Our lecturer this morning seemed to believe the period when this area was a part of Sweden was its golden age. That was the first time, according to him, when the state took an interest in educating the children of peasants. He also mentioned that the first time people hereabouts began developing nationalistic feelings was during the 1800s. Prior to the nineteenth century people identified with their village or perhaps county or parish, nothing larger. Today, roughly a third of Estonia's 1.5 million population lives in the capital, Tallinn.
Estonia has a relatively long border with Russia but most of it is along a quite large lake. Militarily, this is relevant because invading in strength across the lake would be difficult and impractical. Think of it as "lake = moat." All young males must spend 9 months in the Army or 11 months in the Navy, followed by several years in the reserves. Increasing numbers of young women are joining up too. Estonia is part of NATO and their troops are doing peacekeeping duty in various places where NATO is deployed.
We would have liked to take a train south through Latvia to Lithuania and back today, to see two more countries. Unfortunately, no passenger trains now make this run, although we are assured they did in former Soviet days. Now locals take the bus or drive their cars.
Estonia has a flat income tax, something conservatives have talked about but failed to achieve in the U.S. Furthermore, over the next four years their flat tax rate will decline from 22% to 18%, and corporate income that is reinvested is not taxed at all; this economy is going to grow! Of course anything you buy carries an 18% value added tax or VAT. What this means is that money that is saved is today taxed at 22% whereas money that is spent is taxed at 40% (22% plus 18%). This provides a nice savings incentive. If only the U.S. was so economically rational.
