Ideas from the new chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democrats
Some great ideas from the new chairwoman of the SDP, Jutta Urpilainen. Clearly, reality is far more malleable than I have realized.

- "I propose that every citizen should have a subjective right to housing. We must always afford human dignity!"

- "The long term goal is free daycare. But the work has to be started with child benefit reform."

- "Child benefits must be tied to the inflation index. Expenses from the first child are the greatest, the benefit for all children should be equal, until the child turns 18." (Finland has a child benefit system where each succeeding child is paid a larger benefit, which explains the last sentence.)

- "Poverty cannot be eradicated from our country by any other means than money, so benefits should be increased."

- "No product, that cannot be completely turned off, should be allowed into EU markets."

- "Our goal is to make public transportation free for under 16-year-olds."

- "I want to gather thinkers from all around to study why more and more people drop out of political activity after they have tried it."

Link, if someone is interested (in Finnish).

Posted: Sat, Jun 7 2008 9:31 AM by Libertas est Veritas with 4 comment(s)

Comments

# re: Ideas from the new chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democrats @Saturday, June 07, 2008 10:47 AM

What does she mean by this point?

 "No product, that cannot be completely turned off,

  should be allowed into EU markets."

It makes no sense. She wants that every new product invented be certified or something?! If that's the case, what's the difference between banning a product at its conception instead of after the fact, when it's being traded?

(not advocating it or anything... just trying to understand her mind...)

Anyway, all those points are usual modern diluted-socialist stuff. It sounds like she's a bit extreme though, I dunno if the Finnish markets can stand the burden. They'll have to cut somewhere else. (does Finnish have much oil and gas resources like Norway?)

The scariest point may very well be the last one:

 "I want to gather thinkers from all around to

  study why more and more people drop out of

  political activity after they have tried it."

The young generation is made up of spoiled, un-responsible brats, and I doubt Finland has any groups advocating free markets, so I see some Marxist parties coming up out of this...

BlackSheep

# re: Ideas from the new chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democrats @Saturday, June 07, 2008 2:49 PM

"What does she mean by this point?"

She means a product that either turns off completely (no sleep mode) or a product where you have a choice between sleep mode and completely off. I'm not sure on the specifics. In either case I have no idea why simply pulling the plug from the socket isn't enough.

"It sounds like she's a bit extreme though"

She is pretty standard. Finland doesn't really have huge differences between the parties and the main differences are usually found in who they promise to profit. The SDP is currently trying to pander to families.

"I doubt Finland has any groups advocating free markets"

This is anecdotal, but I have never met a libertarian face-to-face outside of what little promotion I did for the local (classical) Liberal party. So the future of Finland is bleak.

Libertas est Veritas

# re: Ideas from the new chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democrats @Sunday, June 08, 2008 1:38 PM

Ah, right. I didn't realize it was about electronic products... I thought that referred to the ban products...

BlackSheep