Swedish Illusions

by Herbert I. London
June 21, 2010 at 4:30 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1373/swedish-illusions

In Western Europe, there is not merely the preemptive conciliation that afflicts politicians who are ready to subordinate Christian civilization to Islam; there is a wholesale program to promote socialism, even if it leads to economic ruination. While over-extended socialist Europe faces collapse from Spain to Greece, overtaxed Sweden is eager to instruct immigrants on how to get free benefits from the government.

According to a proposal from Swedish Immigration authorities, all newly arrived immigrants will undergo courses in "societal values" and be taught about the unique qualities of the society. "Without knowledge of fundamental societal values, an important prerequisite to be able to live and work in Sweden is lacking," writes Erik Amna in a debate article in the Dagens Nyheter daily.

Amna contends that the municipalities should offer a 60-hour course in three areas: values, the welfare state and everyday life; that is, practical knowledge of how the welfare state works. Not only will Sweden have generous give-away programs, but it intends to instruct new arrivals on how to obtain them.

Here is an unvarnished version of the plan that is destroying Europe: the idea that you can obtain these government benefits without a cost is absurd. There is no such thing as a free lunch even if Swedish authorities challenge that idea. Someone has to pay, and the extortionate tax rate in Sweden indicates someone is paying.

The problem, of course, is that the high taxes which serve as a transfer payment, stifle innovation and relegate a portion of the population into shiftlessness. While the cradle-to-grave welfare state has an appeal to people who believe money grows on trees, the lessons of welfarism are coming home to roost in the form of insolvency and contractual failure.

Sweden may not yet be in the position of Greece, but its policies will in time result in a similar outcome. There is no painless way out of the trap of socialism. What makes this journey inexorable is the belief that benefit packages have to be disseminated to one and all, even new immigrants recently arrived on Swedish soil.

What this orientation does, of course, is create a lobbying group for further welfarism. It is explains why retrenchment is so difficult. How do you remove what citizens are accustomed to receiving?

For years, American socialists cited Sweden as the nation we should emulate; and now Barack Obama seems to agree. But as Margaret Thatcher once noted, socialism fails when you run out of other people's money. Alas, the unfunded liabilities in Sweden and the United States serve as a vivid reminder that at some point you must pay the piper.

The mounting debt across the European continent is weight on the shoulders of every resident. But apparently the Swedes are either blind to their predicament or choose not to look. How else can one explain proselytizing new immigrants so they request their government goodies?

The dream of a world of plenty, a cornucopia of all you want, has, for many countries, now been transmogrified into a nightmare of debt and shattered promises. Sweden was the dream and for some it remains so, but the illusion cannot persist.

What will the newly arrived immigrants, instructed with Sweden's social values, do when the give-a-ways disappear as quickly as soap bubbles?

Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of Decade of Denial (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001) and America's Secular Challenge (Encounter Books).

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