You know why people demonstrate and celebrate workers right on May 1st? Because then largely socialist and anarchist US unions decided, led by the AFL, in 1888 to restart demonstrations for the 8 hour working day with a major demonstration on May 1st 1890 in part in honour of those who died during the Haymarket Massacre. In 1889, the AFL approached the socialist Second International to suggest coordinated demonstrations internationally, and the Second International agreed.
So when you enjoy your "American-based 8-hour" working day, remember it came to be thanks to socialist unions.
> My point is that system evolution via democratic process is much better than bloody revolution that left-wing quite often has on its mouth.
It was not evolution via democratic process that gave us the 8 hour day. It was not bloody revolution either, but plenty of blood has been shed during the fight for decent working conditions. People were outright killed. People were arrested. People were intimidated; blacklisted.
The current system is only as good as it is because our forefathers were brave enough to stand up and fight even when they had to break the law, and even when they in many cases risked their life to fight the conditions of the time.
And they had to: Plenty of people died because of the disproportionate powers of employees to dictate conditions. Such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, where 146 people died when the factory burned because the employees kept the doors locked during working hours to prevent unauthorized breaks(!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fir...
As bad as capitalism is it will never, ever be as bad as communism can be.
This is extremely important and often overlooked. Those pesky government regulations save lives. The idea that dangerous conditions and unsafe product won't happen in the free market because that's "bad for business" is a pipe dream.
Most of us weren't alive when regulations for safety wasn't a "thing" and can't appreciate them.
Surely, "employers" rather than "employees" is meant here!
And in fact it was one of the so called Capitalist robber barons, Henry Ford, who had the greatest impact on shifting to the 40 hour work week. He proved it could work and blazed the path for all other industrialists to follow (either by choice or by Ford stealing their labor via better terms).
Even the traditionally a-political AFL sent representatives to the socialist Second International.
And crediting Ford for the 40 hour work week is just pure, unadulterated bullshit. By the time Ford cut the work week for his staff, large segments of the work force already had achieved it, and provided the evidence needed that a shift to the 8 hour work week was economically feasible.
I certainly wouldn't know where to put the chemistry lab or the industrial robots. I barely have room for the mine-shaft.
You can't say that in "better standard of living", home size matters and home location doesn't. Europeans have less sprawl but smaller houses, that's just it.
And urban city outskirts aren't so much fun (still small apartments but not much life; crime is sometimes a problem too). Not much better than suburbia.
Different strokes for different folks, Benji. Not everyone wants to live in the city where everything is so tight and expensive. Not everyone wants to live in the country where everything is so god damned far away.
Some want to live relatively close to their work, have large sized yards like you would in rural areas, but still have access to shopping and amenities similar to cities.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=78c...
Standard of living and various happiness indices include so much more than could be fitted into the term purchasing power (which is higher in the US than in most of the world).
My standard of living is very dependent on 5-6 weeks paid holiday, 6-12 months paid paternity leave and so on. In my income bracket I could afford those things just by saving, that is, I pay more for them through taxes than I receive back, but I'm still strongly for them. Among other things because only through normalizing long paternal leaves did it become acceptable to employers to interrupt your career 6-12 months 1-3 times in a career, without being classed as "not motivated" or passed over for promotions etc.
OH BOY.
Having a huge house doesn't actually make you happy. You only think it does.
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/qa-stuffocation-...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulg...
It is not non-existent in Sweden.
"Somehow socialists are always one step behind Mother Nature, i.e. free markets."
The free market has nothing to do with "Mother Nature" (animals and plants don't trade at all). Sweden has a free market economy, much like the US. Not exactly sure what is meant by socialists here. Anyone who advocates shorter working hours?
Personally I've become less of a fan of working from home, because you see the people you work with less. Particularly the daily standup in Scrum emphasizes the problem with people working from other locations. But if you don't work in a team, working from home is a great option.
On socialism, Sweden is generally seen as a really nice mix between the good part of capitalism (free market), and the good parts of socialism (equality, workers' rights).
They/we don't. The "Progress Party", which is the furthest right party represented in parliament, got 16.3%. Down from 22.9%. They're for the most part to the left of the Republican Party. That they were invited into a coalition government for the first time was shocking to us, as it means it's the closest we've gotten to "American conditions" - a traditional slur in Norway, as most people, including a substantial majority still, do not want most of what the Progress Party wants.
You'll note that despite getting into a coalition with the conservative party (which got 26.8%, up from 17.2%), they have been unable to get through more than a few token tax cuts. Why? Because the centre-point in parliament is to the left of either one of them. They have to lean on the Liberal Party (Venstre), which is social-liberalists that'd fit in roughly on the left of the Democratic Party, or the Christian Democrats, which are social-conservative centrists, to get a slight majority.
Similarly, they've gotten through a few minor token changes to immigration policies, but have to give up on most of their policies because no other party in parliament agree with them on immigration.
About 50% of parliament is made up of the social democrat Labour Party, the Socialist Left party, and the slightly left of centre Centre Party who ruled for the preceding 8 years.
Norwegian "tradition" is that right wing governments sits for less than one period, up to almost two. No right wing government has survived a second election.
With only 16% of the votes they also lost 1/4th their seats from the previous election, which was won by a labor/left coalition.
1) I live in the US and only one person I know works from home but she is a very special case (her employer made an exception). When I mention I have the option of working from home once in a while (and I mean once in a while, like a few times a year) everyone is like "REALLY!? THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!"
2) "Europe" isn't a single entity.