It is election night in Finland, which is nothing like election night in the US from what I can gather. Finnish politics in general are far more normal than most countries, with politicians (for the most part) just going about their day, living their life, shopping at the local grocery store with the rest of us schmucks.
What makes this one more interesting perhaps, is that it looks like the "Finns Party" (which is a populist party often associated with anti-immigration policies), will likely become the second most supported party in the country. Which is no surprise really, considering what has happened globally over the last thirty years in this regard, and especially in the last ten. What has generally happened in the past in these cases, emboldened by support for the party, the racists tend to come out of the woodwork and become more vocal.
Fun times.
But, I had an interesting conversation with a colleague last week about the elections and the change in voting behaviors and general sentiment, as we spoke about employment issues. It is an interesting problem that many countries face, where there is an aging population with an increasing number of workplaces open up, not enough people to do the work, not enough people to look after the healthcare needs of the elderly. For most countries, immigration is likely the only solution.
But of course, this comes with its own problems, because obviously immigration is going to have an effect on various aspects of culture, which rubs many people the wrong way. There are also the various stereotypes that get raised in the face of rising immigration - or to immigrants themselves.
You come and steal our women!
This is one I have heard many times when I was younger. Perhaps talking about women as "ours" would be a good place to start unpacking that one.
They come and steal our jobs!
This might be true in some cases, but again, one might want to consider if a person who comes into the country and can't even speak the language can take a local's job - time to reflect. But more than that, in Finland at least, this isn't about working for less, since there are laws in place and illegal immigrants can't work due to the way the system is set up. Corruption is very low here for the most part and there are large fines for any company found underpaying employees. Due to the automation of the system, it is very likely companies would get caught. Plus, it would be far cheaper to send work to other countries anyway, not bring people here, just to underpay them.
But, what my colleague and I were talking about was more around the idea of professional work, the kind of which you need a degree for. This is interesting in Finland, because the education system is largely free for students, which means it is tax funded by people working. However, there are still skill and job vacancies in these areas.
My colleague was saying how a lot of the foreigners who come into the country are going to often go into lower paying work, meaning that they are not going to add as much to society. Yet, like most, he hasn't done the math.
The cost of education in Finland is high, with up to year 12 costing about 250,000 and a bachelor or master's degree another 150 - 250,000 on top. It is about 6 billion in tax money per year. This means that a tertiary educated Finn comes into the employment market with a deficit nearing a quarter million euros, before they have got their first paycheck. In countries like the US, this is pushed to the student through a loan of some kind, meaning that there is an incentive to get a good job and pay it back, but that incentive doesn't exist here and culture is changing.
Young people are less willing to work.
Which obviously exacerbates the problem of labor shortages going forward. And on top of this,. there is also a declining birthrate, meaning not only will they not be working, they won't be having enough children to look after them in their old age either.
The economics don't add up for a bright financial future.
At least at the current rate of things and with the economy that we have in Finland, which is a social democracy. The problem with social democracies (not to be confused with communism) however, is the "social" part, as people are always the weakness. If people do not add value into the community, the community is unable to support the system and the more self-centric people have become, the less responsibility they feel they need take with their community.
This raised another topic from a few weeks ago in a conversation, where I asked at which point I (a foreigner) am seen as adding enough value to be considered part of the community. A lot of people put the "being part" down to the language and culture aspects, but when they complain about immigration, they look at it from an economic standpoint. So, considering that I pay a higher rate of tax than the average Finn and generate even more through my business, am I to be considered part of the financial community?
The problem with this approach is, it isn't easy to tease apart who should be included or not, because it doesn't come with an easy guide, like skin color does. And, if anyone should be upset by immigration of educated people, it should be the countries that have lost educated people from their ranks. There are a lot of Finns for example who work abroad - no one seems to complain about them taking their half-million dollar degrees overseas.
My point is, that looking a little into the future, the financial economy of most countries is going to get increasingly battered, and it isn't going to be because of immigrants, or lack of immigrants. It is going to be because the system is fundamentally broken, as the value countries need to operate are getting taken out by corporations for the most part, not remittances. The less people work in country, the less tax money there is to do things like educate people and then, things will get privatized, in the same way they have in the US,
A shining example of social health....
Cough
The thing that I find interesting about all of the election nonsense is that people still really believe that governments can make the world a better place. This is not to say that it doesn't matter which government there is, because it does, but they are all on the negative side of the spectrum of unhealthy, it is just a factor of how far along. But, people subscribe to them, because it is easier than taking actually responsibility at a local level and ensuring that value is not only being created, but also being distributed to the right areas.
So many people use the "I love my country" line, yet how many are actually taking the actions required to build a robust and stable community through strengthening the local economy? Instead, what most people believe it means is keeping people out of the community - which is a sign of a weak community. A healthy community and economy is one that can welcome people in, and incentivize them to add value and earn their way into the community, so that they too will be a voting stakeholder.
And I think this is part of the reason so much of the immigration policies fail and cause social problems. Because, while they want people to come in and do the jobs that no local wants to do, for cheaper than a local would even consider it, they also don't want them to have stake in the community, to have ownership. They want to keep people out of the loop on purpose, so that as culture naturally changes, they have someone to blame for the loss.
Home is where the heart is.
It is a nice sentiment, but unfortunately,
no one cares about where the heart is, only where the body is from.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
How come an election can be so calm? We have election after one and half a month, but it is kinda battle. Candidates and parties have already started to be out to get each other.
Just the culture here I think. The campaigns are shorter too. I don't understand the US system, they seem to be full-time campaigning half of the time.
For the Senate and Presidential 6- and 4-year cycles, if not always campaigning, full-time fundraising which is basically a different form of campaigning. For the House’s 2-year cycle, essentially non-stop campaigning.
It seems very effective for controlling narrative - ineffective for running a country.
I don't know if I ever told you that Finland is one of my favorite places. It is one of the places that I would love to visit.
So you mean that the government will be able to catch any company that is underpaying staffs? That is interesting.
Here in Nigeria, a lot of people are underpaid but they keep doing the job because they don't have a choice. Our minimum wage is not even up to $50 and some people still get underpaid.
I hope you see how bad it is. That is why you see so many Nigerians hustling in foreign countries. I don't think there is any country without Nigerians in it.
Also, the corruption rate is at its peak here
Pretty much. It is very hard to hide stuff here in terms of paychecks and the tax system is largely automated.
Yep. I get it. It is a hard life, but better than what they might have had available in Nigeria.
Nominally that’s true in the US also, but here there’s a large informal underground economy utilizing cash and alternatives to cash like drugs, guns, and sex. Needless to say, way more corruption here than Finland. In some ways, the US can be seen as somewhat of a failed state.
The state is successful - the people within that state.... less so.
The only reason for most governments to follow in the footsteps of the US, is to take more control for the state.
What I find most concerning about all of this is the fact that politics specifically has put us in a position where we find ourselves being okay with things we would have before simply because they are less bad than the other stuff they are throwing at us. It's a slippery slope...
It is definitely a slippery slope, yet with most people having such a short term outlook, they don't realize how long that slope is, nor how deep it goes.
There's the old adage that goes something like this.
Finland is about to join NATO which is interesting. Putin must be crapping his pants. The Finns held off the Russians in ww2 unfortunately they also sided with Hitler.
It seems that lately (last 13 years) there has been a swing to the far right across Europe and the USA.
Blaming the foreigner is the oldest trick in the right wing propaganda playbook.
This is why public opinion is swinging to the far right. Propaganda from legacy media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch.
He's launched a 24 TV channel in the UK full of degenerate right wing hacks. Vomit inducing content. I've watched it lol.
Who benefits from this is the question? 👍🏼
It was the only way to survive at the time. Interestingly, there was a referendum of the commonwealth allies as to whether Finland should be seen as an enemy and Australia (on the other side of the world) was the only country that said yes. So they had to - it needed to be unanimous.
The other interesting thing is that the Finnish airforce had a swastika as its insignia since about 1914 - decades before the Nazis used it.
Economic hardship and a sense of financial injustice does it.
He is from my home city! :D
The same fraction of a percent who benefits from everything.
Sadly this was true for so many people during the war.
I'm thinking of the prisoners who worked for the nazi's in the death camps in order to survive until they became to weak to work. Truly horrific.
The swastika is an ancient symbol. I think it originated in India where it's meaning was. To love?
Don't quote me on it but for some reason I know this obscure detail?
I'm surprised Murdoch is still alive? He must be 100 years old already? If he's not it feels like he's been meddling for my entire life.
Nuff said. 😎👍🏼
The melting pot mixing of cultures in New York City is one of its saving graces... bring on the immigrants. I'm 2nd generation U.S. and I'm glad that it used to be a beacon for people looking for a fresh start. It is a shame this country has fallen so far from its former glory.
At this point I'm mostly out of fight and ready for flight...
At least in terms of community, it seems the benefits have been squandered in favor of profits.
It is going to be an interesting few decades ahead if this doesn't change in the US. Will there be a brain drain there too?
Imo, the brain drain has already been happening to those who are too distracted to engage in educating and improving themselves. The state of education very generally has gotten so poor in the US due to how poorly the teachers are paid. Trust me I tried to go the route of the teacher in the US and it was a dead end. There are fewer and fewer skilled teachers dedicating their lives to the craft, and it is leading to this brain drain actively.
Absolutely! Weapons of mass distraction.
And there is another factor too, as parents are also less skilled and discipline less, making kids quite terrible in some areas. Who would want to be a teacher in a place of so many school shootings? The world is a mess.
Agreed, a lot of the issues start with the parents. It seems like many believe the school is now the primary place for their children to be educated, but fail to realize it is really at home where the students do their primary learning and the teachers at school should always be secondary to the parents.
YES, YES!!!
States don't want empowered people - they want people who do what they are told.
It is in their very nature. they can't help it, no matter how well intended in their structure or organization.
How is Finland faring on the crypto and the AI? Are they accepting it as a good direction for their future? Or they are skeptical about it? I see a lot of nations are kind of skeptical.
Interesting to see that Italy banned chatGPT until it is investigated. It might run afoul of the GDPR laws.
Finland is not doing so well with the crypto stuff in my opinion. Too draconian.
It's good to know that election in your country is just like a normal day with people going about their business.
My country's presidential election last month was like hell. From thugs rigging the election , disenfranchisement and most people wounded while some lost their lives.
It's funny how some people are willing to go extra mile just to get into power.
Nice read.
It is a crazy world where people are willing to kill other people from their own country, saying it makes things better.
The rate of not having children is really sad the labor aspect , there might have to be importation of labour to aid the gap though
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"They come and steal our jobs" is something that also Italians say. But a fried once told it to me and I answered: "If us, Italians, we are afraid that people coming from foreign countries, not knowing our language, our culture, knowing nobody here can steal our jobs, well, we are definitely poor workers".
Besides I did not know that Finnish education was so expensive! How is that? Also the public education is such expensive?
I don't get people in developed nations (including mine) who rail about "keep out all the foreigners". It's a globalized world now. And besides, who on earth is competing for the low paying jobs that no one wants to do in the first place? This is just fearmongering and trying to find a target to distract everyone from the real issue.
How I wish the election in my country is as calm as the Election Day there in Finland. Honestly, what I hate about elections here is a lot of troubles going on, not to mention from the campaign days until the Election Day. It is like a battle among the best, and the worst, money is involved and corruption is rampant too. Despite the troubles, still I have to exercise my right to suffrage.
Thinking governments will be the ones to make the world or our country a better place is kinda absurd, the way I see it. But in today's world, it's getting more and more common for people to think that way. We give away responsibility to those at the top (government), while ignoring the little changes that could have been made ourselves by adding value and impacting our community directly at the grassroot.
I see people blame the government for everything around here, and making it a consistent thing that you can easily spot the patterns because the previous government is always better than the present one. However, while the previous government was there, we still had to vote them out because the one that came before was better and we needed a new one. But the change we want never came, so we keep changing monsters, thinking we'll get an angel someday, but we forget we ourselves can be those little angels making little changes to ourselves and our community to make it a better place for us and everyone else.
People don't want to take responsibility, because it interrupts their entertainment time.
The government is a reflection of ourselves, not in the voting as much as that if the average person was in government, they would act the same as the monsters there now.