First few steps towards the future
danielahlsen.blogspot.com

The circular paradox

In Sweden we have upcoming elections for parliament next fall. This is the most important election in Swedish politics since we are a constitutional or representational monarchy, meaning that we do not elect a president. So whatever parties/y gains most votes in the upcoming election get to form cabinet and elect a prime minister, the highest political post available in Sweden. So naturally when this election is approaching every party tries its outmost to attract voters. However, since we have so many different parties in parliament and thus many parties that share votes in the elections, we seldom see a majority in the results. So we often have so called coalition cabinets. So these days it is more a struggle between the different party blocks than the individual parties. We have the right and center block and then the left socialist party block. All together seven different parties that have a realistic chance of getting into parliament with a substantial amount of suffrage power at their disposal. Anyways, enough description of our voting and governance system, what I wanted to write about is the naïve and juvenile view many few and first time voters have concerning politics today. You see people who are about to vote for the first time talking about politics. These of which I shall write about now, all listen to leftist ’70’s music and wear Palestine scarves, if you ask them about the whereabouts of Palestine they answer that it is somewhere close to Israel. My point is that these people are not really concerned but instead concerned for sake of appearing concerned. However, these people sat around a café table in downtown Stockholm and discussed politics. I accidentally overheard their conversation and had to react. Something, which I got very clear and fast was that, they were definitely going to vote for the leftist block, since the other side only wanted to take from the poor and give to the rich. Their argument was that since Sweden is in such a downturn concerning our budget it would be insane to put a right side liberal cabinet in place. It would only ruin our economy more and more. So instead we would for the 20th year in a row (excluding '91-'94 with Carl Bildt) definitely vote for the left social block and this would repair the economy. Ok, the first flaw in their argument was to assume that Sweden was in a downturn. Something that many young and old Swedes have a tendency to do these days. Mainly due to international media constantly proclaiming the world recession. And as well because regional budget cuts have become quite common these days. Nevertheless, Sweden is not in a downward economic spiral. Our economic growth is bigger today than it has ever been since the ‘70s. The consumption factor has risen so much that we are basically consuming more than we have ever done in Sweden. Swedes are getting richer by the day. A simple example is that the selling’s of luxury cars has doubled since the previous three years. Ferrari Sweden has sold 106 new cars this year, comparable to 57 cars last year. So Sweden is definitely not experiencing an economic downturn. However, this mistake is not really these young voters fault to make, since it is hard to notice the economic explosion if you are not carefully studying it. Maybe they should have noticed that more and more people have new cars and that the sales of flat screen TV’s are exploding. Anyways, it is excusable that they have not noticed this, and that they are following the arguments of the majority. But, this is not something that they should base their vote on. If they do not know all the facts, how can they then determine whom to vote for? Another argument that they used when trying to convince me to vote for the left social block was that the unemployment rate is going up and we need to take care of those without work. Sure, do not take me wrong. I am definitely in favor of unemployment benefits and other forms of benefits and subsidies. I feel that as a welfare state we need to take care of people in need. However, if Sweden is facing an increase in unemployment, which is true since we experience more international investment and therefore losing jobs in Sweden, there is not a good choice to put the social government to counter this. They have been trying to deal with unemployment for as long as they have been in power. Through increasing unemployment benefits and punishing companies that move abroad. Leading only to a greater amount of people unemployed, even if the ones already unemployed feel a moment better. You cannot counter unemployment by raising the benefits. This will only lead to a higher prosperity not to work. And by punishing companies who have to let workers go, you automatically scare international firms, which want to put production in Sweden, off. More and more domestic firms are moving their production abroad because the costs are lower and the unions are weaker. We need to attract companies and make it more beneficial to work, than being unemployed, to really counter unemployment. Anyone with any knowledge in basic Macroeconomics would agree with me on this. The problem is though, that people who argue the opposite, that we need a socialist government to redistribute income, do not often study economics. However, they feel to have enough knowledge in the subject to risk another four years of increasing unemployment. If we let another socialist government take power for the next four years, we will turn out like Norway. A country that is totally bluntly run on capital money stock, and have an amazing GDP per capita; but still suffers relative poverty down on a grass root level. Or were people cannot survive without government backing, like Denmark today. For example, last year when our country still suffered some budget cuts on a national level, our dear socialist government decided to sell out yet another energy producing company. You could think that this is a right-wing thing to do. But there was public opinion against high-energy prices and privatizing the energy production would lead to lower prices. However, if the government sees more budget cuts approaching, why do they then sell out one of the most profit generating state company’s there is? Just to satisfy instant public opinion, and to something that even is against their presumed ideology. We are facing a party politics that are very close to the one in USA. Where politics is about surviving the next four years and not to create a better state. This is why I feel we need a right wing cabinet next year, so to create some contrast in Swedish politics. Make people realize that being an idealistic socialist state does not necessarily mean that we are a good and wellbeing society. We need to realize that right and liberal politics does not exclude welfare and benefits. But it puts economic thinking higher on the agenda, something that the left-block lacks today. First we need to think about the social impact and then secondly the economic one. Without that kind of thinking, Sweden will soon find itself in two consecutive quarters with negative economic growth, more specific economic recession; something that will strike everybody in a negative way. So I want to tell everybody with Palestine scarves, to first unfold an Atlas and find some information about your point of view and respect the people involved, more than wearing the scarf like an alternative fashion accessory, and after that read a book about politics and economics and get some information, more than the one you get on radio and reality shows. Voting should not be taken lightly. Because the economic prosperity we see now, can soon be gone. So lets start preparing for the future. Vote for what you believe in, but make sure you do it for the right reason!

posted by Dale @ 12/27/2005 12:58:00 PM