Why Swedes Are Okay With Paying Taxes

Why Swedes Are Okay With Paying Taxes:

Everyone knows that Swedes pay a lot of tax; Sweden is as noted for its high personal taxes as it is for IKEA furniture and ABBA. Given that tax is a dirty word for many people around the world, you might expect that the government agency that grabs about a third of the average hard-working Swede’s pay packet would be public enemy No 1.

But the truth couldn’t be more different. The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), is popular. In fact, it is really popular, with poll after poll showing that it is trusted and respected. A 2016 survey (link in Swedish) by market research institute TNS Sifo concluded that the Tax Agency has the fifth best reputation – beaten by Lantmäteriet (responsible for property division) and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) – of 29 major Swedish public bodies, scoring highly for its customer service and for ‘contributing positively to society’.

Revealed: How much tax Netflix pays The Australian Financial Review‎  Netflix Australia paid only $341,793 in tax for the 2018 calendar year despite reaping an estimated ... Secrecy provisions contained in tax laws have allowed the Australian Taxation Office to bar the release of documents identifying senior partners in major tax  advisory firms that have been targeted for marketing overly aggressive tax minimisation plans to corporate clients and rich individuals. ATO keeps tracking of tax advisers secret

EU did ‘all in its power’ to achieve orderly Brexit – Juncker RTE

Leaping Into Your Future with the Real-Life Mr. Spock – Bill Jensen’s fascinating interview with Prof. Sohail Inayatullah, UNESCO Chair in Future Studies at UNESCO and USIM, focuses on the future of work, leadership and the significance of the Key Performance Indicator [KPI].

A Face-Scanning Algorithm Increasingly Decides Whether You Deserve the Job Washington Post

  Don’t put politics before justice, 

Hong Kong urges Taiwan over fugitive case which sparked anti-government unrest South China Morning Post

Increases In Productivity Mean We Don’t Have To Work So Hard. And Yet We Do. Why?

“If today’s advanced economies have reached (or even exceeded) the point of productivity that Keynes predicted, why are 30- to 40-hour weeks still standard in the workplace? And why doesn’t it feel like much has changed? This is a question about both human nature – our ever-increasing expectations of a good life – as well as how work is structured across societies.” – Aeon

Who is 'the White House'?

President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A story about Ukraine and President Donald Trump appeared in Wednesday’s New York Times. The story used terms such as “White House officials suspected” and “sources both inside and outside the White House” and “the White House declined comment” ... you get the picture.

Referring to "the White House” is common for news organizations. "The White House” traditionally has meant the official stance of the president, even if the words didn’t come from the president. But is that really the case any longer?

New York University journalism professor and media observer Jay Rosen on Wednesday tweeted:

“There is no White House. Not in the sense that journalists have always used that term. Now it's just Trump ... and people who work in the building. Those words, ‘the White House’ still appear in news reports, but no one knows what the referent is for them.”

It’s a thesis Rosen has been pushing for some time. When veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien tweeted that this IS the White House under Trump, Rosen tweeted:

“Journalists cannot keep talking about ‘the White House’ as if it's still the institution Americans remember from previous presidencies. It is not. And they have to make that super clear.”

In the past, those who worked in the White House were an extension of the president. They could speak on his behalf. The voices might have been different, but the message was the same and consistent. Thus, it was accurate to personify "the White House.” But Trump has dismantled that familiar framework and is the only one who can accurately speak for himself.

A prime example of the Trump White House is the complete abolition of official White House press conferences. Current press secretary Stephanie Grisham has yet to hold one and she has been in that position for four months. The last White House press briefing was March 11. The last one before that was Jan. 28.

Those official press briefings are a way for reporters to get questions — and answers that represent the president — on the record. Without them, the media is left to get Trump’s message directly from Trump, either through his appearances or tweets.

Anything else probably does not accurately convey the president’s thoughts. In other words, no one speaks for the president except for the president. And that lends credence to the idea that "the White House” no longer exists in a way that the media is accustomed to seeing — and quoting.
 

Things may not be going so great at NBC

It has been a rough few weeks for NBC News as it's come under attack, mostly from Ronan Farrow’s book “Catch and Kill,” for sitting on sexual assault allegations involving Harvey Weinstein and its own Matt Lauer. Many wondered if NBC News chairman Andy Lack and/or president Noah Oppenheim would lose their jobs over all of it.

Apparently, they will not. Word is that Oppenheim just had his contract renewed and that plans are still in place for him to replace Lack, who could retire after the 2020 election. NBC has not commented.

The New York Post’s Alexandra Steigrad quoted one “NBC insider” as saying, “We thought both he and Lack were about to be fired. No one has faith in them. They have made mistake after mistake, have told lies on top of lies. They have given the middle finger to journalism. Now one of them is rewarded with a multi-million dollar deal? It’s truly heartbreaking. Morale is at an all-time low.”
 

Pioneering civil rights reporter dies

In this file photo from the late 1970s, Kathryn Johnson works at The Associated Press' bureau in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

Former Associated Press reporter Kathryn Johnson, who scored major scoops throughout her long journalism career, died Wednesday. She was 93. Among Johnson’s career highlights: she was the only journalist allowed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s home the day he was assassinated; she snuck into Gov. George Wallace’s confrontation with federal officials when he blocked black students from entering the University of Alabama; and she interviewed William L. Calley Jr. before he was convicted for his role in the My Lai massacre.

Johnson was hired as a secretary at the AP office in Georgia in 1947. Finally, after 12 years, she became a writer, covering the civil rights beat. She stayed at AP until 1979 before moving on to U.S. News & World Report and then CNN before retiring in 1999.