History shows that almost all major reforms have started with ordinary people rising up. Kjell Östberg's book People in Motion describes how the right to vote, the eight-hour day and welfare did not come from above but grew out of strikes, demonstrations and union struggles. Workers, women, students and soldiers in uniform took to the streets together and demanded dignity,…
Category: The financial power
Debt settlement too difficult to obtain
The fact that over-indebtedness is sky-high in Sweden is not just a personal tragedy for hundreds of thousands of people – it is a systemic failure that reveals something deeply immoral in our economic system. In the fall of 2025, collection requirements will decrease slightly, but that is because people are too poor to even borrow. Private debt mountain not necessary We live in a…
From the public home to the financial crisis
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,…
Financialization a bigger price increaser than food shortages
When rumors rule more than reality Food prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and the reasons are more complicated than they first appear. Financial market speculation and stockpiling by major players control food prices more than actual shortages of raw materials. Sweden has also made itself vulnerable by eliminating its emergency stocks and becoming increasingly dependent on imported food….
Cooperation, care and human success - from the Stone Age to today
Stone Age Stone Age people survived not because they were the strongest or fastest, but because they could cooperate and care for each other in unlimited numbers. Researchers have found graves that show that even people with disabilities were cared for and buried with respect. This tells us that society depended on everyone…
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…
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,…
Piketty, Capital and the Ideology of Inequality
Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" Summary of contents: Thomas Piketty's book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" examines economic inequality throughout history and up to the present day. Piketty uses extensive historical data to analyze wealth distribution and income inequality, focusing on how capital and labor income have developed over time. Main thesis: Piketty argues that the world…
Visitation zones instead of competitiveness
In visitation zones, the police must be able to stop and search people without having a specific suspicion of crime. The idea is that it will make the streets safer, but many are against it. Critics believe that it can lead to abuse and violations of people's rights. This is especially true if it is used against certain groups based on skin color…