Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for explorers of all persuasions, be they intellectual or geographic.

I'm your host, Andrew Heaton, a man in search of good ideas, which I can observe and bootleg, back to my own home, to improve my country and take credit for.

Following up on last week's episode about Finland and social trust, I wandered over to Sweden to steal some ideas from these friendly Targaryens around these parts,

and specifically to ask,

if America were to try to replicate a Nordic-style social safety net,

what would that look like?

Who funds it? How is it administered? What are the taxes like?

I kicked off my time in

Stockholm by going to the Nobel Prize Museum, a repository of brilliant ideas and science,

economics, and medicine, perfect to explore interesting notions. Only after 15 or 20 minutes of

learning about how

Dr. Hoosett has been awarded the Nobel Prize

for pioneering semi-protein glutenate suballocation

to CRISPR particle accelerator jiffies,

I got a headache and I quietly snuck out the back

and instead I went to the Abba Museum.

So when you're near me, darling, can't you hear the SOS?

The love you gave me nothing else can save me, S-O-S.

Which was good, because it gave me some time to consider this wonderful country called Sweden without getting a nosebleet.

Oh, I try out and I carry on.

You seem so far away, though you are standing near. Ah, Stockholm.

A beautiful, beautiful city. I highly recommend it.

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