swedish politics Archives • Page 10 of 13 • SwedeInternational

Fri. 26/7 – Rocky IX: behind bars

A new movie?

So much to say. Is there a diplomatic crisis? This is Trump, people. He’ll milk it for as long as he wins home opinion with it and then forget it. Why is he being taken so seriously? Perhaps it is as Elsa Kugelberg writes in DN – that Sweden is unfortunately so dependent on the US for its security, mostly via NATO (to everyone’s irritation), that it is forced to take the president seriously.

Plus, it’s summer, and there is no-other-news.

There is, though, more Rocky news. For one, he’s still releasing music even though he’s behind bars. “Live fast” was recorded well before Rocky’s Sweden visit. The single has been described as “dark” (bit.ly/DNRockySingle).

Then, some woman went crazy screaming at the staff of the Swedish Embassy in Washington. She kicked a tent, and turned over a table, and has apparently admitted to throwing a can of soda at the door of the embassy and yelling that she wanted to blow the f’n place up (). These are bad times on the mental health front.

Former Prime Minister Carl Bildt has responded to Trump’s tweets, but so far (and to his credit because what could he possibly say?), Löfven has declined. Nothing that Carl Bildt, Stefan Löfven or Sweden’s ambassador to the US can say will have any effect on Trump because, well, he isn’t actually speaking to them.

Wed. 24/7 – Sweden in straits

scenes we don’t want to see
pic: newyorker.com

The Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk finally got in touch with the crew of its ship, Stena Impero, which was taken over by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz last week. The 23-man crew, who are of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino origin, report that they are in good physical health, though under a lot of psychological stress.

The Swedish government may also be under a certain amount of stress as pressure grows for them to take a stand as to whether or not they will partake in a collaborative security effort in the Strait of Hormuz, helping to guarantee the safe transit of ships through one of the busiest and most economically important seaways in the world.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Foreign Minister, has floated the idea of a common European (not NATO) defense of the seaway, to which Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands have responded positively. Here, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström’s spokesperson says Sweden hasn’t been formally asked to participate. By this, they are able to avoid committing to a yes, or a no. It doesn’t help the UK’s case that they are essentially asking for help in defending the unharrassed passage of oil tankers. Oil tankers don’t exactly have a lot of likes in Sweden. As the Swedish government is a coalition that includes the Swedish Green Party, it likely doesn’t jibe well.

The larger issue is of course to what degree Sweden is willing to stand up in some sort of military cooperation with its neighbours. Just recently, Sweden signed an agreement to look into the posiblility of developing fighter jets together with Great Britain (). But, in case you didn’t get it the first time, it was an agreement just to look into the possibility of working together. Aligning itself militarily with one part or another isn’t something Sweden does easily.

Everyone knows Peter Hultqvist, Minister for Defense, and Margot Wallström don’t row the same boat, and this recent non-request by the UK falls under the purview of the Foreign Ministry when it comes to a dialog.

Tues. 23/7 – do your tax evasion here

Sweden got a thumbs down from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) regarding its measures to counter tax evasion, SvD reports today (). Sweden has done nothing, they say, (zip zero nada) to make illegal the kind of money-moving that resulted in the “cum-ex files” international financial scandal last year.

Basically, the scheme involved asking tax authorities for tax refunds on taxes that were actually never paid. In Sweden, (and this is grossly simplifying), it mostly involved what was called a cum-cum deal (pronounced kume, presumably) in which investors “loaned out” their holdings to a frontman to avoid paying withholding tax.

It’s complicated. Plus, and this is obviously embarassing for Skatteverket and its fans, it wasn’t actually illegal in most cases – it was just sort of morally corrupt.

ESMA is urging Sweden to get a move on fixing this issue. Germany’s already done their part.

Tues. 23/7 – IKEA goes electric

Ikea plans to go all electricity in their home deliveries in Sweden within the next 5 years, Dn.se reports today (). Their deliveries in the Stockholm region are already delivered in electric vehicles, and 90% of Ikeas’s transport in Sweden is also fossil-fuel free, but Ikea is going for more on the domestic side. Already in Shanghai, Ikea’s last-mile deliveries (from store or warehouse home) are zero-emission, and NY, Paris and Amsterdam are next in line.

According to Ikea itself, Ikea’s total transport distances, not even including these last-mile home deliveries, equal 71 trips to Mars. Ikea plans to reduce their entire emissions worldwide at least 15% by 2030. NASA is planning on reaching Mars sometime in the 2030’s (www.mars.nasa.gov). Let’s see who gets to their goal first.

Tues. 23/7 – an SOS for the SEK

Although the Swedish Central Bank (Riksbanken) had a darn cheery economic prognosis for Sweden earlier this month, a report from Capital Economics (a pretty huge, international, economic research company) predicts that the krona may sink to a new low by the end of the year – 11 kronor to the Euro. DN.se reports (bit.ly/DNekonomi) that Capital Economics has Swedish household consumption down 1% in May compared to last year – the largest drop in a decade. This bodes ill for the economy as a whole.

So why is the krona so weak? Why doesn’t it buy so much anymore? Why does so much seem so much more expensive? It’s good for people bringing over money, or if you’re a tourist, but it’s not generally good when you have to pay a lot more for things than normal.

Some people think that the krona has simply been overvalued before and this is the new normal (see Handelsbank’s economists on Affärs Världen ). Or, that it’s not really that bad – if you compare it to even smaller currencies. But if you don’t think that way, then there are a bunch of different factors to consider. DN.se’s Carl Johan von Seth had a few ideas a while back ():

Low interest rates. You’ve probably noticed how nobody is getting any interest on the money in their bank account. It’s the same on a country scale. Other countries are simply not buying the krona because they won’t make any money on it, and if no one’s buying, it further weakens the krona. Snow, meet ball.
Trump. Let’s just go ahead and blame him for this too, right? But we can! The dollar is super strong, and every time the Fed even thinks about raising the interest rate to keep things on an even keel, Trump is right there tweeting some really dark shade. The tax reform he implemented is also keeping the dollar strong (and possibly the economy good but that’s another, complicated, blog post). Plus, the trade war he’s engaged in with China makes people (read: economies) nervous, and nervous economies don’t buy weak currencies, like the krona. Especially when it’s known how dependent Sweden is on international trade.
The European Central Bank. The Euro is pretty strong these days, (which also makes the krona look weak), but has an even lower inflation than Sweden. In that comparison, Sweden’s higher inflation is unfavorable.
Sweden’s Minister for Finance, Magdalena Andersson. Some argue that Andersson’s relatively restrictive budgeting and the resulting budget surplus is part of the reason. If she had spent a bit more, maybe the krona would be stronger. (Then again, the budget surplus is a good thing to have if/when the economy weakens. Always an argument.)
The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (“Finansinspektion”). The housing market is an acknowledged hot mess, and the Finance inspection’s new demand for paying off one’s mortgage and a higher down payment requirement has had both the desired effect (dampening the housing market) and an unwanted side effect (dampening the housing market). Less building can be good in some ways but also affects Swedish economic growth negatively. Exactly, contributing to a weak krona again.

Congratulations on making it all the way through this blog post. Now go out and spend some money to bring up our economy. Or save the money in your mattress for the worse days to come. No advice here, this is just a blog post.

Sun. 21/7 – electricity companies busted

The Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) criticized a slew of Swedish electricity companies for hard to read, and even harder to understand, cost information, Dn.se reported today. The Agency took a look at the websites of 13 companies, and found every single one of them lacking: One example was not being clear that the distribution charge (nätpris) wasn’t included in the cost they were quoting on the website. Since the distribution cost is a huge part of any electricity bill, and is completely seperate from the cost of the electricity you actually use, this is a good thing to be aware of.

According to SvD (https://www.svd.se/se-hur-mycket-ditt-elpris-forandrats) the cost of electricity delivered to the average home has increased 24% between 2013-2018. In many areas, up north in particular, the cost has increased up to 60%. There are a few teeny weeny counties where the cost has decreased, but they’re as easy to see as stars in the night sky over Manhattan.

The electricity companies have until the 30th of August to respond, after which the Consumer Agency may take further measures.

Sat. 20/7 – when tweets fail just call

President Trump and Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven had a 20 minute chat this afternoon during which Löfven explained to Trump that the Swedish courts were untouchable for both himself, US Presidents, and anyone else unconnected to the justice system. The chat, characterised as “friendly and respectful” by Löfven, and “a very good call” by Trump, didn’t change anything regarding the continued detention (now until July 25) of hip hop star ASAP Rocky.

Trump offered to cover the bail for Rocky, but bail is not the issue since it doesn’t figure in the Swedish justice system anyway: No one is supposed to be able to use money to buy themselves into an nicer situation.

20 July – how much did your party make?

Earnings reports are in for Sweden’s political parties. Hands up who knew this was a thing. SvD.se gave the following rundown:

The gold prize goes to the Social Democrats. They raked in 249 million SEK of which 55% (about 139 mil) came from public coffers. Main money-making source: lotteries (also donations from unions).

Silver to the Center Party, who made nearly as much, with 229 million SEK coming in (18%, about 41 mil, came from public coffers). Main money-making source: investments made with the money from a sale of their newspaper concern Randello.

Bronze goes to the Moderates, who made 176 million SEK – way more than last year, due to the sale of their previous offices in Old Town (Gamla Stan). The Moderates also got 109 mil from the state (us).

Finishing 4th are the Sweden Democrats with 96 million SEK. SD gets more money from its members than any other party by far. They also get 69% of their total income from the state, 66 mil.

In 5th place comes the Environment Party with a little under 64 million SEK. Sales have been a big part of their income but like all the other parties, they also get a huge chunk of change, 37 mil, from the state.

The Liberals come in at 6th place with an income of 57 million SEK. 55% of that, 31 mil, came from the state, while sales, and income from lower level party organizations, make up most of the rest.

78% of Vänsterpartiet’s income of 49 million SEK comes from the state. What’s left is what’s gotten via collection, donations and sales.

Dead last come the Christian Democrats, with an income of under 37 million SEK. All of 84% of it, nearly 31 mil, comes from public coffers too, while about 6 million is gotten via fees, sales and donations.

To some degree, party earnings match party standing seen over time. A huge difference is found in the Social Democrats’ lottery earnings. According to Wikipedia, only the Social Democrats, and recently the Sweden Democrats, have licenses to run big country-wide lotteries, and for the Social Democrats they are a huge part of their earnings (see “dream-trip lottery” and “motor lottery”). This has not gone unnoticed and uncriticized, particularly when they are the only ones who don’t have to follow a new law forbidding lottery ticket sales on credit. This allows the S party to sell lottery tickets to people who are already in debt.

None of this really makes sense, but it’s been going on for a long time and the Social Democrats have been in power for almost that long as well.

July 19 – Rocky remains behind bars

ASAP Rocky has to remain in custody, a Swedish court decided today. According to DN.se, the court considers him a flight risk. Meanwhile, Sweden’s top prosecutor and general secretary of the Swedish Bar Association, Anne Ramberg, came out to say that this would not have happened if Rocky had been Swedish. In another meanwhile, the people accusing Rocky of assault are now also being investigated. And back in the US, the Swedish ambassador to the United States, Karin Olofsdotter, has gone public on TMZ.com to say that coming to Sweden is really “perfectly safe” and that “people are more than welcome” to visit.

The wheels of justice grind slowly sometimes, but this needs to be cleared up. Sweden is regularly criticised by the United Nations for the long time someone can be held without being formally charged (we’re talking really, really long times). As great as it would be if this were the case that got Sweden to seriously look at this issue, it’s still not likely. Change on this issue would make the wheels of justice look zippy.

July 18 – drug deaths up

A record number of Swedes have died drug-related deaths, SvD reports. Fresh statistics for the year 2017 from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction show that the only country with a higher number of deaths per million people was Estonia. If its any comfort – which it isn’t – Estonia’s numbers (130 deaths per million) were way higher than Sweden’s (92 deaths per million).

The official Swedish policy towards drugs is one of zero-tolerance. In recent years, this policy has come under a lot of critique from people in the know who say that Sweden basically wages war on drug users instead of trying to treat them. Testing for drug use also uses up huge amounts of law enforcement’s time and resources, and there have been charges that the police spend more time tracking down drug use in the suburbs that have a large immigrant population than in their socioeconomic opposite numbers. There are many voices that call for more regulation in drug use, and less all-out criminalization.

Allowing more access to Naloxin, the anti-overdose miracle medicine, is, however, about the only new thing the government has considered in recent years. Legalising cannabis, that even Sweden’s soul mate Canada has recently done, is so far pretty much out of the question.

There is no question that something is definitely rotten in the state of Sweden , as drug-related deaths have doubled in the last ten years.