A couple of weeks ago, while most of Europe was still half-asleep on summer holiday, the eyes of the continent briefly turned to Ceuta – that small Spanish exclave clinging to the North African coast. Tens of thousands of people, mostly young men and teenagers, threw themselves into the Mediterranean and swam around the border … Continue reading Europe’s Perfect Storm Hit a Tiny Spanish Enclave – And Social Media Lit the Fuse

Is inflation actually man-made? In my book, yes. Sweden doesn’t keep an official tally of every tax and fee. A conservative guess lands somewhere between 20 and 30 main ones. Break the excise duties and related charges down further and the number climbs. What really grinds my gears is the stacking. Clear examples of taxes … Continue reading Compound Taxation

Swedish CPIF inflation fell to 0.7 percent in July, according to the final figures from Statistics Sweden released today, August 13. CPI came in at a ridiculous 0.2 percent. Both sit miles from the Riksbank’s 2 percent target. (Source: Statistics Sweden) The main reason? Significantly lower energy and fuel prices. This despite the ongoing conflict … Continue reading Sweden’s inflation just collapsed – and it wasn’t the Riksbank’s rate cuts that did it.

ICE is finally doing its job. Illegal immigrants are being removed or driven underground. And yes — the economy is feeling it. Purchasing power disappears. People who stay hide and spend only on the absolute essentials. Job numbers look worse. (See the recent Brookings analysis on how the sharp drop in net migration is weighing … Continue reading America is about to find out what happens when you take the anabolic steroids out of the economy.

Finally, the EU is waking up to the mess of its own energy policy. The same policy that has cost Europeans real money, real competitiveness, and – yes – real hardship. On 17 July 2026 the European Commission dropped its Electrification Action Plan. The goal sounds ambitious enough: double the share of electricity in final … Continue reading A Day Late and a Dollar Short – Again

A few days ago, I found several exhausted bumblebees on the ground in Stockholm. Late July is when many workers naturally wear out, and dry conditions don’t help. But there’s another factor worth naming. Stockholm’s drinking water comes mainly from Lake Mälaren. The core purification method still relies on slow sand filters — biological filters … Continue reading Stockholm’s Bumblebees Are Paying for 15–20 Years of Inaction

That Sweden needs to raise the retirement age just to keep paying today’s pensioners without cutting benefits should feel like a paradox. Someone who has worked since the age of twenty and paid taxes their entire life ought to have financed their own pension several times over. Or so you would think. But Sweden’s public … Continue reading Why Raising the Retirement Age Feels Like a Paradox – And Why It Isn’t

Today 5.4 million people are employed in Sweden. Roughly 3.78 million of them work in the private sector. The Green Party wants to cut the normal working week from 40 to 35 hours. They claim productivity will rise enough to keep output roughly the same. According to LO, a reduction in working hours typically recovers … Continue reading The Math the Green Party Doesn’t Want You to Do

Ahead of the September 13 election, the Left has dusted off one of its favourite talking points again: the interest deduction. In Sweden you can still deduct 30 % of interest expenses (mainly mortgages) up to 100 000 SEK. Above that the rate drops to 21 %. Unsecured loans are no longer deductible at all. … Continue reading The Left Is Recycling Old Arguments Again – This Time It’s the Interest Deduction