Conference turris::scandia

81.0. "Olof Palme's Legacy" by REX::MINOW (Martin Minow, DECtalk Engineering) Sun Apr 06 1986 14:27

From a letter to the editor that appeared in the New York Times, Sunday
March 30, 1986:

	"Some Things Swedish Weren't Palme's Doing"

Wassily Leontief's March 9 letter, "Remembering Palme," would baffle
any intelligent observer of the Swedish scene.  To begin with, it was
not Olof Palme who as Prime Minister of Sweden "secured for the Swedes
the highest standard of living in the world."  Sweden held that position
long before Mr. Palme came into political prominence, and furthermore,
the living standards of Sweden have actually deteriorated in recent years
relative to other nations.

Neither is the famous Swedish "welfare state" a creation of Olof Palme --
he intherited it from about three generations of Social Democratic
politicians.  As for thesuccess of this welfare state, it is partly
due to the high productivity of Swedish industry, but is partly also
a mere propoganda trick.  An American who believes that the old
and the sick of this country fare well has simply never looked for
himself.

Besides, Swedish welfare is running into deeper and deeper trouble.
The week before the assassination of Mr. Palme there was a parliamentary
debate about a phenomenon called "the new poverty."  The nature of this
"new poverty" is rather queer: typically, a Swedish family can no longer
survive on the income of two persons working full time -- it has to seek
government relief to make ends meet.  Which means that the cost of living
(including the heavy taxes that were supposed to guarantee our welfare)
is running so high that we coannot survive without becoming dependent
on the government -- and will ultimately be forced into virtual serfdom.

Olof Palme alone is not, of course, to be blamed for this development.
But neither is he to be praised for it.

			Per-Olof Samuelsson
			Eskilstuna, Sweden
			March 17, 1986.