It seems the Swedish voters are sick of high taxes, high unemployment and watching their tax money being fed from their pockets to those of fraudsters.

Whenever you set up a massive welfare program for "cradle to grave" care like they did in Sweden you're going to end up with fraud on a massive scale. It's human nature to be lazy for the majority of us in this world and if you can get full benefits, free food, help with rent and other goodies without being looked down upon by the majority of people, there is absolutely no incentive to actually do anything to contribute to the system.

So for the last 12 years the socialists have been in power and expanded these programs on the backs of those who actually do work.

Fed up with not being able to find a job and the general lack of advancement of the economy there, people went out and voted out the socialists this weekend and stuck in a center-right welfare reformer.

Times Online

Fredrik Reinfeldt, the youthful right-wing leader likened to David Cameron for the way he dropped traditional policies to modernise his party, saw off the veteran Göran Persson, Europe’s second longest- serving Prime Minister.

Mr Reinfeldt, 41, based his appeal around reforming rather than overhauling Sweden’s social welfare system, with plans to cut the sickness benefits that account for 16 per cent of public spending.

His attack on Sweden’s hidden unemployment among the long-term sick, the early retired and those on pointless government schemes struck a chord with younger Swedes struggling to find work.

...

Mr Persson, 57, had struggled during the campaign to throw off the image of a tired administration with little new to offer apart from more high taxes. ... Mr Persson had raised fears that the so-called Swedish Model, built on the back of his Government’s high-tax regime, would be dismantled by the Right, but Mr Reinfeldt insisted that he would simply repair and modernise it. He also promised income tax and property tax cuts and a dose of privatisation.

Humans have to be motivated. There are only so many "type-A" personalities out there who willingly will work even if they are losing money. There's nothing wrong with helping people when they're in need, but there's a difference between helping people and giving them so much that there's no reason for them to even try.

Tipped by: Captain's Quarters