Anders Borg's confession and the false burden of debt In 2005, Anders Borg admitted that it was not welfare that caused the 1990s crisis, but a misvalued exchange rate and poorly managed macroeconomic policy. Despite this, welfare was left to bear the blame. The Moderates used this narrative to push through attacks on wage earners, privatizations and cuts. Already in 2006, when Fredrik Reinfeldt won the election,…
Category: A cash register
Social Democracy's challenge
In Movement, Johan Sjölander raises an important and pressing criticism of the Social Democrats. Sjölander puts his finger on a painful truth – that the party has long been accused of drifting to the right. Now the party has actually drifted far too far to the right. But Sjölander's criticism is too mild. The reality is that the Social Democrats, together with their allies…
Nobel Prize on Power and Progress
An ideology in power that favors workers must guide technological development. It determines whether we get a fairer world. Technological progress has not always meant better working conditions or higher wages for everyone. We need to develop innovations that help workers become better at their tasks, not just replace them with automation. Then the technology would…
Wage gaps in business not productive
The report "Reining in CEO Compensation and Curbing the Rise of Inequality" by Dean Baker, Josh Bivens and Jessica Schieder shows how the increase in executive pay since the 1970s has widened income gaps in the US. High salaries for company leaders lead to other senior managers also being paid more, while the salaries of the employees in the middle and at the bottom…
Harris and Walz: A Struggle for Equality and Rights in an Unequal America
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz face a challenging but possible path to electoral victory in the upcoming US presidential election. Donald Trump polarizes and appeals to an increasingly extreme right-wing base. Harris and Walz instead direct their focus to the rampant inequality in the country. This issue affects millions of Americans. They find it difficult to afford…
The long-term unemployed and workers receive a tough blow from the new unemployment insurance fund
Devastating for the long-term unemployed On 18 June 2024, the Riksdag decided to implement significant changes in unemployment insurance (a-kassan). Devastating for the long-term unemployed, the disabled, immigrants and many vulnerable professional groups. Save the unemployment fund! Vote here. For the Unemployed: The new reduction in benefits may lead to financial difficulties for the long-term unemployed. These are often disabled or low-educated immigrants. Critics say that…
The Sweden Democrats are not social democrats
The Sweden Democrats and Neoliberalism's Discontent The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) have emerged as a decisive political force. The Dissatisfaction Party capitalizes on the dissatisfaction that many Swedes feel with neoliberalism. Neoliberalism brings cutbacks, layoffs, market solutions, deregulation and privatization. In recent decades, this has led to widening gaps between rich and poor. Many ordinary citizens have experienced long-term unemployment,…
Tax for poor and rich, early retirement and cheap servants
Tax for poor and rich? What does the right want? The right wants low taxes for the rich so that they can live on the returns from their accumulated and inherited capital from an early age. The right wants high taxes and low wages/remunerations for low income earners to pressure them to become cheap servants of the rich. How does…
The save-in-the-barns make it difficult for the sellers and bankruptcies are increasing
Difficulty for sellers and bankruptcies on the rise It is not only construction workers, employees in schools, health and care, refugees, labor immigrants as well as the unemployed and sick who are affected by the austerity policy of the Tidö government. Bankruptcies are at a record high and increasing. At the same time, one of Sweden's top salespeople tells me that it is difficult for his professional group as well. It's not going well…
Work with good conditions and good wages provides profitability
"One of the most important insights of labor value theory is that what creates economic prosperity is work, not an ever-shrinking national debt. The limit to what the state can do is set by what resources are available. For the social economy, the most important thing is that all available resources (labour, capital, natural resources) are used and used effectively.¹ With this insight, the Social Democrats can leave…