If you've been reading this blog you might think everything in Finland is awesome or that at least I look at Finland through rose colored glasses. Well, not really; I did after all leave Finland after high school... Now over 30 years later I'm in a different stage of life and value different things than before. The biggest difference being that we have kids and Finland happens to be a fantastic, safe place to raise children.
But don't get me wrong. There are lot of problems too: low pay, high taxes (some of which is justified and some of which supports blown out bureaucracy), people stuck in chronic unemployment, racism or xenophobia, lack of support for entrepreneurialism and job creation and the reserved culture (which bothers my husband not me). These are macro issues that to some degree exist everywhere. But, in my opinion, there are a few absolutely ridiculous things that are uniquely Finnish.
Peeping Tom Taxes
Apparently everyone's tax records are public and one could ask to pull anyone's income tax records. OK, fine, maybe there is some justifiable reason for this. People try to justify it as an anti-corruption measure although I'm not sure how anyone figures out corruption from knowing how much someone else makes... If I were getting illegal kickbacks I don't think I'd be reporting them to the IRS... But what really blows my mind is the annual spectacle where the newspapers get a hold of a list of everyone in the country who made more than 100,000€ that year and then publish the names of these "high income" individuals. WTF!? This seems not only weird but also hypocritical. Our Finnish friends are aghast we post any pictures of our kids on social media - they feel it is a violation of the kids' privacy. Also, Europe is the king of privacy legislature. For example the GDPR law puts all kinds of obstacles in front of marketeers and you can't even collect completely anonymous web traffic data without asking people for their explicit opt-in to be tracked. Meanwhile it is somehow ok for the whole country to know exactly how much money you specifically made last year?! In fact some people asked the IRS equivalent not to include them on this list and that issue was just brought to court: the court ruled that while IRS had no obligation to provide newspapers with easy lists like this, it was illegal for them to withhold any private person's tax details from the public.
Not only do newspapers publish lists but the tabloids even provide tools where you can look up your area and then search for someone by name. If the target of your stalking shows up on the list you can see both income and investment income and paid taxes paid by him/her. How is anyone ok with this level of violation of privacy? This brings creepy nosyness to new levels and must cause all kinds of drama with friends and family. And it must be a dream for any would-be criminals. I also think this attitude would be a deterrent to any investors, entrepreneurs or subject matter experts for wanting to come to or stay in Finland... Financial achievement should be celebrated, not humiliated - these people after all pay a lot of taxes that help the list readers! Also, by Silicon Valley standards, 100,000€ seems like a pretty low number to be considered a "high roller" which demonstrates how low salaries in Finland are.
Paid Customer Service Calls
If I call the customer service for example the airline or customer service some sort of an agency or even many commercial organizations, I have to pay for the pleasure. Some of them even charge you for being on hold waiting to be helped! Huh? For example Ticketmaster Finland charges 1,98 plus the operator by minute rate which depends on whether it it a landline or mobile. Someone calculated an example of calling a cruise line from a mobile phone, waiting for 5 minutes and then speaking with someone for 5 minutes: 2 euros and 33 cents. It makes absolutely no sense to me that if I try to purchase something, I have to pay for the pleasure of speaking to the seller...
Getting Away with Murder
While US has an awfully high incarceration rate and seems to not be that focussed on rehabiliation (let's not even talk about for-profit prisons!) Finland has a completely opposite issue. Sentences for even serious crimes are nothing but a slap on the wrist. The sentence for murder is somewhere between 2-12 years! Per newspaper data I saw the average punishment for rape is 27 months and for "outrageous rape", a rape that involves injuries, the average punishment is 49 months. The "damages" the perpetrators in these crimes pay the victims are in the few thousands of euros at best. (Someone explained to me the amounts are low because most of the time the criminals can't pay which means the restitution is covered by tax payers.)
For example, just yesterday I read about a murder in which the man beat up his domestic partner for hours until she died. A friend was present and this friend then helped carry the body 500m away from the apartment. They just dumped the body in the middle of a sidewalk. The friend stayed to try to resuccitate the woman while the "boyfriend" went to the store to get an energy drink. Apparently alcohol and panic played a role in the failed attempt to hide the body: they didn't call an ambulance because they were worried the police would find pot plants in the apartment. (Interesting worry in the middle of a murder.) So what will serve justice for this heinous crime? The prosecution is demanding all of 12 years for manslaughter for the "boyfriend". And 3 months of probabation for the friend for being an accessory because he didn't actually participate in the beating and claims to not have know the woman was dead. Wow. A joke!
I'm sure there are other issues of uniquely Finnish societal problems/annoyances. These examples at least show what I've learnt from living in 3 different countries for substantial amount of time: No place is perfect! In fact that is exactly the paradox of spreading your wings and moving around. Ignorance can be bliss. Once you travel you see outside your bubble and can't help but notice the pros and cons in every place instead of blindly believing that your country is #1.
Again, a very informative look at Finland. You're quite right that most of the 'macro issues' you listed exist everywhere. That's what human nature is. Thomas Jefferson, the US thinker and former president suggested that the Constitution be rewritten from scratch every 18 or 19 years. A way to get rid the the absurd things perhaps!