Sweden's fertility rate has fallen to a historic low of 1,43 children per woman, well below the replacement level of 2,1. Karin Engdahl believes that political reforms are urgently needed to restore young people's faith in the future. She suggests reducing working hours, especially for parents of young children. Without more secure jobs, cheap, good and beautiful housing and investments in saving the climate. and stronger welfare…
Category: Class society
Life expectancy and class gaps within it are increasing
Despite increased life expectancy since the 1950s, large differences between groups are increasing. The average life expectancy for men in Sweden is 82,3 years. For women, it is 85,4, which is 3,1 years more than for men. For example, the average life expectancy in the 1950s, calculated from birth, was around 74 years for women and 71 years for men. Nowadays, infant mortality is lower…
The crisis of hyperglobalization – and the path to a new green Bretton Woods
The crisis of hyperglobalization finally arrived. For several decades, the world had been governed by one idea: that more trade, more deregulation and more global capital mobility would automatically lead to prosperity. In the report “Out of the Ashes into the Fire,” Stefan de Vylder calls the period from 1980 to 2016 the era of hyperglobalization – an era in which the economy became increasingly…
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,…
Saving the world starts with local protests
How do we save democracy, world peace, the climate and nature? Democracy wins the people and vulnerable groups through local protests historically. If they are of sufficient public interest, they spread. Today's capital is built on fragile international systems such as just-in-time. These are very sensitive to disruptions. If local protests spread, this could have a major effect. Could red-green…
Threat to democracy with private universities
Private universities – are they really better just because they are self-governing? The Liberals are now proposing, in a first step that I suspect will be taken against private universities, that more universities should become foundations. The stated noble purpose is to secure the academic freedom of higher education institutions. There is a widespread belief that privatization automatically leads to higher quality…
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…
The school's lack of results is due to cutbacks, lack of performance, municipalization and independent schools
In SvD, Henrik Dalgard raises important points about how a culture of adaptation and lowered requirements in teaching affect students and pupils. But it is crucial to place the problem in a larger context. The deteriorating results in school and students' reduced ability to write and analyze is not an isolated phenomenon. They are consequences of…
The worst consequences of neoliberalism - from economic to social disaster
The consequences of neoliberalism are profound and devastating. From greedflation and right-wing extremism to the risk of global war and climate catastrophe, this ideology undermines society's stability, health and future. Economic inequality and reduced democratic rights threaten future social cohesion and global peace. Greedflation after 2020 Companies raise prices well above their cost increases to maximize profits. This phenomenon,…
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…