A free-market policy proposal for Alliansen

For those who read this blog, you are probably aware that I am not one of the bigger fans of the current Swedish government. While the respective parties have certainly come center to get the current majority that they have, and add to this that the left of center parties did a particularly pathetic job of selling their reasoning as to why they should be running the country, I am still not sold on a lot of the ideas. That having been said, I have a proposal for Alliansen, one that I think that even they should like: privatize the selling of alcohol in Sweden. To put it in other words: get rid of Systembolaget.

Now I do appreciate that the Systembolaget has a perfectly good selection of wine, hell its even better than most stores I have visited in Germany or the United States, but I don’t think the government has any business selling alcohol. Now if the pharmacies were sold off (which I was against for the sole reason that they would end up becoming chains and not do a whit of good for small business owners), and the company that produced Absolut Vodka (a company which made a profit no less), then I don’t see a good reason for holding onto Systemet. There would likely be a big kafuffle in the Riksdag about how all Swedes are natural born alcoholics and how they wouldn’t be able to handle buying beer past 20:00 on a Friday night. I just don’t buy this argument. I believe that behavioral patterns would change according to the situation and rules that would be put in place. Take the case of Germany: they love to drink but they also know how to work. One final note: regulate the market so that supermarket chains can´t buy up the market. Make it a small business thing.

Now to other things, namely the reading list. This is what it looks like as of this moment:

1. Der Kleine Brüder by Sven Regener (finished)

2. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (finished)

3. The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

7. A Widow for One Year by John Irving (switched to The 158 Pound Marriage)

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

Of course as I said I may or may not be able to read all these books before Christmas.

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