What caused the Swedish Prime Minister who resigned seven hours after his election to be re-elected?

In Swedish political practice, when a political party withdraws, the Prime Minister should resign.

Anderson's behavior undoubtedly shows her attitude. In an interview, she declared that "she doesn't want to be in power with extreme political parties, and she doesn't want to lead a government whose legitimacy is questioned".

Her tough attitude finally made Swedish parliamentarians compromise. A week later, she was re-elected as the prime minister, and she was a female prime minister who could monopolize power.

In fact, the new Prime Minister resigned on his first day in office and was re-elected only one week later. This confusing behavior undoubtedly highlights the current problems in Sweden: the plight of the welfare state and the political chaos of multi-party governance.

The plight of the welfare state

Sweden has been trying to shape the image of a welfare state, trying to get a lot of votes through this cradle-to-grave welfare system.

But the problem is that the welfare state needs a lot of money, and Sweden has paid a heavy price for it.

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Swedes have been paying the highest tax in the world (30-year average personal income tax is 55%) in exchange for various services provided by the government, such as free medical care and education, high pension, unemployment benefits and parental leave.

Even the locals think that this radical approach is a bit excessive-the government is subsidizing backward industries that are not competitive, wages are growing faster than productivity, and inflation has become the norm. In response, the Swedish central bank raised the interest rate to 75% on 1992 to prevent the national currency from plummeting.

However, this simple and rude way directly led to the unemployment rate in Sweden soaring to 8%. In fact, the economy has shrunk and municipal tax revenue has dried up.

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As a result, in recent decades, while continuing to maintain high taxes, the Swedish government has lowered the service standards of the welfare state, which has caused many social problems-the most typical one is the problem of providing for the elderly.

Since the financial crisis, the Swedish government has handed over the responsibility of caring for the elderly (mostly living at home) to the municipal government with tight funds, and agreed that for-profit enterprises can also open nursing homes. These for-profit enterprises often rely on temporary workers to save costs.

These temporary workers lack professional knowledge of providing for the aged, especially during the epidemic. Nurses are often the only ones on duty on weekends and night shifts. Moreover, the masks worn by these nurses are of poor quality and can't play a protective role.

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To make matters worse, in the past twenty years, Sweden has greatly reduced the capacity of hospitals. At the beginning of the epidemic, many Swedes were refused treatment by hospitals because of insufficient medical equipment.

When many people have obvious symptoms, some hospitals suggest "happy treatment" for patients, that is, giving up life-saving euthanasia, neither physical examination nor treatment.

Therefore, in this country with a population of only 6.5438+million, the per capita mortality rate is equivalent to that of the United States and many times higher than that of its more restrictive Nordic neighbors.

Before the outbreak, miners had spread like diseases in Sweden. According to media reports, on any day, there will be 10% of the workforce absent from work in Sweden, and the absenteeism rate may reach 20% on Mondays and Fridays, and so will hospitals.