"How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the '1 Percent'"

[RKP5637]

interesting.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153929/how_swedes_and_norwegians_broke_the_power_of_the_%271_percent%27?akid=8215.321171.PJREIB&rd=1&t=14

"Scandinavian workers realized that, electoral “democracy” was stacked against them, so nonviolent direct action was needed to exert the power for change."

"While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it’s worthwhile to consider other countries where masses of people succeeded in nonviolently bringing about a high degree of democracy and economic justice. Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different."

"Both countries had a history of horrendous poverty. When the 1 percent was in charge, hundreds of thousands of people emigrated to avoid starvation. Under the leadership of the working class, however, both countries built robust and successful economies that nearly eliminated poverty, expanded free university education, abolished slums, provided excellent health care available to all as a matter of right and created a system of full employment. Unlike the Norwegians, the Swedes didn’t find oil, but that didn’t stop them from building what the latest CIA World Factbook calls “an enviable standard of living.”

More >>> http://www.alternet.org/story/153929/how_swedes_and_norwegians_broke_the_power_of_the_%271_percent%27?akid=8215.321171.PJREIB&rd=1&t=14

[diane in sf]

1. How they avoided the meltdown of 2008 as well...

"The 1 percent thereby lost its historic power to dominate the economy and society. Not until three decades later could the Conservatives return to a governing coalition, having by then accepted the new rules of the game, including a high degree of public ownership of the means of production, extremely progressive taxation, strong business regulation for the public good and the virtual abolition of poverty. When Conservatives eventually tried a fling with neoliberal policies, the economy generated a bubble and headed for disaster. (Sound familiar?)

Labor stepped in, seized the three largest banks, fired the top management, left the stockholders without a dime and refused to bail out any of the smaller banks. The well-purged Norwegian financial sector was not one of those countries that lurched into crisis in 2008; carefully regulated and much of it publicly owned, the sector was solid."

[RKP5637]

2. I would have handled our banking crisis far differently. I would have let

the banks fail, broken them up. None in a democracy should have the power the banks wield in this country, especially now we have a bankster/corporatist bought and controlled government along with Citizens United.

[99th_Monkey]

3. Great Find!! Very informative story,

Very informative story, which spells out nuts & bolts used by Swedes & Norwegians to create a prosperous sustainable democracy run by the 99%.

I could not help but notice their heavy reliance on cooperative worker-owned enterprises (even though it's only mentioned briefly in passing, like
the author assumed we knew?) and significant degree of public ownership to keep 1% in line.

[RKP5637]

6. To me what they did was extremely clever. What we have now is

Last edited Sun Feb 5, 2012, 11:54 AM - Edit history (1)

the same model we had warmed up and spiked with all of the cash propping the failed system back up again. That's no 'real' solution. OWS should be learning from what they did. Run away private ownership and greed will never work, it's a failure of a system for the 21st century.

Yep, the way to go is "cooperative worker-owned enterprises and a significant degree of public ownership to keep the 1% in line."

[saras]

4. Yee-hah! Enough of this "we can't do anything, it's human nature..."

[RKP5637]

5. To me, OWS should be looking at what they did, maybe they already have ... I

don't know ...