Worse unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed, higher unemployment, eroded welfare resources and tax cuts that have greatly benefited high-income earners. A new report from Katalys examines what the institute describes as the Sweden Democrats' betrayal of the workers, unemployed and low-income earners who helped the party to power. The SD received 29 percent of the workers' votes in the 2022 election and 27 percent among LO members….
Category: Elderly care
Relationships alone are not enough – happiness requires a holistic perspective
Relationships important but no miracles Good relationships are crucial for well-being. A long-term Harvard study with that message, the New York Times recently highlighted. The research supports it. People with warm, stable relationships live longer and happier on average. Isolation, on the contrary, can be as harmful as smoking. More time with family and friends actually increases…
Money is not the problem
The economy that is wearing us out is the problem We live in a society where almost everything important is said to be too expensive. Healthcare is too expensive. School is too expensive. Dental care is too expensive. Climate change is too expensive. Secure jobs are too expensive. Pensions are too expensive. Humane working conditions are too expensive. But bank profits are not too…
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…
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,…
Work for all provides a more stable, state-regulated mixed economy
Work for all is the goal society must have. Brilliant text on the benefits of full employment and its positive side effects. Niklas Blomqvist questions the idea that the market itself can create full employment. For example, Blomqvist points out that attempts to follow this path in the last thirty years have not produced the desired results. He emphasizes that work for…
Loneliness at Christmas - so you can break your loneliness at any time
Alone this Christmas? Here are some thoughts and tips Christmas can be a wonderful time, but also challenging if you feel lonely. And of course loneliness is tough sometimes - we are social creatures after all. Research shows that involuntary loneliness is not good for health, but that doesn't mean you have to have a partner….
Neither demonizing nor releasing the right-wing extremists helps
Of course, it is important not to demonize any political movement, including far-right groups. But helping more extreme right-wing politics by inviting discontent parties on the extreme edge of the right, as The Economist advocates on 2023-09-14 in the editorial "The EU's liberals need better ways to deal with populists" solves nothing. Too often, the right-wing extremists are too…
The truth about immigration
Integration is an investment – not a cost. Although it sometimes takes up to 5-8 years for refugee immigrants to get a firm grip on the labor market, it is significantly shorter than for many native Swedes without higher education. Young Swedes often try their luck in their 20s and 30s between temporary jobs, unemployment, and studies before they…
Good pensions require progressive taxes and adequate government deficits
It is always today's production capacity that pays for today's pensions via taxes. Vote for good pensions and work for an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable future. Pensions require sustainable production A system with sufficient progressive taxes and government deficits/that the government creates money instead of the banks doing it via lending (read about deficits here) can...