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A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

economist.com

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Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#61

Post by GauntletWizard »

rurp wrote: post #7

I'm not a fan of this law and expect it will end up being abused as much as civil forfeiture in the US. That said, it is interesting to see a stop and frisk law that actually targets wealthy people for once.

Doesn't Target wealthy people. It targets unexplained wealth. Actually wealthy people will be able to show a bank account statement or say "My father is X" or whatever and get out of it. It is targeting thieves who are running around with stolen goods, but it will actually affect people who have conscientiously saved and flaunt their few pieces of a hard-earned luxury.

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#62

Post by monkeycantype »

In Australia, and I expect most western countries, it’s pointless discussing immigration without acknowledging it is being used as a lever by business to suppress wages and working conditions in the destination country, and that to do so immigrants are arriving under legal conditions that limit their ability to negotiate fair treatment and mean they live without political representation.

The deteriorating social conditions observed are not a consequence of there being more foreigners, but of deliberate policy decisions to make it more difficult for immigrants in some visa categories to prosper and fully participate in society, a deliberate decision to extract max value from people for minimum reward

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#63

Post by bryanlarsen »

tlakern10 wrote: post #46
redeux wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that the violence is caused by the immigrants directly or indirectly? I can’t say for Sweden but in the Texas immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than citizens[1]. There doesn’t seem to be a good source of data for the US as a whole. 1. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/undocumented-immigrant-o...

I think that may be because Texas gets Hispanic immigrants, whereas Europe gets immigrants from Islamic regions that have been disrupted by either the U.S. or Russia (mostly the U.S. though). There should be an UN resolution that says: "You start a war, you take the immigrants."

Sending Ukrainian refugees to Russia would be highly unproductive.

And where do you send the refugees from civil wars?

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#64

Post by inglor_cz »

twelvechairs wrote: post #53
dijit wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s… difficult . I live in Sweden and the issues of lack of integration are eerily similar to those that affect the UK (where I was born and raised 80s-10s); pockets of extremely isolated cultures living in essentially parallel societies. First, migration is too inclusive and too exclusive of a term. For example it would exclude a second generation individual- and if we are suggesting that religion is an issue, thos…

Integration is a two-way street. I've known many people born in England, France, Germany who feel excluded from education opportunities, workplace opportunities, healthcare and general civil society because of their family origin, cultural background and pure skin colour. Probably also how they speak in the UK. This issue is much less in new world countries (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). Let people into societ…

Integration of randomly arrived (as opposed to selectively chosen and well-educated) Muslims has proved nigh impossible everywhere in the world of "unbelievers".

As far as the UK goes, Hindus and Sikhs, who look every bit as exotic and dark-skinned as Pakistanis, are on average richer than white Britons and also societally very successful.

If there is some kind of "pure skin colour"-based racism at work, it somehow didn't stop them from reaching the upper class within generation.

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#65

Post by dagw »

psd1 wrote: post #43
lifestyleguru wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH both US and Sweden have comparable high wealth inequality, and very high ratio of mean/median wealth. Their rich want their poor to remain poor.

Your first claim appears to be false. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coef...

You're looking at income inequality, not wealth inequality. While Sweden has relatively low income inequality, it has extremely high wealth inequality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_we...

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#66

Post by dijit »

Yeul wrote: post #58
dijit wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s… difficult . I live in Sweden and the issues of lack of integration are eerily similar to those that affect the UK (where I was born and raised 80s-10s); pockets of extremely isolated cultures living in essentially parallel societies. First, migration is too inclusive and too exclusive of a term. For example it would exclude a second generation individual- and if we are suggesting that religion is an issue, thos…

It's too easy to blame this all on immigrants. Let's not pretend the native population actually wants to mix.

Thats a separate problem, one I would agree with you on.

But I don’t think using statistics (badly) is a way of having that particular conversation. Its too easy to end up in a conversation about nothing.

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#67

Post by rosmax_1337 »

huuhee3 wrote: post #26
miohtama wrote: post #5

"There is no consensus on the main cause of this surge in violence" If I am not misunderstood, the consensus in Sweden and globally is that the situation is caused by lax immigration policies and taking in too many immigrants who have not been able to integrate to the society.

The problem is not immigration or too many migrants, but rather the fact too many of them lack educational background you need to be successful in modern Western society. Mostly it's young men who arrived as asylum seekers without much education who fail to integrate and get marginalized.

I think that's an unnecessary distinction.

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#69

Post by bjornsing »

rurp wrote: post #7

I'm not a fan of this law and expect it will end up being abused as much as civil forfeiture in the US. That said, it is interesting to see a stop and frisk law that actually targets wealthy people for once.

We’re already starting to see some weird consequences of a closely related law change that allows the authorities to immediately seize assets from people with unpaid debts. For example, there was a news report recently of a woman who lent her car to a friend who was in debt. He was stopped by the police and the car was seized. She complained and could prove she was the legal owner of the car. But that didn’t matter. The authorities sold her car anyway and gave the money to the guy’s lenders. Now they’re saying this was not a mistake and you should be very careful who you lend your car to.

Re: A new law in Sweden lets police seize unexplained luxury goods

#70

Post by bjornsing »

foxglacier wrote: post #60
rurp wrote: post #7

I'm not a fan of this law and expect it will end up being abused as much as civil forfeiture in the US. That said, it is interesting to see a stop and frisk law that actually targets wealthy people for once.

It targets poor people with expensive items. Wealthy people can explain how they could afford them.

But explanations come after the stop and frisk though…
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