Learning from others
John E. Peterson
Thursday, December 14, 2006
WE ARE HEARING much about our governmental problems these days. Raising or lowering taxes at all governmental levels continually pops up. And paying our taxes is a difficult, messy operation. Medical care and prescription coverage has been a big topic, as have other health-providing issues. And there have been many other issues with which our bureaucratic system is attempting to deal. Immigration, for instance.
All of this keeps bringing back my experiences of living and researching in Sweden for half a year. That was clear back in 1965. I assume it is pretty much the same there now, but I am not sure about that. I was very much impressed with the way Sweden ran its operation. I think we could learn from it. I would tell you about it, if I had my way.
First, however, permit me to say this. I am totally happy with being a U.S. Citizen. I would not wish to have lived anywhere else. I am glad my paternal grandfather and grandmother came to northern Illinois from Sweden as teenagers. But I do think we can learn from other places and Sweden made a great impression on me.
I was at the University of Lund in southern Sweden for those six months. I traveled all over, however, from Lund to north of the arctic circle as I gathered soil samples to take back to the lab to isolate my myxobacteria. Also, did the same in Denmark, Norway and Finland in lesser amounts. Consequently, I had much chance to observe what was going on.
Now to the observations I made of what Sweden was doing, observations which stick very much in my memory.
Swedish citizens were simply and automatically taxed 45 percent of their income. And, that percentage often went up. There was some grolwing about it, but not much, because their life was good.
Nobody had to pay for health care. It was all provided and it was some of the best in the world. I knew two of our U.S. doctors who went there to learn some new things. I knew another one of ours who had developed a new surgical technique and was asked by the Swedes to come there to teach their medical people about it. Health care was good and nobody had to pay for it.
Nobody had to save for retirement. That was all provided. The retirement facilities looked marvelous; they were right in the center of things and they often were near schools so that the kids and the old folks could be together.
Nobody had to save huge sums to send their kids to the universities. All education was provided. Of course, the young had to demonstrate sufficient ability to go to the universities, but there was no cost to attend. The educational service was marvelous.
How could people live decently, you ask, when the government took so much of their money? They apparently were well off. Sparbanken were everywhere. A Sparbanken is a savings bank, so people had money in the bank. Homes were nice, cities and towns were lovely and clean, business places seemed to be doing well, society and life looked very good.
The people had enough money to own second places, places for recreation, vacationing and relaxation. The professor I knew had a lovely summer-type place out in the woods. We were out there a couple of times. Another couple invited us to their recreational house out on a small island. They owned the whole island.
Some beaches had long, long lines of beach houses. They were not big or gorgeous, but they were individually-owned recreational places. In Sweden, I had to have a woman cut my hair for the first time. That was because my regular barber took two weeks off to vacation down in the Mediterranean area. He did that almost every year, he told me.
So, you see, life was good for the Swedes, even though the government took a big chunk of their money. The good life had to be paid for.
Another positive experience. We got absentee ballots sent to us when in Sweden. They had to be authenticated, so we went to a place comparable to our court house. Our ballots were the usual, complex messes. Lots of issues to be voted on — liquor in the county and other things. Very difficult to read and understand, as our ballots are usually like that.
The man who looked at our ballots began to laugh. He called others over and they all laughed. They had never seen a ballot so long, complex and difficult to understand. Their elections were kept very simple. They were on Sundays when people were free from work and about 85 percent turned out to vote. This is a bit different from our situation.
I made other observations about the Swedish system, about things they did which made much good sense. I think we could learn many useful things they did which made much good sense. I think we could learn many useful things from the Swedes. And from other peoples, too. We would, if I had my way.