Fucking Sweden

[andelarion]

OK.

Weather's rubbish. The Midsummer weekend will be shit. I have no one to celebrate it with. All my friends have plans and can't take me with them. I can't afford to go to my parents', or anywhere for that matter as I have no income at all.

Got two letters from the Social Insurance Agency today. The first one asked if I really lived in Sweden, how long I've lived here, what my ties to Sweden are, and all the dates I have been living abroad, etc. HELLO! I AM A SWEDE. Am I going to shove my passport in your faces? I've the same right to social insurance as everyone else in Sweden. That's what we have the tax system for! We pay a lot of taxes here. Petrol is dead expensive (14 kr / litre ($2.31)). Food is ____ expensive. There are taxes on everything and taxes on taxes. I've lived here for 17 years of my (young) life.

The second letter was about financial help during sickness. That's part of the social insurance we have here in Sweden. You're supposed to be entitled to it. I am not well at all. The last year I've been in and out of hospital, seeing doctor after doctor, getting new diagnoses each time, while my problems remain the same. I can't work. Can't study = no money. Maybe I could work a few hours each week if I push myself but there are no part-time jobs in Sweden (hardly). The letter from the agency thanked me for my application for financial assistance, asked me to fill in the investigation form of my ties to Sweden, and told me that I had to wait four months for a decision on financial assistance. Four months! That will be in October!

How am I to survive till then? I can't get sick pay because I am not old enough to have worked long enough to be entitled to it. I can't get help from student loans/funds/etc because it's summer! During summers people are supposed to work (I was supposed to! And I wanted to!). I have rents to pay, I need food to eat. I even have to pay those stupid student loans repayments while I have no income.

Luckily I have some savings... but are they enough? If not, I will have to apply for benefits. Which will be hell. You have to rid yourself from all kinds of "luxuries", money, etc, and live on something on subsistence levels. Until I crawl before the State and ask them to..., I will live on my savings and hopefully withstand everything until then... And it's not even certain that I will be getting that financial assistance.

This assistance would not only financial, it would be therapeutic as well. It would entail work practice, training, rehabilitation and reintegration to the labour market.

AND OH! I hate the politicians in this country too. Not only in this fucking county (they closed all rehabilitation centres and refuse me to go out-of-county for treatment that my doctors thought was essential for a quicker (and, for the health services, cheaper) recovery), but they pass all these ridiculous laws.

Tonight they passed "Lagen om Försvarets radioanstalt" (the FRA Law). The law grants the department of defence (that is, the government) to - without court orders - survey people's emails (any person's!) to "safeguard the Realm against (perceived) outer threats". This law is, according to experts, the most extreme in a western democracy. It's beyond Echelon and the American laws on surveillance. But there are no limits on what the department can or cannot survey. In fact, it can be any person (yes, they can search for specific people when they do their surveillance, reading their emails, again, without court orders!)

It was narrowly passed in the parliament. In favour was the government coalition consisting of:

The Moderate Party (Conservatives, has a neo-liberal wing)
The Liberal People's Party (they call themselves liberal!), with one MP abstaining
The CentreParty (former agrarian)
The Christian Democrats (conservatives)

Against were the opposition groups:

The Social Democrats (but only on technicalities)
The Left Party ("former" Communists)
The Green Party (the only party actively against the law).

Welcome Big Brother. All the media are against the law. The population is against it. About 80%.

When drafting the law, the bill went on various referrals, each was critical of it. By some it was declared unconstitutional (which doesn't help anyone because we can't strike down or un-enforce unconstitutional laws here), against the European Convention on Human Rights (which is good, means that watched people can go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to get damages, but it cannot strike down laws...). The Security Police (our "equivalent" to the FBI) was critical. The Law Council (consisting of top jurists in Sweden) was also critical.

Because I'm not well, I may not be able to stay in my student flat. I might need to move. And you can't move how you like in this Soviet-style place. You are in a queue for every single apartment/room for rent etc in the city. I can't afford leasing anything (buying apartments is unheard of here). I have no income! And I can't move outside the city/municipality as I need my treatment.

I'm pissed off. Sorry for my rant.

[b3n|<3r|\|]

Move to the UK, where it seems our only problems are the EU and the same oil/gas/electricity price ramps that everyone else is experiencing!

[Jacobus Loki]

Let's get him to California and move him in with the Irishman! His English is good enough that we can pass him off as somebody's cousin.

[hypatias mom]

Ric--

You didn't go into this much detail when we spoke. This is a really serious problem, and I trust it can and will be worked out in your favor. Is it possible you can get the treatment you need in your parents' city? That may be a fall-back position if you can't get it where you are.

[andelarion]

Carol -

I might be able to, but they live so far away. That would mean moving north, getting new doctors, etc, and that county (Örebro) is poorer than this one (Kronoberg). We'll see. Mum and dad told me that they'd help out if things go horribly wrong.

I rang the Taxation Authority today to find out what dates I have lived in Sweden. A lot simpler than I thought. Apparently there's a national database on everyone living in Sweden with all their addresses and previous addresses accessable for everyone. That is kind of scary.

Benkern -

Don't get me started on the European Union! It is inefficient, full of loopholes, undemocratic, and worst of all - there is no accountability whatsoever in it. But it has its advantages, as has Sweden.

Jacobus -

Is California a good place to live?

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Move to the UK, where it seems our only problems are the EU and the same oil/gas/electricity price ramps that everyone else is experiencing!

And 48 days detention without trial if PC Plod doesn't like the look of your bushy black beard and your funny accent, and isn't bright enough to put together a plausable case against you within the twenty eight days he had previously been allowed.

It could be worse - the British Crown Dependency of Jersey (a small Island in the English Channel) briefly became the only country in the world, aside, perhaps, from North Korea, to legislate for indefinite detention without trial only for the proposal to be withdrawn after it was discovered that the draconian powers awarded to the Bailiwick stemmed not from some desire to emulate a previous German administration but merely from sloopy draftsmanship. After such a display of gross incompetence I propose that Jersey be reclassified as a micronation and its GSO application submitted forthwith.

[hypatias mom]

Ric--

Actually, California is lovely. We have almost any climate you might desire, and micronationalists coming out of the woodwork. However, the tax structure is beginning to resemble Sweden's and the population is not paying much attention. We would love to have you here, but you would have to come as a visitor, unless you applied for entrance as an immigrant, which would take quite a while. I'm sure something could be worked out for you. c

[Scott of Hyperborea]

I guess it just goes to show you can live in the country that's ranked number one on pretty much every survey with any criteria whatsoever of "Best Countries" and still be unhappy.

[Ari Rahikkala]

99.99% reliability means 52 minutes of downtime per year.

[Jacobus Loki]

an immigrant, which would take quite a while.

Ticket to Mexico (Canada?) + sneak in.

Aside: Would Canada take him as a refugee from an oppressive situation?

Oops, probably doesn't speak Spanish.....

Actually, I can't speak for California, as I've only spent a few weeks there, but its partisans love it. Of course California is like a country unto itself.

I type this from beautiful downtown Salt Lake City, home of oodles and gobs of folk of Scandinavian extraction. Nice place, wonderful, can't wait to leave.

[Braden Indianensis]

Ric, you know, if it weren't for socialism, you wouldn't have these problems. "Social insurance", indeed!

[b3n|<3r|\|]

^^ Epic trueness fail!
Wouldn't you much rather nothing at all than something which exists but proves impossible to get to? No, that's the nature of dreams...

[Jess]

[Braden Indianensis]

And I can understand your anger over oppressive measures taken in the name of "national security." As a libertarian, that kind of thing really pisses me off. However, you can't choose to give up some freedoms and keep the others. You can't say, "Government, if you'll pay my healthcare costs and help me when money's tight, but let me keep all of my negative liberties, that'd be great." Because, once you give up one of your liberties--in this case, economic freedom--you lose all of them. Now what's to keep the government from saying, "Oh, you don't like this national security bill? Too damn tough. If you protest, we're cutting off your medical insurance."?

[Jacobus Loki]

AMERICA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ttDUGM-1mU
Written by Neil Diamond

Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star

Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America

Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm

Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America

Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America

They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today

My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today

(1980 Stonebridge Music (ASCAP))

Come on over. Gas is still less that $5 a gallon. $1.25 per liter, what, about .80 euros?

"There is room for realms an more between Issen and Greyflood."paraphrased.

[Jess]

And we have McDonalds...

[hypatias mom]

Thanks for that link. I also love Lee Greenwood's balad about America, which gained a large following after 9-11.

[Gryphon Avocatio]

Jag elskar Sverige.

[Kaiser Hasan I]

At the risk of being unpopular..

AMERIKA

Refrain:
We're all living in America,
America is wunderbar.
We're all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.

Wenn getanzt wird, will ich führen,
auch wenn ihr euch alleine dreht,
lasst euch ein wenig kontrollieren,
Ich zeige euch wie's richtig geht.
Wir bilden einen lieben Reigen,
die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen,
Musik kommt aus dem Weißen Haus,
Und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus.

We're all living in America...

Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen,
und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss!
Wir bilden einen lieben Reigen,
ich werde Euch die Richtung zeigen,
nach Afrika kommt Santa Claus,
und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus.

Refrain:
We're all living in America,
America is wunderbar.
We're all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.
We're all living in America,
Coca-Cola, Wonderbra,
We're all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.

This is not a love song,
this is not a love song.
I don't sing my mother tongue,
No, this is not a love song.

We're all living in America,
Amerika is wunderbar.
We're all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.
We're all living in America,
Coca-Cola, sometimes WAR,
We're all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.

[Gryphon Avocatio]

...och jag elskar Ramms+ein!

[Jacobus Loki]

German humor eludes me, but that is not unusual.

Your Niftiness is still popular.......I think......

[Tahmaseb]

What can I say, Ric. Perhaps this is a good time to remind you that there is a country right next to Sweden which is rich, has good social security and does take care of everyone. You woulnd't have any significant problems with the language either.

I'm talking about Norway, of course. What?

[Jacobus Loki]

and they don't need the EU, either!

[Tahmaseb]

With those ridiculous amounts of oil, obviously not.

[Chrimigules]

At the risk of being unpopular..

Meh, I've been known to welcome the day with Amerika. After all, isn't it great that everyone else in the world is getting to know how great it is to be American, and forgetting all of that silly culture that they used to hold onto?

[Prodigy Almighty]

Eh, Rammstein is alright. I kinda like their stuff. I just listen to the German versions, because then I only understand PART of the weird stuff they sing about.

[Gman Russell]

*hugs* Poor Ric, im sorry. You have my prayers.

[andelarion]

Thanks

I'm calmer now. I hope things get sorted out. The Insurance Agency keep bothering me with letters and forms I cannot understand, but I'm calmer now

Though Sweden's politics is still shit.

[andelarion]

Tahmaseb,

I've contemplated many times about moving to Norway. Norwegians are hotter than Swedes, too!

[Malliki]

I have to agree with you on the politics. The right-wingers suck. The FRA law for example. Bunch of retards.