Doug Henwood wrote:
>Lots has happened since the 1960s, for sure, but some basic stats for
>the year 2000 (LIS key figures
><http://www.lisproject.org/keyfigures.htm>):
>
>relative poverty rate (household income <50% of median)
>
>Sweden 6.5%
>U.S. 17.0
>
>gini index
>
>Sweden .252
>U.S. .368
>
>In other words, Swedish income distribution remains about the most
>equal in the world, and its poverty rate, near the lowest. The U.S.
>is at the opposite end of the league tables on both measures.
Question: I have no porblem in saying on the basis of your statistics, that Sweden is a better place to live for me than North America. But then I do not live there...
Many people in India would & do drool at living standards in the USA. Tell me, does that make the USA a paradise? For that matter when Indian workers and peasants were beign exploited by an earlier version of British capitalists, I do not recall Marx saying in his articles that workers in Britain should let up the pressure on their capitalist class. I do realise that you may NOT be saying this, but unless I am totally daft, there sure is an implication there. ....
Would you not accept that 'living standards' are moveable and do not form an absolute standard; &; that workers in even the most "liberal" standard capitalist states are exploited - & by and large - recognise they are being so?
I suppose, that I am not sure what all this Blue Herring Salad about relative standards of Swedish society to the USA is all about. I was in Sweden just 3 months ago - & I assure you that both the liberals & even the radical commies - are disgruntled. H