Finland has had a livid discussion about privatising local water companies, and a plan to privatise parts of water management in Jyväskylä has been met with a citizen's initiative to make a law banning such privatisation. It quickly collected the 50 000 signatures required to bring it to the parliament to process.
There have been many articles (e.g. in Helsingin Sanomat) about how horribly expensive the water has become in London, where Thames Water was privatised.
What these articles do not tell that the "hideously expensive" water of London is in fact clearly cheaper than that of the municipal companies in Finland. Take a look at the pricing for water:
Per-m³ charge:
Thames Water: £2.27 = 2.70 € / m³.
Helsinki Region: 3.23 € / m³.
Annual fixed charges for a 125 m² house:
Thames Water: £21.86+£72.88 = 112.76 € / year.
Helsinki Region: 12*3.0*3.65€ = 131,40 € / year.
Tariffs include fresh water, wastewater management and handling of runoff water.
(In London there are also other tariffs, including not metered, which sounds crazy and generous for wasteful water users).
So, altogether, the prices in Helsinki, with municipally owned water management, are about 20 % higher than in the privatised, horribly expensive rip-off London. This is hardly due to lack of freshwater sources in Finland.
Of course, there is a much better reason. The water charges are a cash cow for municipalities. They can charge more and spend plenty of resources internally (including, but not limited to, cushy jobs for former politicians) and still generate some profits for the owner, i.e. the municipality.
And the latter of course makes me happy because I'm a well-to-do taxpayer: income taxes are proportional to income, but water charges are the same for everyone, so moving municipal taxation from proportional taxes into fixed sum charges (that are per inhabitant regardless of income) are better for the well-to-do people.
The bottom line is, I agree that privatising a natural monopoly isn't a good idea, so this is quite OK. So let's just tax the poor!
6.1.2020
Which English newspaper copies which?
Today I ran into a strange phenomenon: multiple British newspapers were claiming that the Finnish government is "planning a four-day week". The story is bogus.
This is The Guardian:
A similar story is run by Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Metro, ITV and others. ITV even claims that Sweden would have adopted a six-hour working day earlier. That is not true either - the Swedish trial was extremely limited, and was stopped after finding out that it was economically unsustainable even in the small scale of one hospital's nurses where it was tried, although most of those who enjoyed shorter working days obviously liked the trial very much.
I suppose this is a stark reminder: do not trust very much the foreign reporting - even newspapers that are generally considered reputable, like the Guardian, may run completely bonkers stories if it fits their agenda. And you just won't know about it, because you rarely know the country in question.
In reality, Sanna Marin mentioned the idea of a four-day week back in August 2018, when she was just another government minister, not the prime minister. She presented it as a "vision", not a plan, and it certainly isn't a commitment by the government she currently leads. The government's program can be checked on the government pages (in Finnish). Marin's government continues to use the same policy paper as the cabinet lead by Antti Rinne, who had to resign due to mismagement of the postal service.
But I am curious: is Guardian copying Daily Mail, or is Daily Mail copying the Guardian? Well, more likely, they both are trusting a single source that is not trustworthy, and they fail to do even basic check-ups of the viability of the story. Perhaps the story fits their preconceptions - these may be different preconceptions, but the outcome is still that all these papers publish a bogus story. And very many British seem to fall for it. Guardian readers seem particularly aggressive.
This is The Guardian:
A similar story is run by Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Metro, ITV and others. ITV even claims that Sweden would have adopted a six-hour working day earlier. That is not true either - the Swedish trial was extremely limited, and was stopped after finding out that it was economically unsustainable even in the small scale of one hospital's nurses where it was tried, although most of those who enjoyed shorter working days obviously liked the trial very much.
I suppose this is a stark reminder: do not trust very much the foreign reporting - even newspapers that are generally considered reputable, like the Guardian, may run completely bonkers stories if it fits their agenda. And you just won't know about it, because you rarely know the country in question.
In reality, Sanna Marin mentioned the idea of a four-day week back in August 2018, when she was just another government minister, not the prime minister. She presented it as a "vision", not a plan, and it certainly isn't a commitment by the government she currently leads. The government's program can be checked on the government pages (in Finnish). Marin's government continues to use the same policy paper as the cabinet lead by Antti Rinne, who had to resign due to mismagement of the postal service.
But I am curious: is Guardian copying Daily Mail, or is Daily Mail copying the Guardian? Well, more likely, they both are trusting a single source that is not trustworthy, and they fail to do even basic check-ups of the viability of the story. Perhaps the story fits their preconceptions - these may be different preconceptions, but the outcome is still that all these papers publish a bogus story. And very many British seem to fall for it. Guardian readers seem particularly aggressive.
Timmermans and timber
In today's Helsingin Sanomat, the Dutch EU commissioner says:
"IF it is up to us, there will be two billion new trees in Europe".
Currently, Finland plants 150 000 000 trees annually. This is without any involvement from Mr. Timmermans.
If all European countries did plant as many trees per capita, there would be 14 billion trees planted each year.
And now Mr. Timmermans is, according to HS, "responsible for" what we do in our forests.
"IF it is up to us, there will be two billion new trees in Europe".
Currently, Finland plants 150 000 000 trees annually. This is without any involvement from Mr. Timmermans.
If all European countries did plant as many trees per capita, there would be 14 billion trees planted each year.
And now Mr. Timmermans is, according to HS, "responsible for" what we do in our forests.
9.12.2019
The Finnish minister rotation
People all over the world are at awe looking at the new Finnish government, which is all about young women. Yes, I agree it's great that women can be party leaders and ministers.
But just so you know how we can to this situation, here's some background.
The previous Social Democrat prime minister, a man who has strong trade union background, messed up some trade union negotiations which he should not have been meddling with in the first place. He then tried to blame it on the municipalities minister, a woman, whom he forced to resign. But as it turned out that the prime minister was lying and it was obvious to everyone not only in the parliament but also to all of the general public, the junior government partner Center party announced they have lost confidence. So the prime minister has to resign.
However, the main goverment parties have let down so many of their election promises that their gallup ratings are horrible. So they absolutely don't want new a election. And therefore they come up with some changes:
The prime minister, who lied, lost confidence completely and has to resign, now becomes the 2nd speaker of parliament, and the 2nd speaker of parliament becomes minister of labour, and the minister of labour becomes the minister of traffic, and the minister of traffic becomes the prime minister. The municipalities minister, who was forced to resign, but in fact did not yet even hand in her resignation, gets to keep her place, which is just fine.
And now everyone has full confidence again in this party and its ministers. And in the meanwhile, two ministers of the Center party exchange places.
So we have a rotation:
I hope the centrifugal force won't throw any of the participants in the general direction of actual humans who might get hurt.
The new prime minister is so far left that in the value map of candidates and parties, that her own party is the 5th closest party to hew own opinions. The far-left fringe feminist and leftist parties are closer to her than her own party. Even the full-blown stalinist Communist party is almost as close to her as her own party. Likewise, the feminist party (that got 0,2 % of votes i nthe general election) is closest to the leaders of two other government parties (the Left party and the Green party).
Now, do I have a great confidence in this circus? Not really.
30.6.2019
Creationism doesn't come from where you thought
A sort of creationism creeps into university teaching.
According to The Australian, science lecturers in Australia are told to not to mention that Aboriginees came to the continent about 40 000 years ago (which is the best scientific understanding).
Among Aboriginees, there is a thought that "they have always lived here" and therefore "putting a limit into the occupation of Australia" is "inappropriate".
So it is “more appropriate” to say Aborigines have been here “since the beginning of the Dreaming/s”
In effect, this is like saying that the rest of the world may have had evolution and migration of humans, but Aboriginees have been created along with the continent, and there is no timeline that can be discussed.
Creationism and science-denialism used to be coming from the religious right. Now it comes from the "inclusive" progressivists.
15.9.2018
Om inkomstskillnaderna (About income differences: an excercise in Swedish)
I wrote the below text to a Swedish-language discussion about income differences, partly to exercise my Swedish. Brief summary: journalists keep repeating a message that income differences in Finland are growing at an alarming pace right now. They repeat this from year to year. Below are examples from a period of more than a dozen years.
But when you look at the actual statistics, the net income differences (disposable income) have been roughly the same since the end of Finland's huge 1990's recession.
Papers and television create an alternative truth by repeating and repeating claims that effectively are a lie. FAKE NEWS.
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Om du läser media kommer du säkert att tro att inkomstskillnaderna växer väldigt snabbt hela tiden. Journalisten fortsätter att upprepa och upprepa detta. Se exempel nedan.
Men i verkligheten, när man tittar på folkets verkliga netinkomst, är det inte så. Inkomstskillnaderna har varit ungefär på samma nivå sedan år 2000.
Inkomstskillnaderna ökar lite i högkonjunktur och minskar lite i lågkonjunktur. Det här är inte en bra anledning att önska att ha en lågkonjuktur.
I stället för att lyssna på journalister, vars arbete är att hitta en skandal och lura klicker, titta på statistiken. De kommer från officiella siffror - skatteuppgifter och information om sociala överföringar som betalas ut till människor.
Här har vi exemplar av vad journalister skriver genom åren. Det är klart att de har hört en lögn så många gånger att de tror den själv, och sedan upprepar de det igen, för det är vad publiken vill höra. Deras publik tycker inte om sanningen.
2002: Tupo lisää taas tuloeroja
https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000004099647.html
2004: Miksi Suomen tuloerot ja köyhyys ovat kääntyneet kasvuun?
https://www.labour.fi/?wpfb_dl=4566
2006: Kotitalouksien tuloerot kasvussa
https://www.mtv.fi/uutiset/talous/artikkeli/kotitalouksien-tuloerot-kasvussa/2097870
2008: Kotitalouksien tuloerot kasvoivat
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5226423
2010: HS: SUOMEN TULOEROT KASVAVAT NOPEITEN
http://www.osallisuustalous.fi/pareconfinland/2010/11/hs-suomen-tuloerot-kasvavat-nopeiten.html
2011: SUOMESSA YKSI NOPEIMMISTA TULOEROJEN KASVUISTA
https://www.kansanuutiset.fi/artikkeli/2700211-suomessa-yksi-nopeimmista-tuloerojen-kasvuista
2012: Halonen epäilee: Tuloerojen kasvua ei haluttu tunnistaa
https://www.mtv.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/artikkeli/halonen-epailee-tuloerojen-kasvua-ei-haluttu-tunnistaa/2304764#gs.QU2j6X0
2014: Maailma on rikkaampi kuin koskaan, mutta tuloerot kasvavat
https://www.maailma.net/uutiset/maailma-on-rikkaampi-kuin-koskaan-mutta-tuloerot-kasvavat
2015: Tuloerot kasvavat – tämä syy pysyy piilossa
https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/porssiuutiset/art-2000001893635.html
2017: Köyhät köyhtyvät ja rikkaat rikastuvat: Laskelmat todistavat tuloerojen kasvavan
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9832572
2018: Inkomstskillnaderna ökar i Norden
https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2018/05/03/inkomstskillnaderna-okar-i-norden
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Men om du vill titta på siffrorna, gå till Statistikcentralen. Inkomstskillnaderna gick ner på 1970-talet, de gick upp på 1990-talet när de återhämtade sig från den hemska recessionen, och efter år 2000 har de förändrats väldigt lite.
https://www.stat.fi/til/tjkt/2016/01/tjkt_2016_01_2017-12-20_tie_001_fi.html
Här är hur den ser ut:
Alltså våra inkomstskillnader är bland de lägsta i Europa.
30.3.2018
The bizarre leaflet for those who have married a child
At the end of March, Sweden had quite a media storm due to a leaflet published by the country's National Board of Health and Welfare: "Information to you who are married to a child".
After media outcry, the brochure was pulled from distribution on the Board's Web pages, but it is of course available in original form in many places, e.g. here.
Some people have pointed out that there is nothing wrong with this, it is what the authorities should do - inform newly arrived migrants about what is not legal nor allowed in Sweden.
But the problem with this brochure is not that it informs about what is suitable in Sweden. It is the job of authorities to inform. But the way this brochure was written seems to indicate a huge level of naivety. It's written as "information to you who are married to a child", much as you would write a brochure "information on how to apply for child benefits" or "information on available interpreting services". It says that marriage to a child is "olämplig", which translates "inappropriate" or "improper". Nothing about the possible consequences - probably, because there are none.
Child marriage should be a crime in Sweden. What the brochure should have is a big red headline "Child marriage is forbidden in Sweden" and "Sex with minors is punishable with a jail term".
Of course, it cannot say this because it's not how things really stand. Swedish law is a bit weak here, and authorities are rather inefficient in working against child marriages, even forced marriages.
In 2016, the UN Association in Sweden complained that the legislation against child marriages is "toothless" in Sweden.
Göteborgsposten reported how 12-year-old Alicia was sent from Sweden to a forced marriage with a cousin in Iraq, where she had to submit to sex and give birth to children. Not on first try though; first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, simply because her reproductive organs were not quite ready yet at the age of 13. Then she had two children. When she finally managed to come back to Sweden some years later, her rapist (which is how I rather call the "husband") applied for custody of her children. And bizarrely, a Swedish court granted him joint custody, and because of this, he also got residence permit.
Also bizarrely, although child marriages are theoretically forbidden, the rules for child benefits specifically list that being married disqualifies a child from child benefits.
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The brochure would surely serve its audience better if it had been published in Arabic, Urdu and Farsi, but then it maybe would not have quite got the media attention it now got. It is normal that controversial things get a lot of attention in Sweden if they are written in Swedish or English, but mosques are quite free to preach for murdering Jews if they do it in Arabic - even the state subsidies for organisations doing this are not impacted.
As such, the brochure indicates a sort of "racism of low expectations". Its infantile tone is directed at people who can read three-word sentences and then believe and trust them blindly. This is the actual shortcoming of the National Board of Health and Welfare. They think those brown people are not quite adults. Regardless of language, you would never write a brochure in this way to an ethnic Swede who plans to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. You would threaten him with prison.
Sweden is perhaps waking up. Just a few days before this outcry, the parliament accepted a motion to ban child marriages, although the government coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party voted against it because the motion was initiated by the majority opposition. The media storm has then inspired many copycat brochure covers for related problems in Sweden:
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to you who are married to several children"
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to you who stone women to death for adultery"
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to you who are throwing hand grenades in residential areas"
_________________________________________________________________
"Information for you who are evading taxes"
(Mona Sahlin, former chairwoman of Social Democrats, had some tax trouble).
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to you who are still a Social Democrat"
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to you who are planning to hire black market workforce"
(This refers to a comedian who hired Rahmat Akilov to do some renovation for him, paying direct cash; later, Akilov became known as the terrorist who killed five people with a lorry in Stockholm)
_________________________________________________________________
"Information to policemen who are stabbed by children who arrive without parents"
(The man in picture tried to kill a policeman by stabbing him in the neck near a demonstration of young Afghans who were demanding a right to stay. Support groups call them "children".)
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"Information to you who have pineapple in your pizza"
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"Information to you who wonder what happened to your country"
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PS. Why do I care? Why do I write this? Because my country tends to follow Sweden in most things, and because we're probably heading towards similar silliness. We and others are not going to fare much better than the Swedes.
Also, I hear a lot of relativisation "but there are child marriages in Finland an USA". Well, USA is slowly getting rid on them through legislation, and Finland has effectively done so; there are annually less than 10 marriages where one party is minor, and recently, in all cases the minor has been 17 years, usually marrying a spouse who is 19 or so - which is really quite different from a 15 or 13 or 12 year old child being married to a 40-year-old. The problem is not marriages entered to in Finland; it's the actual child marriages abroad which are then respected by authorities when they should not.
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