partly from this article, from hs.fi (in English)

Apparently, Swedish people are moving their mutual funds investments from Sweden to Finland. The article indicates that there is a slight tax advantage and there is a lot less beaurocracy in Finland. The Swedish capital gains tax is 30% as opposed to Finland’s 28%, Simultanously, mutual fund investments are going from Finland to Luxembourg. Luxembourg’s capital gains tax is 22.88%, which offers a small tax advantage, but another advantage offered by Luxembourg is strict anonymity (banking privacy) and less bureaucracy with the identity of the owner of the money.

I also suspect that Finland abolishing the wealth tax may end up also contributing to this inward flow of money phenomenon, if people are able to feel safe keeping their money here. I am not sure if a Swede would be charged wealth tax on wealth in Finland, but that can also make bureaucracy even easier, when wealth need not be reported. On the other hand, it was high time for it to go. If you think about it, having wealth tax is like taxing someone for his or her job skills, as opposed to taxing the money he or she earns doing the job. France and Sweden still have wealth tax. Doh!

Other countries in the EU have similar tax levels for mutual funds, but Belgium stands out with its exempt status for private individuals on both short and long term mutual fund investments. It is very smart of a country to do all it can to encourage its citizens to save and increase their money. It is good in the long run for the economy, as opposed to thinking “what can we get right now?”. In the US, one can fall into a 35% capital gains tax category and Australia even more. Canada charges 30% on half the capital gain, which is 15%. (Yes, it’s a silly way of doing things.) The tax competition inside the EU seems to be doing some good.

Finland’s 15-year-olds are incredible! They are really some of the smartest teenagers in the world, and by my observations they are much more open and worldly than their parents who lived under difficult ideology-shaped conditions in the shadow of the Soviet Union. So what makes these kids such academic high achievers?

Having been born Finnish, I like to attribute it to genetics…but when reality descends upon my momentary loftiness, I realize that maybe the cold climate and boring lifestyle is more to credit. It makes studying so much easier than anywhere else. The lack of distractions is actually one of my own favorite reasons for spending time in Finland; I can really get some work done!

Even Finland’s recent mass murderer in Jokela was a studious sort. By now we all know that his readings included Nietzsche, Kant, Huxley… I won’t delve into any dangerous psychological analysis here—some short exposure to Pavlov many-years-ago, and my mouth still waters every time I hear a bell ring.

However, I do find it interesting that another one of his favorites was Plato. In those rare moments when Plato wasn’t pegging young boys in the ass, he was busy arranging the ’state’ into three discernible parts: philosopher-kings, soldiers and merchants. Generally, philosopher-kings rule, soldiers protect, and merchants ensure the economic viability of the state.

You can find Finland’s philosopher-kings in places like Espoo. They are the ruling elite who vacation in sunny locations around the globe (many rule corporations, not the state itself; I don’t think Plato had enough foresight to envision corporations as an extension of the state) and naturally there are plenty of soldiers everywhere, too. But where is the merchant class in Finland?

Of course it exists, but its membership is small. The post-war years saw a rise in collectivist thinking, punishingly-high taxation and socialist economic structures, leading to an environment of discrimination—and possibly even human rights abuses which plague the country to this day. Generally speaking, anyone who aspired to become successful sought safer abode for himself abroad.

It’s a tragedy, because these are precisely the people who would invest their time and talents into productive enterprises, and thereby provide jobs for everyone else. Instead, Finland now has a lackluster and overpriced domestic economy, and is highly dependent on foreign employers. It’s too bad for today’s PISA conquerors. Despite their hard work, when considering purchasing power, they can look forward to being among the lowest-paid smart people in Europe.

Meine lieben Leser, Willkommen zur wechselnden Wirklichkeit des Königreiches von Finnland. Heute feiern wir die Wahl von Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin von Hessen-Kassel, Prinz und Landgraf zu Hessen zum König…

… what do you mean you can’t understand the official language of the country? OK, so lets return to the current reality then. Where Finland is a Republic, but have you ever wondered if the tides of history had kept the German Empire intact for a while longer - we’d have this poncy oik’s mug hanging in every school and we’d be blogging in German:

Charles I
King of Finland and Karelia, Duke of Ã…land,
Grand Prince of Lapland, Lord of Kaleva and the North

as Finland actually *was* a Kingdom for a brief moment in 1918.

We must travel back in time probably to 1809 to understand the whole situation. In the turmoils of the Napoleonic wars the ancient enemies Russia and Sweden had their final war, with Swedes fighting to the last Finn. After invading Finland Czar Alexander I annexed the “East Land” of the Swedish Kingdom to the Russian Empire as an Autonomous Grand Duchy. The Emperor ruled as the Grand Duke of Finland and was represented in Finland by the Governor-General of Finland. The Senate of Finland was the highest governing body of the Grand Duchy. In St. Petersburg Finnish matters were represented by the Finnish Minister Secretary of State. At one point Finland had its own tax system, money, stamps, relatively free press, and people from the other parts of the Russian Empire had to obtain a visa and a residence permit to settle into Finland. From 1863 onwards the Diet of Finland convened regularly. After the Revolution of 1905 along with the reforms in Russia the Diet with its hereditary representation was dissolved and the modern Parliament of Finland was established in 1906. For the first time in the world, universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, including both women and landless people and a record of 19 women were elected into parliament.

However by 1912 the situation was different again. As a knee-jerk to the reforms and the aspirations of the nations in the Russian Empire for independence, the so-called “Russification Policies” had been implemented. The first “oppression” starting in 1899 and while the 1905 reforms in Russia were aimed to change the political system, this didn’t make a stop to the policy of Russian hegemony that got re-implemented in 1910-1912. Finns had been loyal subjects of the Empire, Finnish troops for example used suppressing the uprisings of Poland before getting disbanded 1901-1905. (Even the Finish formation were disbanded there were several career officers in the Imperial Russian army, such as one Imperial Bodyguard cavalry officer named Mannerheim who got his first frontline command in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905.) People had got quite upset over the “Gracious Manifesto” and the oppressive measures in Finland were constantly intensified. Finnish activists who were referring to the Constitution, the so-called “Constitutionalists” opposed the manifesto as they saw it being illegal. Activists formed the “Kagal” - a secret society originally not promoting independence as such but maintaining the old autonomy. The oppressive measures met mostly with passive resistance that had been the mode since the beginning of the century, such as dodging the draft to the Russian army, as the separate Finnish troops had been disbanded, and university students passing their obligatory Russian with just a mark above fail. Even though Eugen Schaumann did shoot the Governor-General Bobrikoff in 1904 it still was one of the rare political assasinations in Finland. However the peaceful resistance would erupt into full blown violence and political murders by 1917.

The outbreak of the Great War, later to be known as the First World War, with the massive pouring of Russian troops into Finland and later in 1914 leaked information about plans to annihilate the Finnish autonomy completely led to a new thinking in the resistance movement among university students. They were “young hotheads” as described by the “Constitutionalists” who didn’t believe in armed revolt. The first student activist meetings in 1914 established a committee aimed to separate Finland from Russia by using the new situation created by the Great War. The establishment of a military leadership was seen as a prerequisite for this. The only possible assistance in making these plans come true was thought to come from Germany. This also suited the German political interests even though the Germans were quite reluctant to jump in with full support, rather have something up their sleeve “just in case”. The first training course planned only to last a few months began in February 1915 at Lockstedt camp, now, Hohenlockstedt in Holstein near Hamburg, with a total of 189 students. To hide the real nature of the course it was called a Pfadfinder (Boyscout) course. The trainers were German officers and ncos. Jägers, as they later were called, wanted more military training and wished to prolong the course widening its scope. In August 1915 a decision was made to raise the number of the trainees to 2,000 men and to make this a strengthened battalion called Lockstedt Training Corps. The battalion was later given the name of the 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion. At home, a new country-wide recruiting intensified. At this stage senior influential patriots, who previously had doubts about the potential of the Jäger movement, also joined the activity. Volunteers of all ages and from all social groups secretly left the country to joint the Jägers, a few needed to be turned down, like a man served for three days before they figured out he had a wooden leg. The Jägers were later on deployed on the Oder-Miesse front before the political situation made it profitable for the Germans to let them return to Finland as a troop.

Meanwhile in Russia the unrest increased, and in February the Revolution started. In 1917 the feelings in Helsinki were tense.

We need, it seemed to me, some other sort of freedom than the Russian svoboda could give to us. It should be built on a Teutonic foundation without any dependancy to Slavic bursts of sentiments. Professor, Honorary Councillor of State Edv. Hjelt

The Kerenski Government tried to keep the Finnish Senate and Parliament happy by cancelling the oppressive manifestos and appointing a new Governor-General. However Kerenskis government didn’t last for long; the Bolsheviks took over in the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War started on earnest. Meanwhile in Finland the Senate seized the moment and declared independence, and sent a delegation which returned with a piece of paper with impressive signatures…

The Soviet of People’s Commissars.
Petrograd.
Dec. 18, 1917.
No. 101

Chairman of the Soviet of People’s Commissars
Vl. Ulianov (Lenin)

People’s Commissars:
L. Trotski
G. Petrovski
J. Stalin
I. Steinberg
V. Karelin
A. Schlichter
The Chief of Bureau Vlad. Bonch-Bruevich Secretary of the Soviet N. Gorbunov

And all hell broke loose in Finland: The Finnish Civil War stared in January 1918.

The Social Democrats on the left and conservatives on the right had competed for the leadership of the Finnish state, which shifted from the left to the right in 1917. Both groups collaborating with the corresponding political forces in Russia, deepening the split in the nation. As there were no generally accepted police nor army forces to keep order in Finland after March 1917, the left and right began building security groups of their own, leading to the emergence of two independent armed military troops, the White and Red Guards. An atmosphere of political violence and fear grew among the Finns. Fighting broke out during January 1918 due to the acts of both the Reds and Whites, in a spiral of military and political escalation. The German Empire finally intervened in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the White Army in March 1918. The activists had been seeking German aid but the Germans did not want to prejudice their armistice and peace negotiations with Russia. The German stance altered radically when Trotsky called the negotiations off, hoping revolutions would break out in the German Empire and change everything. The German government promptly decided to teach Russia a lesson and, as a pretext for aggression, invited “requests for help” from the smaller countries west of Russia. On March 5, a German Naval squadron landed on the Åland Islands in the southwestern archipelago of Finland, where a Swedish military expedition had been protecting Swedish interests and the Swedish-speaking population since mid-February. On 3 April 1918, the 10,000-strong Baltic Sea Division led by Rüdiger von der Goltz struck west of Helsinki at Hanko, and on 7 April, the 3,000-strong Detachment Brandenstein overran the town of Loviisa on the south-eastern coast. The main German formations then advanced rapidly eastwards from Hanko and took Helsinki on 13 April. The Finnish Civil War ended on 14–15 May 1918 when the last Russian troops retreated over the border along with the remnants of the Red government.

The toll of the five months was high. Almost 37,000 people perished, 5,900 of whom (16% of the total) were between 14 and 20 years old (population of Finland was around 3 million at the time). A notable feature of the war was that only about 10,000 of these casualties occurred on the battlefields; most of the deaths resulted from the terror campaigns, summary executions and from the appalling conditions in the prison camps. (Those Russians fighting on the “Red” side were shot on site, in Helsinki Taivallahti Military Cemetery there is a memorial for 4 unfortunate Polish soldiers that were actually on the “White” side trying to repatriate to Poland, but due to their… linguistical challenge and uniforms were shot near St.Henry’s church in the night after the invasion of Helsinki. ) The military archives have published a list of casualties 1914-1922  In addition, the war left about 20,000 children orphaned - probably a big reason why the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare was established in 1920.

Finland was in mid-1918 more or less comfortably included in the German sphere of influence and fastly becoming a German protectorate. A new conservative Senate, with a monarchist majority, was formed by J.K. Paasikivi. All members of parliament who had taken part in the revolt were removed from office. This left only one social democrat later to be joined by two more. There was no Social Democrat opposition in the Parliament to object to making the ties even tighter. At the end of May the Senate asked the Germans to remain in the country. The agreements signed with Germany in return for military support had bound Finland politically, economically, and militarily to the German Empire. The Germans proposed a further military pact in summer 1918 as a part of their plan to secure raw materials for German industry from eastern Europe and tighten their control over Russia.

Already in April 1918 the press, Hufvudstadsbladet and the conservative Uusi Suometar had been promoting the idea of a king for Finland. After all, the Finnish Constitution was still based on the Swedish laws, including the Förenings- och säkerhetsakten of 1789 with a king as a head of the state, so the idea was not as proposterous then as it would seem today. Of course, there was opposition even among the conservatives, but old republicans like Svinhufvud changed coats to supporting the royalists during 1918. But the question is, who to elect as the king? Of course, the German Empire is conveniently full of Princes. How about Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son Otto? Wilhelm says no to Otto, but another… slightly remote relative might be OK. How about the Kaiser’s brother-in-law Friedrich Karl, the Prince of Hessen-Kassel. Not exactly your Teutonic hero, but close enough to the inner circle, even though slightly reluctant. Of course there was someone who wanted to become King of Finland - the former Governor of the model German Colony of Togoland, Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg - who for obvious reasons had lost his job controlling restless natives after the restless British and French invaded in 1914. As with all job applications, the Finns didn’t appreciate someone selling themselves like that. So on 9. October 1918 Prince Friedrich Karl of Hessen-Kassel was elected King by the Parliament of Finland. Now if you think Finland was somehow unique in wanting a German Prince as a King - it was a fashionable thing to do around the Baltic Sea. Lithuania had already taken a similar step in July 1918, electing Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach, Count of Württemberg as King Mindove II of Lithuania. For Latvia and Estonia, a “General Provincial Assembly” consisting of Baltic-German aristocrats, had called upon the German Kaiser Wilhelm to recognize the Baltic provinces as a joint monarchy and a German protectorate. Consequently our friend Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was nominated Duke of “the United Baltic Duchy” by the Germans. (Seems in those days they couldn’t have a son without “Wilhelm” “Friedrich” or “Karl” in the name… )

However the situation of Germany and the collapse of the Central Powers in the latter half of the 1918 changed all this. One by one, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary signed armistices and a revolution broke out in Germany forcing Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate in November and flee to the Netherlands.

Politicians in Finland and the Baltics went “oops”. And started switching coats.

In light of his German birth, and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II ending all monarchies in Germany, the arrangement of being King of Finland was considered a bad move by the Senate, and by Friederich himself. Friedrich Karl renounced the Finnish throne on 14 December 1918, without ever arriving in the country, much less taking up his position. Finland had new parliamentary elections - now including Social Democrats - and a republican constitution was adapted in 1919. The “Kingdom of Finland” was effectively forgotten. Only in the 1980’s an interesting find was done in the National Archives - the planning sketches for the Crown of Finland. (This is one made in 1988 according to the plans as a display item for the Kemi Gemstone Museum.)

Due to the political turmoil in the country, a “strong man in lead” was however seen as necessary. Hence the Constitution of 1919 invested quite much power to the President following the French model of the 3rd Republic, instead of the Prime Minister as in many other countries. It can be seen that some of the “powers of the King” were invested on the President as well, namely the right to pardon criminals and appoint high officials. Some traditions remain like the Presidents Ball and the “knighthoods” of the decorations. The Constitution also has a peculiarity there is no independent Constitutional Court as such, but a parliamentary constitutional committee. The Finnish President was in power to guarantee the foreign relations and could effect the government and dissolve the Parliament, which especially happened in the later years with Paasikivi and Kekkonen. In the new Constitution of 2000, the President was stripped of some of the authoritative powers in favor of the Prime Minister, reflecting the less polarised situation in the modern world.

But now as we “celebrate” (now you might get the idea why it is such a solemn occasion) the 90 years of Finnish independence on the 6th of December (slightly arbitrary date) we can reflect upon how the tides of history can make kings for a day… or a couple of months. And how fast the politicians can switch from republicans to royalists and back. Finland managed to survive the 1920’s and emerge into the 1930’s as a strong parliamentary democracy with more of a lean towards France and the UK than the now weak Weimar Republic.

BTW it was a Family Feud that Great War. Eighteen days after his own birth, the baby Frederick’s first cousin, the then Tsesarevna Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, daughter of his aunt Queen Louise of Denmark, gave birth in Saint Petersburg to Nicholas II of Russia, who would become Frederick Charles’ predecessor as the monarch of Finland (1894–1917).

Unless someone keeled over of the history lesson, theres an interesting site of “Documents of Finnish History” as well as “Pictures From Wars During Finland´s Independence that have some rare treats. I also warmly recommend reading on the United Baltic Duchy and the three Baltic States’ struggle for independence.

Sally Mann couldn’t have asked for a better promotion of her exhibit than this - And fortunately for her, there’s no way the Finnish authorities would want to embarrass themselves on the international stage by launching a serious investigation and prosecuting her… (although I reckon I’d get prosecuted if the authorities found some of her photos on my computer)

A request for a police investigation has been made to the Helsinki Police Department over pictures taken by the US photographer Sally Mann (born in 1951). At present an exhibition showing Mann’s work is on display in Helsinki’s Tennis Palace Art Museum.

[...]According to the online news by the Finnish tabloid Iltalehti, seven visitors to the exhibition have asked the police to investigate whether or not Sally Mann’s pictures are an offence against human dignity.

[...]Mann’s images of naked children and dead bodies have caused discomfort on previous occasions, for instance among extreme conservative Christians in the United States. The controversy surrounding some of her work has done nothing to hamper her career: Sally Mann’s powerful images continue to be shown in and collected by many major U.S. art galleries and museums.

[...]Time magazine named Sally Mann its “Photographer of the Year” for 2001, and she has been the subject of a 2006 film documentary entitled What Remains.

I find it quite silly when I heard people exclaim, “I’m proud to be an American!” or “I’m proud to be Finnish!” You haven’t done anything special, Jebus just randomly stuck you in the womb of some woman living between particular lines that were hand-drawn by some politicians and army generals after centuries of bloodbaths and wars.

Sure, Finns and Americans have a lot to be proud about. Take Finland for example - Finns are great athletes, Finns kicked Russian ass in wars, Finns survived in a cold climate, Finns make the best mobile phones in the world, etc..

Well how about the people of Malawi? The Malawians have the worst GDP per capita in the world, they have a life expectancy of 36.5 years, child mortality is 103/1,000, 14.2% of the population has HIV/AIDS, there’s an entire Wikipedia entry dedicated to “the Malawian food crisis“…not much to be proud of, eh?

So I guess if the Finns and Americans have good reasons to be proud, the Malawians have good reasons *not* to be proud. They should exclaim, “I’m NOT proud to be Malawian!” …Or maybe being proud to be from a particular country is just, silly?

People often argue that the state owned and operated public broadcaster YLE is actually autonomous from the state. But this is obviously not the case if its director, Mikael Jungner, has the power to subpoena citizen’s private data from individual companies…

YLE’s Director General Mikael Jungner says the public broadcaster might soon start tracking down unpaid tv licences through commercial channel customer registers.

Jungner says that if licence inspectors were given access to lists of pay channel customers, they could easily find the names of licence-dodgers. Around ten percent of Finland’s television viewing audience does not have a licence. Jungner says this is a considerable sum of money.

Fortunately it may be illegal for big brother to pry into your personal life like this…

Communications Minister Suvi Lindén says that information about customers paying for additional television channels may be protected by privacy laws.

“My understanding is that the current privacy laws don’t allow this kind of use of customer data. I’m sure the matter will be investigated thoroughly, and then we can take another look at the problem,” she says.

53,000 households have canceled their TV license over the recent migration-to-digital debacle which has lead to a decrease in revenues for YLE, and cost-cutting measures such as removal of TV and radio stations. Instead of taking responsibility for themselves, YLE has launched a hard-hitting propaganda campaign, pitting neighbor against neighbor - very remnant of MPAA & RIAA’s attacks on filesharers. And if that doesn’t work, it looks like YLE will just trample even more on our right to privacy.

From last year’s protests to the Asian and European Countries Summit in Helsinki…

The Finnish Ombudsman has found some police officers guilty of unlawful conduct during last year’s Smash ASEM protest demonstrations. Deputy Ombudsman Jukka Lindstedt reprimanded a police sergeant and a Helsinki police station for wrongful arrest. Those wrongfully held were also allegedly denied fair treatment.

[...]The Ombudsman found that the act of breaking up the demonstrations was lawful, but the large number of detentions and their extended length were problematic. The Deputy Ombudsman questioned whether it was necessary to deprive so many of their individual rights.

Continuing with this month’s “Beating a dead horse”-campaign here on Finland for Thought, I thought I’d share experiences from my first trip to the public dentist in Finland. As you probably know, Espoo city didn’t take appointments for check-ups until this year due to the severe lack of resources. And as you probably know, unlike the private dentist, they won’t take you in for a cleaning until you’ve had a check-up.

So my girlfriend and I go in for check-ups at our local healthcare center in Nöykkiö, we booked these appointments six months ago, it was the earliest appointments we could get. And what a surprise, my teeth need cleaning! So the earliest appointment I could get was two months from now.

But here was the non-sarcastic surprise - every time I visit the dentist I’m told I need my right wisdom teeth removed, I’ve been told this since I was a teenager. But this public dentist told me I don’t need them removed! Thanks Doc, you’re saving me pain and money! After 15 years of fucked up wisdom teeth, they’ve finally miraculously cured themselves on their own accord! …either that or the public dentist doesn’t want to pay for my operation - but I’m thinking it was an immaculate fixing brought down upon me from by the heavens from Jesus.

So I’ll be visiting the dentist again in January. Meanwhile my girlfriend was told she doesn’t need to come back for another FOUR YEARS! WOW!! We were always told you need to visit the dentist once a year, but the public dentist must have went to a different dentist school (in the UK?) or something. …or maybe it was another act of Jesus?!? Praise the Lord!!

I received my dentist bill in the mail yesterday. 23 euros ($34 US) just for a check-up. “Free” healthcare in the welfare state, eh? The last time I visited the private dentist was at ORAL in Helsinki, I was charged just 20 euros, but I had a coupon.

Oh, and on the way out the dentist recommended I use “Hedley & Wyche: The British Toothpaste”…

 

 Picture of Åland. Picture, thanks to Wikipedia. Click to view Wikidedia article.

What does Åland have in common with Jersey, Guernsey, The Canary Islands, Mallorca + Menorca, Madeira, San Marino, Andorra, The Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and so on? Well, many of them are remote places, separated from the continent by water. Some of them are in the mountains. All of them are small places with a small population of people. Some of them are sovereign states while others are autonomous territories of another country. Many of them get a lot of tourists each year - some get more in the winter (ie The Canary Islands) and some get more in the summer (Åland). The Åland Islands get 1-2 million people going through there a year.

Ã…land is an island archipelago which has a lot of rocky island outcroppings located between Finland and Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The main island is large enough to give an impression that there is a lot of open land there. The outer archipelago is a different story, though. In Brändö, they say there are 500 people there, but 1000 islands. It is the photo-negative image of Finland with its plentiful lakes - Ã…land has plentiful islands. It has a bit warmer and sunnier climate. There are trees that grow there that don’t in Finland, like Taxus baccata (European Yew).

Statistically, Ã…land shows that it has wealth clearly above the Finnish average. If you are in Mariehamn, it does look neat and clean. There are some shipping businesses based there. Much of the Finnish potato chips come from there because the potatoes are bigger, due to the plentiful sunshine in the summer from Ã…land being too small to disrupt the weather patterns enough to cause rain and thunderclouds in the summer, unlike what happens over mainland Finland and Sweden.

If you visit the outer archipelago, it won’t appear very wealthy at all. In fact, it looks quite impoverished with run down buildings and things generally in bad or worn out condition. I lived there 2 summers in the outer archipelago in Brändö, and the people there work many different careers in order to make ends meet. People fish, hunt, farm what little land there is, have greenhouses, build, repair, work for the municipality, pick tomatoes, pack fish, farm fish, work in tourist cafes, rent cabins, and so on. The second summer I was there, Finland had joined the EU and, instead of making trade and movement of goods more free, it worsened there. Many of the goods were bought from Finland, and were charged with 17.5% or 22% VAT. They were charged 17.5% or 22% VAT again in Ã…land. Then the person buying the goods needed to apply separately for a refund for the VAT paid to Finland. This happens because Ã…land has the same status as The Canary Islands and The Channel Islands of being outside the VAT area of the EU.

What Ã…land doesn’t have in common with those other places is that it is not a tax paradise. Because of their geographical disadvantage, most or all of those other places have lower or no VAT and, in many cases, have other lower taxes in order to make it easier for people to live there. Many of those other places give special tax discounts or tax free status to businesses that are based there, but do business elsewhere, not locally. Some of them also have banking opportunities, and are known as “safe” places to keep your money. So instead of being Scandinavia’s tax, shopping, and banking paradise, it is an expensive tax hell. The only tax-free shopping is for alcoholic drinks and tobacco (addictive drugs) on the boats going to and from there. Ã…land has special status, along with the Canary and Channel Islands that it is outside the VAT area, but its government only chooses to use it to sell addictive drugs on ships.

Åland, if made into a Swiss or Liechtenstein style banking location and tax/shopping paradise, it would make a LOT of money and could possible help repatriate expatriated Finnish wealth where it can be used and invested in and near Finland, but it could also bring in new wealth. The whole Baltic area could and would use it. Russians especially like to keep their money safe from the teeter-tottering of politics, but Russia is not the only country in the neighbourhood that has teeter-tottering politics. But that is up to the Åland people and their government. They can do what they want, since they are autonomous and have their special VAT status. They can have a tax hell or a tax paradise.

Educated people in Finland are paid far less then their EU counterparts…

Finns with higher education were paid over 20 percent less on average than their counterparts in the EU, reports the trade union.

Chair of the union Matti Viljanen says Finland’s lower gross income, stiff progressive tax and high price levels lower purchasing power. He says Finns should become familiar with salary and tax policies.

But we’re taxed so high cause we got wonderful welfare services like healthcare, right??

Waiting periods for receiving hospital treatment have been growing longer. In many areas, the situation has worsened over the past year.

[...]In Pirkanmaa in west-central Finland, around 1,100 people have been waiting for care for over 6 months, in the capital city and Uusimaa region the figure is 2,300 - nearly 700 more people than a year ago. Hospital districts in the southwest and other central parts of the country also report longer queues.

Former Miss Finland and current MP, Tanja Vienonen Karpela Saarela, and film director/Matthew Perry-lookalike, Olli Saarela, are divorcing - Which is great news for me cause my salarakas is now single once again! If you soon see in the headlines, “Tanja Saarela seen holding hands with young, unknown American from Nokia…”, you’ll know who it is.

I can’t believe hockey player Jere Karalahti is still in jail on drug charges. I’m not convinced that he’s guilty of anything, and it gets me thinking about drug policy in the Nordics.

What I don’t understand is that professional sports stars, like ones who compete in ice hockey, rugby, football, auto racing, boxing and even ski jumping, can have multiple concussions and other devastating head injuries; yet it’s so natural to think, “It’s OK because those injuries were suffered while playing sports. Carry on fearless warrior!” Nevermind that some of them will no longer be among the sharper pencils in the drawer…not that all of them were to begin with.

Whereas I don’t know anything specific about Jere’s case, when an average Pekka Jääkiekko wants to relax with his buddies and snuffle a few lines of white powder on a Saturday night, many of us are programmed to think, “Oh no, we can’t have THAT!” But sports head injuries are OK.

Of course, I’m being facetious by even remotely suggesting that the normal outcome of playing sports or using drugs results in permanent brain injuries. In either case, the chance is remote. Most sportsmen recover from their injuries, and the vast majority of recreational drug users never have problems in the first place. But why is there such a double standard?

We in Europe can learn from the follies of the United States, which has been using anti-drug propaganda for several decades now to justify its War on Drugs, a sustained effort to fund the prison industry. There are more people in US jails than in Russia and China combined. It’s a real human rights mess. That’s not to say we don’t have our own embarrassing practices here—albeit unrelated to prisons and drugs—but at least we’re not on the verge of needing to colonize the moon to secure more prison real estate.
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Most amazingly, American workers even prostitute themselves by offering bodily fluid samples for their corporate bosses to inspect. And the US sports industry is on the warpath with ridiculous testing regiments of its own for athletes. It’s such an embarrassing and unnecessary procedure for participants. The politically connected drug testing industry doesn’t seem to mind though.

Yet by all observations, these measures aren’t stopping anyone from doing illegal drugs. In fact, Americans love drugs more than ever! The passion spans all socio-economic strata, professions and age groups. It seems to abide well with the American work hard & play hard ethic. The sad part is that, whereas most people’s lives aren’t being harmed by the drugs themselves, they are instead impeded by the prison sentences, interrupted careers and other legal troubles associated with drug policies.

Now, none of this is meant to imply that drugs are wonderful. The above-mentioned powders have addiction rates and cause destructive illnesses just like alcohol; the chances of being afflicted are small but exist nonetheless. But let’s remember, there’s also a chance of suffering debilitating injuries while riding a bicycle—those little Styrofoam helmets might be concrete-resistant, but they’re not concrete-proof—or parachuting, hang gliding or cliff climbing for that matter. Life is full of risk choices.

The biggest danger that I see, aside from the legal troubles, is the possibility of ingesting a mixture containing something found in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. You just never know what some unscrupulous dealer might have used to dilute the product. Maybe he was short on baking flour, but too lazy to run to the store? Out comes the carpet cleanser. The chance of impurity is probably more harmful than the drug itself.

Given this pitfall, and the fact that keeping drugs illegal only raises profits and encourages more sales and usage (it’s probably the biggest business in America), why not follow the Swiss example of providing those with serious drug ‘desires’ a rationed assortment of whatever makes them happiest—after all, isn’t life about being happy? Surely it can’t only be about punishing each other for our differing preferences.

So to really seal our place in history as being part of the enlightened Nordics, let’s take the entire drug market away from greedy criminals and put it where it belongs: The government.

We can begin by opening a sister-monopoly to the famous Alko, Finland’s governmental alcohol pusher. The new enterprise can be named Narko; hence, together they’ll form the Alko-Narko Alliance. The new monopoly can have the same high prices, narrow selection and limited opening hours as its older sibling. Naturally, it will also have government workers who’ll occasionally strike for higher pay. Rest assured, we can even continue to enjoy the long cues before holidays.

And best yet: when the European Commission again censures Finland for its anti-competitive practices, we can defensively retort: “We need Narko to control drug addiction!” But this time, it might actually be an honest statement.

You said it Elvis!

Lately, Finland is starting to have a pretty good selection of coffees. When I first moved here, you could get Finnish style coffee and that was about it. If there were any “espresso” or “cappucino” type coffees, then they were from the Scanomat press-a-button, bzzzzzzzt, and “blat!”, something falls into your cup kinds of coffee, made from instant powder mixes. You still often see the Finnish preference for an automatic machine in many places, but chances are, the machine is making you a real cappucino, latte, or espresso. You can usually tell if is making real coffee from the taste and smell and if there is a bean reservoir on the top or a pipe that takes in real milk. Some machines use real coffee but use powdered milk, which is not a good compromise, in my opinion. In one cafe where I visited, there was a proper, expensive automatic espresso/cappucino machine, but they had put traditional Finnish roast coffee in it. It caused an immediate gag reaction in me, since I was expecting the taste of espresso. I have had a similar experience in Tallinn as well where they had used continental roast coffee in an expensive automatic espresso machine. That is a big no-no.

The traditional Finnish (Scandinavian) style coffee is very lightly roasted. It is prepared usually in a drip-type coffee maker, although there are more roughly ground types that can be made in with the grounds in the coffee pot when it is on top the stove. Finnish or Scandinavian coffee has quite a different taste from French coffee, which is very darkly roasted. Italian espresso coffee is dark roasted but not quite as dark as the French roast. The continental roast used in Germany is a medium roast. In the USA the American coffee is typically medium roast, and prepared quite weak. The Greek and Turkish finely ground style of coffee is also medium roasted. From my observation the finely ground coffees quickly loose their aroma. Lebanese coffee, which is also finely ground, can even have cardamom added to it, and has an interesting taste.

Espresso originally comes from Italy and has been drunk there for perhaps a hundred years. It is also drunk a lot in Cuba and parts of South America. This new way of preparing and selling different types of espresso drinks in cafes is quite a new culture, and has spread out from Seattle, where Starbucks had its beginnings.

The tea culture in Finland still has a lot of room for improvement. Cafes usually have a large selection of bagged teas that have different aromas added to them. Some people, however, prefer loose leaf tea. The bagged teas naturally taste a lot like the bag that they come in. Loose leaf tea tastes only like tea. There are also hundreds of types of tea, some of which you never see as bagged tea. Some teas don’t do very well as bagged teas, such as Sencha, which should look a bit like blades of grass. Also bagged teas are often quite powdered, and the small granules cause them to loose their aroma.

Among the caffeinated drinks you may find Yerba Mate nowadays. This comes from South America and is neither a tea or a coffee, but it is often prepared like a tea. It should be sucked through a filtering straw (bomba) from a gourd (mate) and made with about 80 degrees C water. The gourd is filled about halfway to two thirds full with Yerba Mate, and it is steeped 6-10 times before it tastes “washed”. South Americans and others claim it is quite healthy.

There is always a question of why someone aspiring to starting a company in Finland is faced with “negativity”… the Finns - those that are friendly that is, will call a person crazy, and then relate a story of enterpreneurship, bank loans, devalvation, reposession, alcoholism and suicide. There was no such thing as a personal bankruptcy and debts being cancelled. The current law even passes the debts to the inheritors of a deceased person in some cases.

The parliament has passed a law that makes the maximum time of a debt to be in collection 15 years, in some cases 20. Currently, theres still debts from the 1960’s in collection. So, finally, there is an end date for a debt.

The measure is a drastic one according to EU standards, but the majority of these debts are from the 1990’s recession when enterpreneurs had guaranteed their debts personally, or gotten relatives and friends to co-sign for them. Beyond the idiocy of starting a business is co-signing. The Bank came after the co-signer. Theres several people who lost everything they had, or if they hadn’t anything any chance for a decent life by co-signing their life away. How can you deny co-signing for your dad’s business at 18? “Its just a formality?”. Well, nobody says “The Banks” were acting in a responsible manner, but very few of the bank managers were found responsible even the court cases dragged on for years. The time was very traumatic, and touched a lot of people, hence those warning speeches.

However the law won’t give a “get free from jail” card. There are catches. A court can give another 10 years if the person in debt has “acted inappropriately” as in hiding assets. Also underage kids are observed. Unless the collection is due to fines or reparations, the county magistrate must be notified. This is to prevent exploitation and also young people getting negative credit records. And once you die, you can rest in peace, as after that the estate is not liable for the debts as it is now.

Oh, why the “Finns are so negative” ? Maybe its just bogeyman stories. Lets look a bit at the statistics from the Statistics Centre (2006 figures), private people can’t go bankrupt, but the statistics on debt rearrangements mean some 4000 people get into trouble yearly. As for warning against starting a business the statistics on banktrupcies indicate that under 3000 enterprises are put in the process. Now the statistics on established and ceased companies would indicate that it is really only a 10% that will get into serious trouble. But as for the trauma of the bogeyman, do note the 1990’s there in the statistics.

By the end of 2007 there was 312 100 people in collection. The record year was 1994, with some 512 600 people. So, whats that, a bit more than the population of Espoo, when it used to be the population of Helsinki…