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…
Category: Welfare
Pyrrhic victory for Western financial markets that breaks the US world power order
The Iran deal shows something bigger than a war The so-called peace deal between the US and Iran is a largely completed peace agreement, even if Netanyahu challenges it a bit by continuing to bomb Lebanon. But Israel will probably have to give in to Trump and the US can no longer afford the political and economic price of…
When did the Social Democrats stop being “patriots”?
As the Social Democrats' political communication increasingly revolves around security, values and national cohesion, new tensions arise in the party's organization and ideological direction. When the future is described as a preservation of the present, communication risks becoming both exclusionary and visionless. A simplistic view of security and nationalistic communication shifts social democracy away from equality, global responsibility...
Societies collapse when the elite withdraw
Societies collapse when the elite refuses to accept the right of the state to demand socio-economic responsibility from them. If the rich also refuse to invest in sustainable production, the problems increase significantly. Progressive taxation and protection for equal working, career and living conditions are needed. Read the article on Gemensam.
Productivity also requires consideration for people and nature
Sweden's productivity growth has become too low. To reverse the trend, new thinking is needed – not more power for the vested interests of business. Growth that worsens the climate, equality and welfare leads to zero-sum thinking, where everyone ultimately loses. To achieve real development, investments are needed in people, nature and fair working conditions. Collective solutions strengthen both society and growth. https://www.dn.se/debatt/i-nollsummespelet-blir-vi-alla-ekonomiska-forlorare/
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…
The hope of the future, great visions of freedom and solidarity
Bigger left visions of need The hope of the future is big visions. Political labels have lost their meaning and often replace critical thinking. In Europe, left-wing parties have become less revolutionary and more reformist. The reforms are also very cautious at that. It started when the oil and overproduction crisis in the 1970s led to capital managing to misinform politicians that…
Ethics in a brutal time
A newsletter from SubRosa discusses brutalization in our brutal age, I want to highlight that in my opinion that supports Karl Marx in this dilemma. Matter before morality Marx emphasizes matter before morality, while Hegel says that history develops out of a struggle between ideas (often of a moral nature) that ends in the modern state with…
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…