I Live In Sweden!

[DFW]

49. There is much of your post I agree with, though not all

If you have a chronic condition, I agree, you are better off somewhere where insurance will take care of you. In Dallas, my employer's insurance blows you off if you submit bills from outside the country, as I do, but our people in Dallas enjoy good coverage, including visual aid, not typical. My wife is a retired German social worker, and she worked with some of the several hundred thousand Geramns without health insurance. Not all countries in Europe offer comprehensive coverage.

The original idea behind the EU, i.e. Adenauer and DeGaulle getting together to figure out how to make sure France and Germany never fought another war against each other, was indeed an inspiration. Too bad it degenerated into a bureaucratic nightmare so profound, it made a Brexit campaign not only plausible, but viable. It goes well beyond Danish apples. The notion of loading the whole EU parliament into trucks (and the members and support staff into first class travel) between Brussels and Strasbourg once for a week of Strasbourg's (admittedly great) food and hotels every month is a ridiculous extravagance the EU could manange to exist without. The French built a hugely expensive EU Parliament building in Strasbourg although there was one in Brussels, and so they insisted it be used. A few hundred million Euros a month go for this trek, and guess who pays for it? If you live in Sweden, then you and I both do.

As for the EU, maybe the attitude you claim (that the citizens never think about it) is prevalent in Sweden. However, in the countries I frequent most (Germany, where I live, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and non-EU Switzerland), it is a subject of constant discussion. The Germans are incensed over their taxes helping prop up fascist-trending Poland and Hungary. They also are furious that the EU let in Romania and Bulgaria, thereby letting in a flood of organized crime. The idea was to furnish a pool of cheap labor in eastern Europe for a few big EU companies in the west. Just ask Nokia how closing their huge plant in Germany and relocating to Romania worked out (it didn't--they soon closed Romania and moved to China, although most of the 4000 Germans formerly employed by Nokia never got their jobs back). Kiitos, Suomi! My colleagues in Switzerland are dead set against their country joining the EU, and furious with their government for joining Schengen. I speak the languages of all countries I frequently work in, including Dutch, Swiss German and Catalan. I don't get these impressions off of web sites written by people I don't know, but rather from real live people . Taxi drivers, waiters, cops, customs officials, teachers, and a lot of etc.

Both the French and the Germans ARE grateful that the notion of another war between the two now indeed seems unthinkable, due to the nearly full economic integration of the two. They are not thrilled with all the baggage that has been added onto Adenauer's and DeGaulle's original inspiration.

If I were covered by Swedish health insurance, I wouldn't trade it for the US system, either. My wife is a German citizen and a two time cancer survivor. She wouldn't trade her health coverage for the USA, either. But when I moved permanently to Germany, I was told that with my pre-existing conditions (heart issues) and US employer, it would cost me €30,000, or about $35,000, post-tax, per year for health insurance in Germany, and that was ten years ago. If I have anything that looks serious, I fly back to the USA and have it done there, where my insurance picks up most of it. Even if the procedure costs a third in Germany, the Americans categorically refuse to cover it, like the bad guys in a John Grisham novel.

For the record, our airport code is DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth). If there is a DWF, I've never flown in or out of there

Hälsningar från Truro, Massachusetts (we all need a break, at least once a year).