro posible de opiniones, desde extrema derecha hasta extrema izquierda.

Como libre pensador y analítico sobre la economía, la sociedad y el futuro yo creo firmemente que la mejor solución es el anexionismo. No el anexionismo a EE.UU., ni a España (que ya fue una larga vez metropoli nuestra y nos dejó de herencia las mulatas, el jolgorio y las malas palabras), ni a Venezuela (Chavez me cae gordo ... lo es), ni a Iran (porque tapan mucho a las mujeres y se quedan en el deseo .. iran, pero nunca van).

Yo propongo como nueva metropoli cubana (ya hemos tenido varias) a Suecia. Algún extremista dirá: "Esto es el colmo". Y no está lejos de la realidad, la capital de Suecia es Estocolmo. Que está cercana a la de Noruega, que se llama Oslo, tal como os lo he dicho.

Veamos algunas de las ventajas de tener a Suecia como regente de nuestros destinos.

1. Fin de las deserciones en el beisbol. Si, así como lo ven. Suecia nos impondrá el fútbol como deporte nacional. Cosa a la que accederemos de puro gozo pues tienen equipos de altísimo nivel y de seguro la asesoría será muy bien recibida.

2. Vestuario de la población. Para que se tenga una idea. En 2009 las mujeres suecas ganaron en contra de una ley que intentaba discriminar la vestimenta de ellas en las piscinas públicas obligándolas a usar sostenedores en los bikinis de dos piezas. Al final, ganaron democráticamente las mujeres y ya se ahorran la compra de la parte superior de los bikinis (que equivale a 2 bombillos de 100 watts).

3. Bebida. Suecia es la cuna del Absolut Vodka ... si no lo ha probado, estoy seguro que cuando lo haga, se convertirá al anexionismo.

4. Agricultura. No hay dudas de las bondades del campesinado sueco.

5. Policía. La policía sueca ejerce un control sobre los hombres como en casi ningún otro lugar del mundo. Son muy ... convincentes.

6. Historia. Y último por hoy porque tengo que dejar algo para después. Se arregla por fin el debate de la famosa calle de la Habana, que si Carlos III (Carlos tres palitos le dicen algunos, pero si lo han visto bien no creo que llegara a tanto) o Salvador Allende. Pues nada de eso. Se llamará Gustavo III (igual no creo que llegara a tanto) que al menos se vestía mejor que el Carlos.

¿Está convencido de las ventajas de ser colonizados por Suecia?

Inauguran hotel "invisible" en Suecia

Arquitectura Cubana: Inauguran hotel "invisible" en Suecia

El islamismo en Suecia

Un impresionante testimonio de los problemas sociales en Suecia hoy en dia, desde el blog Nueva Europa-Nueva Arabia

Suecia: de nación industrial a república bananera

“La izquierda en Suecia entiende que la competencia es fundamental”/ Entrevista a Mauricio Rojas