The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.

The reason why the price of beer has dropped (but not in half) has little or nothing to do with the tax cuts (which were quite small anyway for beer). It has everything to do with good old market competition (Lidl anyone).

Where does it say that alcohol consumption has gone up? I couldn’t see it anywhere.

And what about this one then?

- Alcohol-related deaths in Finland jump 20 pct
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/31/051031173726.k691fy35.html
- In 2004, 1,860 deaths in Finland resulted from illnesses or injuries related to alcohol abuse.
- Two-thirds of the 1,477 men who died were between 45 and 49 years old.
- Studies have revealed a link between cycles of economic growth and increased consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Finns on average drank 7.7 liters of pure alcohol annually by 2003
- Alcohol is involved in two-thirds of all deadly acts of violence in Finland

Add it to these findings:

- sales of spirits drop this year
- alcohol consumption has dropped
- number of drunk drivers have remained the same or even decreased
- number of arrests for drunkenness have dropped significantly

So the only thing I can make of it is that we are in a downward economic cycle (drinking has decreased), where middle aged men get layed-off, beat their wives amd start to drink, drink more and more. And more. And then some.

And then end up in a barfight or in the ‘drunktank’.

Guys, in case you are living in Finland and would like to integrate, this is your future window of opportunity..

There was a report in the news about the rise of alcohol related deaths, wasn’st there? Middle-aged men doing most of the dying, so to speak…

But me, I’m not middle-aged yet, so I’m all for lower alcohol taxs!

Two points:
1. Don’t most of these alcohol related illnesses take years to develop?
2. Even if the death toll increases a little it doesn’t mean we should start taxing like hell again.

“The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.”

Yes it has. From ~14e to under 7e

“1. Don’t most of these alcohol related illnesses take years to develop?”

Yes, alcohol related illnesses do take some time to develop. Alcohol related deaths, however, include also accidents and acts of violence as well as poisoning cases. Becoming part of the social sphere that drinks a lot and kills each other probably takes a while but as far as poisoning is concerned, the less practice you have the more likely is death by poisoning.

Phil, I was wondering about this officer Tom thing. Finnish-Californian Tom of Finland created this whole macho gay subculture with his pornographic drawings of Finnish soldiers and lumberjacks, if I’ve understood correctly. I thought I’d google some data on him and I came across this hilarious account of Tom’s personal history. Only in America can you present Finland’s World War II history like this:

http://www.glbtq.com/arts/tom_finland.html

“In April 1940, after Finland had capitulated to the Soviet Union, Laaksonen was drafted into the army and, in late 1944, saw military action resisting the German invasion of Russia.”

This might in a sense even be factually correct if Tom indeed participated in the campaign to drive the Nazis out of Lapland, which Finland did as requested by the USSR but it sure gives a funny picture of Finland in World War II. I don’t know about that but I think he was fighting the Russians for most of the time which is the impression you get from the wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_of_Finland

Wikipedia says Tom’s “most prominent comic series is the ‘Kake’ comics”. Maybe your caption should be “Officer Kake”?

He looked like an office worker in his 40s, dressed in a suit and overcoat, with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder, weaving and staggering along the pavement, narrowly avoiding obstacles like lamp posts and trees.

Ah, my 15 minutes of fame – though I object, I was trying to avoid the pink penguins…

“The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.”
“Yes it has. From ~14e to under 7e”

If you paid 14e for a 12-pack before the tax-cut I feel sorry for you. I paid 11.90. today a 12-pack is 7.90. that is 4e. that will say 33%.
(Same brand, no special prices)

this blog is very interesting. some day i will probably start to write my bad jokes too.

“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van…He looked like an office worker in his 40s…He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.” This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.

But that Officer Tom is magnificent! Bravosimos! Almost feel like going all out homo or something! But no..I need three holes after all from my partner but look at that picture, your bitch is most definitely uglier than this beauty

Don’t worry, tim73. You might be bisexual. Don’t run from it, just embrace it.

“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van?He looked like an office worker in his 40s?He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.” This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.

Sammy Lee – I share your pain. Americans can’t drink and they sure as hell can’t drive

How’s the hang over?

“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van?He looked like an office worker in his 40s?He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.” This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.

Sammy Lee – I share your pain. Americans can’t drink and they sure as hell can’t drive

How’s the hang over?

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