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Why? What does the US have to offer to Sweden in return for implementing this legislation by their design?

• dexy 15y ago
  The US wields all kinds of influence over a nation like Sweden. If the US raised a few barriers to trade with Sweden, it would have a drastic effect on Sweden's economy. Many Swedish industries depend on exporting to the US, and while US citizens could just import similar goods from elsewhere if Swedish goods became more expensive, Swedish businesses would lose a gigantic and wealthy market that they depend on selling to. I'm sure that Sweden depends on the US as a military ally as well, it provides visas for many Swedish citizens regularly, and much more. At the end of the day, Sweden just needs the US more than the US needs Sweden, and that's why the US can argue from a position of power for its own industries.
  • burgerbrain 15y ago
    I think Sweden might overestimate their dependence on the US. The military threat to Sweden is currently rather low, (and there's always the rest of NATO). Countries just need to all agree to start ignoring the US. I bet doing so would be a positive gain for economies in the long run.
    • chc 15y ago
      Ignoring the US effectively means shutting yourself off from the global culture, because like it or not, America's entertainment industries are the biggest in the world. American movies play everywhere. American music is heard everywhere. Last I heard, America is about half of the video and computer games industry. And even the Internet is dominated by America unless you're Chinese or somewhere similarly insular (this site you're on right now? American). Some examples of things you'll have to boycott to truly ignore America: • Google • Bing • Blekko • DuckDuckGo • Facebook • Macs • Windows • iPhone • iPad • Android • MS Office • Photoshop • MySQL • Java • C# • Red Hat • Firefox • Chrome • IE • Safari • iTunes • Final Cut • Premiere • Avid • ProTools • Logic
      • Too 15y ago
        > MySQL Actually, Mysql is Swedish :P
        • timc3 15y ago
          I bet more than half the products on there came about or have had major contributions from sources outside of America.
        • chc 15y ago
          No, Oracle is definitely American.
          • forza 15y ago
            ...and MySQL is definitely open source.
      • burgerbrain 15y ago
        You don't need to ignore products of American companies to ignore the American government. I'm sure Google or facebook won't stop refusing service to Sweden, no matter what happens in politics. Physical products will still be available through other countries, if you really need them. Of course other products will be probably easier to acquire, hence the boon to friendlier economies. Furthermore, if countries start doing this en mass, like I'm suggesting they should, one of two things would happen: 1) Companies would move their Corporate HQs outside of the US. Most already have significant resource outside the US (like for instance, their factories..). 2) or, Enough lobbying pressure would be put on the government that the bully-tactic legislation would stop. If other nations stop responding the way that American corporate lobby groups want them to, they will have to change their tactics or suffocate. "America's entertainment industries are the biggest in the world." Well that's kind of the point of this discussion isn't it? Just let your people download what they want, and give the US the finger.
        • dexy 15y ago
          Don't forget, there are many reasons why American businesses are so successful. Most of those reasons have nothing to do with government intervention or bully politics. You may disagree, but there's a very strong argument that movies and music of the quality that comes out of America would be impossible without such strong global copyright enforcement. Every time you consume a movie, you're the direct benefactor of a massive global economy and copyright system that can fund content costing tens of millions of dollars to produce and give it to you for $10. If getting everything for free is more important to you, then only consume open source content. America doesn't want to force Sweden to obey copyrights just because Microsoft needs Swedish business, it does so because Sweden backing pirates sets a standard for the rest of the world that could very easily lead to a global breakdown of copyright law and less high quality content for everybody, whether they can afford it or not.
• tsotha 15y ago
  In recent years the US Congress has had a lot of success bullying other countries through the use of the banking system. By putting restrictions on the ability of US banks to do business with the target country's banks they can put a lot of stress on financial interests in that country.