Sweden In The 20th Century

Brief synopsis of Sweden in the 20th century.

By all appearances, it looks like a paradise, but it's well known even Sweden, an iconic image for the welfare state, is in economic difficulty. It will be interesting to see how they navigate through this.

I mean, they did leverage Norway (I'm sure Norwegians are pleased that Sweden permitted the Germans to use their railroads into Norway), Denmark and Finland well to their advantage against Nazi Germany coming out of the war in a relative good shape.

Was this survival of the fittest at work?

***

Growth rates in Sweden seem to be in a better state than the core European Union members. The projected GDP for Germany, UK, France and Italy are frighteningly low.

The USA remains solid with only India and China outpacing it; which is normal since they are so far behind.

***

From the link provided:

-Spain's unemployment rate is at 20%.

- Japan's inflation rate remains at 0%. Incredible. What is it, 20 years now? And we were supposed to all learn Japanese!

-I know Canada isn't experiencing the same problems as the U.S., but the unemployment figures are not that far apart. Canada is pretty much in line with what it always seems to be fixed at about 7%. The USA at 8.9% (the number is much higher by other measure) but I remember it at as low as 4% just 12-15 years ago.

-Speaking of Canada, Montreal in particular. I had a couple of hours to kill as I dropped off the gals at the theater. Maybe it was the weather, but I was left depressed witnessing the countless for rent and sale signs I saw in shop windows. I used to hang out in that area but a mere 20 years ago and I don't recall this hip area being so desolate. It was rocking all the time. Now, the only vibe I felt was the slow bite of the economy sucking the life out of small business.

The only ones that remained familiar to me were the corporate coffee shops, ethnic bakeries, and restaurants opened early in the last part of the 20th century. Those places can withstand an economic downturn (and high rent) because they probably have the cash strength to do so and likely own the property in which they operate. Everyone else didn't or don't seem to be lucky. Trendy clothing boutiques and small restaurants especially. Sure, new places came in but not enough to shake the idea that we're in a weak economic environment.