Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Russian ‘reset’ malfunction – Ariel Cohen How Obama can get re-elected: Act like Reagan – Neil Reynolds After $65 billion, Fannie and Freddie want more of your money – Abby W. Schachter Federal Reserve to Markets: You’re On Your Own Now – Elizabeth MacDonald Obamacare Hides $50 Billion in Annual Costs – Tom O’Connell Sweden: Wealth Management In A “Social Democracy” – Max Skjönsberg Wisconsin GOP ‘Darling’ Deals Democrats a Blow …
“In 1993, Sweden introduced a system of school choice and vouchers inspired by the ideas of American economists Milton and Rose Friedman,” writes Odd Eiken, the executive vice president of Kunskapsskolan, an innovative network of schools in Sweden, and an architect of the Sweden voucher model, in the Washington Examiner: Even though the system was just as controversial then as any U.S. voucher proposal, the right to choose your school and bring the funding with you is today … widely accepted by all political parties. Even Sweden’s Social Democrat party …
Yes, the terrorists are trying to kill us. Breaking news from the Christian Science Monitor reports, “Two explosions rocked central Stockholm Saturday evening in what Swedish police have called a terrorist attack. One man, who appears to have been a suicide bomber, was killed, and two people were injured. The explosions occurred about ten minutes after a Swedish news agency and police received a threatening e-mail that referred to Sweden’s troops in Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist’s controversial 2007 depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. The attacks bring the struggle with …
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw (Radek) Sikorski was probably being polite when he described, in a conference call on Friday with U.S. policy experts, the U.S. government as “a friend of the Eastern Partnership” initiative, a Polish-Swedish venture within the EU, which covers Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and the three countries of the Caucasus. The disparity between the U.S. and EU in terms of economic resources dedicated to Eastern Europe is overwhelming. While the EU spends billions on supporting this partnership, the United States spends a grand total of $311 million annually …
In socialist Sweden, universal school choice allows every parent to choose the best school for their child. The voucher program, which has been in effect since 1992 and was created to tackle the kind of problems plaguing the U.S. educational system, provides families with the opportunity to send their child to any type of school they like – public, private, religious, or even for-profit. Stuart Butler, Heritage Vice President of domestic policy studies, explains in Washington Times: These independent schools, like the public schools, get a voucher payment for each …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwXj1spgK5A[/youtube] Last night’s agenda on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart was: Socialism is awesome! As more and more Americans worry about the growth of government in their lives here in the U.S., the Daily Show travelled to Sweden to put those worries to rest. They wanted to show us that we should embrace Socialism rather than fear it. Well, by playing fast and loose with the facts, as usual, we fear even one person believed their nonsense. So yes, while the Daily Show is very astute to notice that …
The financial crisis has exposed a trend that has been in the works for some time. Since the fall of communism, some of the more socialist countries have learned lessons from the Soviet collapse: free markets work, and government planning does not. Meanwhile, the capitalist countries have slept through these lessons, and have been slowly becoming more socialist. The financial crisis has made this crystal clear. For example, US car companies, and now auto parts dealers, have received bailout money. Sweden, every liberal’s favorite social-democratic country, has let their signature …
“We are the United States of America, we are not Sweden.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, March 23, 2009. “The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories.” Swedish enterprise minister Maud Olofsson, March 22, 2009. “Today, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council (NEC) Director Larry Summers convened official designees to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry to discuss recently submitted restructuring plans from Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corporation.” The White House, February 20, 2009.
A month ago, Obama explored the notion of nationalizing the banks under the Swedish model. Instead of the Swedish banking model, Obama should look at the school voucher program in Sweden for inspiration. The Pacific Research Institute recently had a video Op-Ed on the New York times Web site explaining how well the voucher program works in Sweden. The voucher program in Sweden has broad bipartisan support and has defeated the “status quo” in education and the children, as well as parents, are reaping the benefits. In the video, Stockholm …
The AP reports: The Swedish government agreed Thursday to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases. Sweden is a leader on renewable energy but is struggling to develop alternative source like hydropower and wind to meet its growing energy demands. If parliament approves scrapping the ban, Sweden would join a growing list of countries rethinking nuclear power as a source of energy amid concerns over global warming and the reliability of energy suppliers such as Russia. Britain, France and …
