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• Wednesday, December 3, 2008 08:44 AM

  @traumatic

  I haven't lived in Sweden, but I do live in France 4-5 months per year. It is an overwhelmingly free society. The average standard of living is only slightly lower than the U.S., but that is mostly because the French are unwilling to work the hours that we do. Per hour worked, the French are the most productive workers in the world. There is virtually no poverty, they have roughly the same unemployment that we do (they count everyone unemployed, we don't so the official numbers are different but reality is the same).

  Do you think a plasma TV is some kind of standard for something? Yes, I have one, but I make a ton of money and would have one wherever I lived. Most of my French friends don't really care much about TV, and they choose to spend their money on other things.Most of them have excellent cookware and top quality knives. They dress far better than Americans. They spend more time with their families than Americans - far more actually. We talk about family values, but the French actually have them. They like their superfast trains. From my house in the SW of France, it is 350 miles to Paris. Including the 10 minute drive to the TGV station, it is less than 2 hours to Paris.

  Also, it was Swedes who produced and installed the small hydroelectric system I have. I produce 16 Kw of constant power so my heating and electrical costs are zero. My system paid for itself in 12 months. In my 4 trips to Sweden, I don't hear much complaining.

  —Portlander Read Portlander's other letters
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