What's Wrong with Sweden?

My online silence the past few days has been due to having guests in town, some lovely Swedes.

About seven years ago, the couple adopted a child, and in Sweden, the new parent of one's choosing gets thirteen months off at 80% of their salary to care for the child. The thirteen months can be taken in increments of the family's desire, any time during the first eight years of the child's life. The father needs to use up his parental leave soon, so they took a vacation.

Workers in Sweden get five weeks of paid vacation, guaranteed by federal law. Once the worker turns 40, they have to fill out a form to request a guaranteed sixth week of vacation every year. Sick days and sick leave is additional.

Health care in Sweden is, of course, free. The banks there are deeply regulated (not quite fully national). According to the couple, about 30% of their salaries go to pay taxes. Although they've seen the Swedish kroner drop in value just a little bit, they're one of the few countries in the world not in any sort of fiscal crisis. The government has money, and unemployment hasn't risen too much.

This year, the Swedish couple and their son will be traveling to New York, Florida, Scotland, and Greece. They went to Vietnam last year. The father is a school teacher who's planned their curriculum in such a way that the teachers in this tiny school district outside of Stockholm work four days a week. The mother works two days a week. They rent a tiny apartment in Stockholm and own a lovely house on an idyllic piece of property on the Baltic Sea. (They very kindly put us up during our vacation a couple years ago.)

Of course, they also said that because of the long, dark winters, the Swedes desperately need vacations. There are some problems with depression and drinking, but that whole thing about Sweden having the highest suicide rate in the world is a myth. And what, we don't have problems with depression and drinking in this country?

Unless I'm doing the math in my head wrong, I'm paying more than 30% of my salary to federal, state, and city taxes, and I'm not getting any free health care.

What the hell are they doing right in Sweden? And when people speak disdainfully about "Europe!", "socialism!", and "government health care!", I swear to Jesus Christ who died for me on the cross at Golgotha (the place of the skull), I'm just not seeing the problem with the Swedish system.

Humanity, equality, family, and quality of life are all good things. Come on, America! We've already embraced IKEA; let's embrace some Swedish values!