I don’t know if you saw the last episode of Beck on Swedish TV and heard this joke, but my Swedish man told it to me yesterday:

A Swede, a Russian and an American were at a cafe having a cup of coffee when they noticed a man who looked like Jesus sitting at the next table.

The Russian asked, “are you Jesus”? And Jesus said, “yes. I’ve come back”.

The Russian said, “oh! I have a terrible pain in my leg. Can you please heal me”? Jesus touched his leg and the man was healed. And he was grateful.

The American said, “oh! I have a terrible pain in my back. Can you please heal me”? And Jesus touched his back and the man was healed. And he too was grateful.

Then Jesus looked at the Swedish man and before Jesus could open his mouth the Swede said, “don’t touch me! I’m on disability leave!”

*Swedish workers enjoy some of the most liberal benefits in the world, including two months’ paid time off and 16 months’ paid parental leave. True, the French and the Finns work even less, but while most West European countries limit sick benefits to a year or so, Swedes, with a labor force of just 5.8 million, commonly take years off work at 80 percent compensation. Government-sponsored sickness and early-disability insurance eat up $15 billion annually, more than 11 percent of government expenditures, and on any given day, 13 percent of working-age Swedes collect sick benefits—a greater percentage than in any other Western nation.

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