13/09/2006 12:57:26 pm
In Wall Street Journal Europe: "A Coup d′État in Sweden. In today′s Wall Street Journal Europe, I have an op-ed about the need for regime change and policy change in Sweden following the elections on Sunday:

"McKinsey Global Institute estimates Sweden′s total unemployment rate to be 15%. That may surprise as Eurostat puts the official unemployment figure at 7.8%. But when you add jobless people in temporary government programs, as well as those parked in early retirement and disability schemes, the figure roughly doubles. During the last 15 years, Sweden has decreased the size of the work force more than any other European country. But is has doubled the number of early retirees, who now total 550,000, outnumbering entrepreneurs. There are 22,000 early retirees under the age of 30, up from 13,000 in 1999. Youth unemployment is 22%, the fifth-highest rate in the European Union.

So why hasn′t the opposition already wrapped up the election? And why, over the years, have there been so few shifts of government in Sweden? The main reason is that the Social Democrats have become one with the state. They use and abuse public power to remain in government. Half of the taxes are hidden and people are not fully aware of the total tax burden. Labor-market regulations make it in practice mandatory for workers to belong to trade unions?which, in turn, support the Social Democrats.

The law forces employers to pay full-time wages to people even when they are engaged in trade union activities instead of working. During an election year, that means thousands of employees are working almost full time for the Social Democrats. ... In addition, public authorities spent last year some 200 million euro on activities to shape public opinion, called ′information′ by the government. The boards of universities are filled with Social Democrats. And so are the boards of civic organizations that are supposed to be independent from the state. ... The Social Democrats′ grip on power is so strong and has been so long-lasting that it seems almost abnormal to have a shift of government. A coup d′état is what the tabloid Expressen, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, called it last year?indeed the same words once used by Social Democrat Party Secretary Marita Ulvskog."

Read the entire article here - >