... it was Sweden's homemade financial meltdown of the 1990s that finally killed off the dream. Poverty was added to the pessimism. Savage cuts hit schools, unemployment rocketed, the krona sank - leaving the social system in a disarray from which it has not recovered. The conservative government at the time has lately been praised worldwide for its handling of the crisis. Actually the bankers were rewarded, not punished, while the rest of the country is still reeling from the cuts, selloffs and dashed dreams the crisis provoked.
Bring back the Czech presidency, quick!
Moody's Investors Service has issued its annual report on the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB or Bank). The eight members of the Aaa/ Prime 1-rated international financial institution are the five Nordic nations and the three Baltic countries. The Bank's capital and loan exposures are roughly proportional to the size of the member economies, with 96% of the capital contributed by the four Aaa-rated Nordics: Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. "NIB's top ratings reflect its exceptionally strong creditworthiness, based on a track record of nearly unblemished asset quality, prudent financial management, healthy capital adequacy, and strong liquidity," said Kristin Lindow, Senior Vice President in Moody's.
That was then.... You can't be me, I'm taken
And our banking crisis was managed in an exemplary way, except they didn't put draconian enough legislation in place to stop future excesses.
Calling our government "conservative" is, well, I guess it's just the British way of saying "right-wing". Our government is to the left of Brown, and certainly of Blair.
This guy puts me in mind of some crazy old marxist who has become disillusioned, turned to neoliberalism and started to hate the idealised old model which couldn't meet his sky-high fantasy expectations. He has probably never even been to Sweden.
For example, the following are just outrageously blatant lies:
Take healthcare. Swedes do not enjoy free public care: it costs to see a GP. That is, if you manage to see one. Queues are long and scandals rack the system. Psychiatric care, the source of many such scandals, has a near-medieval penchant for authoritarianism with few European equivalents. People are locked up for months for not taking medicine, given no therapy, and spat out of the system into despair and destitution. The mentally ill die in wards and in outpatient isolation. And they do not even have charities to turn to because state-run healthcare is supposed to work: this is Sweden, after all.
