GlobLog - October 2006
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

12:31 - THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE AZERI AIR: 

When I get out of Baku´s airport, I am met by a familiar smell. The smell of a gas station. But there is no one around. And almost all they way to the city I sense the smell of oil in the air.

Azerbaijan´s oil wealth affects everything - from the air to contruction works to politics. When a government is wealthy the people rarely is. Huge natural resources controlled by the government often leads to corrupt politicians who fight over the wealth and do not care about the people or about diversifying the economy.

The biggest court case here involves large-scale and brutal crime perpetrated by officers and civil servants very close to the rulers.

A leader of Russian organised crime recently advised colleagues that they shouldn´t be too close to some of the governments in southern Caucasus, because those government don´t follow the respectable criminal´s rules about standing by your word and about not being unnecessarily brutal.

By being too close to the rulers, he was afraid that organised crime would get a bad reputation...

09:02 - THE LIBERTARIAN VOTE: 

David Boaz and David Kirby has published an interesting report, pointing out that libertarians might be the most important neglected electoral group in the US - people who think that the government should be thrown out of both the boardroom and the bedroom.

According to their analysis libertarians in a broad sense make up something like 13 percent of the electorate.

They are homeless in a two party system where one party is economically illiberal and the other socially intolerant. Therefore libertarians are swing voters. A large majority voted for Bush in 2000, but since then they have abandoned the republicans. This time around I have yet to meet an American libertarian who says that he wants the republicans to win Congress.

And yet, the parties neglect them. If the democrats win a majority of the libertarians this year despite an agenda that seems focused on attacking cheap goods for the poor, how much could they get if they at least tried to speak the language of freedom once in a while (perhaps in this way)?

The Economist thinks that the parties fail to do that because they don´t know where the libertarians are. They know where to meet the trade unions and the Christian Right, but where are the individualists who don´t belong to a group?

That is 20th century thinking. More than most groups, libertarians are just a few clicks away, following the news more than most people, starving for attention, and willing to change whenever someone speaks their language (as could be seen in Sweden this year when many libertarians abandoned the moderates and folkpartiet for centern).

15:49 - TBILISI BY NIGHT: 

When Georgians do things, they apparently take it seriously. Yesterday at dinner we were entertained by dancers who attacked one another with swords. Quite aggressive and very impressive.

And the Georgian prime minister Zurab Nogaideli gave a speech a la Castro - long, hopeful and filled with statistics and ambitions. But with a different sort of ambition, of course. He basically said that Georgia was going to become the most free trade-oriented country in the world and explained why corruption among the traffic policemen made him fire every single one of them. And even though Russia has stopped their exports, Georgia will grow by almost 10 percent this year.

If I remember it correctly, the prime minister´s plan for privatisation went something like this:

1. Sell all government companies.
2. Sell all government assets.

And afterwards, the dancers attacked one another again.

16:01 - CAPITALISM IN THE CAUCASUS: 

I mentioned that Georgia is reforming. More than anyone else, actually. According to the Doing Business index 2007, Georgia has moved from place 112 to 37 in just one year – unprecedented in the history of the report.

Georgia has reduced the minimum capital required to start a new business by 90 percent, and the number of days to meet bureaucratic requirements to export from 54 to 13 days. The labour market has been deregulated and social security contributions have been reduced from 31 percent of wages to 20 percent.

At the same time, the number of new businesses has increased by 20 percent and unemployment has fallen by 2 percentage points.

The problem is implementation. The new laws are not always upheld by the local civil servant and policeman. So the priority is improved governance and anti-corruption reform. And, naturally, deregulation that strips the bureaucracy of powers entirely.

For example, the Georgian government recently decided to abolish all tariffs until 2008. Way to go.

10:04 - TROUBLE IN TBILISI: 

Now I am in Tbilisi, Georgia, for a series of lectures about entrepreneurship, democracy, globalisation and Sweden. Here the Rose Revolution against the old authoritarian regime is still in fresh memory, and the new government is preparing an ambitious reform program to consolidate democracy and a free market.

But at the same time, Georgia is threatened by Russia, which keeps military forces in two renegade provinces of the country, and has stopped Georgia’s biggest export, wine. And since Georgia deported four Russian intelligence officers for spying, Russia has gone berserk. It has stopped transports between the countries, harassed ethnic Georgians in Russia and deported hundreds of them. Georgian businesses in Russia have been attacked and closed.

Putin is willing to go far to stop the birth of a free and prosperous country on the border, because it might give hope and inspiration for Russians longing for democracy.

In these difficult times every civilised individual should express sympathy for the Georgian people’s freedom to choose their own destiny. In the week to come, at least I can do it symbolically by drinking a lot of wine.

- Before I get back I will also spend a couple of days in Azerbaijan, a week in Cyprus and a few days in Brussels. So I’m sorry, but it will be difficult to reach me and I won’t respond to email before mid-November.

- The last thing I did before I left Stockholm was to defend decadence against an evangelical church in Svenska Dagbladet…

15:00 - PUTIN DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ENVIOUS: 

Vladimir Putin revealed his sense of humour by greeting the Israeli prime minister thus:

14:35 - A GOOD GUSTAV: 

He left parliament voluntarily because he didn´t want to become a professional politican, and I just noticed that he doesn´t want to live on the taxpayers´ expense now that he has left. So perhaps this is the time to confess: For a long time I have thought that Gustav Fridolin - despite his green, anti-growth views - seems like one of Sweden´s most decent, interesting and intellectually honest politicians.

(Now here is a problem for you to consider, a real Catch 22: Those who leave politics are the best politicians...)

11:06 - MY REVIEW OF THE REVIEWS: 

Yesterday I was lecturing in Åre, and met the first snow of the season. But right before that I reviewed the reviewers of my book När människan skapade världen, as I promised to do when it was published. I have never heard of any other author doing that in a systematic way, so it was a funny experiment. It was well-attended too. We had planned for 50 participants, 150 wanted to come, so we had to move to a bigger place.

A very patient audience heard me going on for more than an hour, especially about the reviews of Lars Magnusson, Niclas Ekdal, Per Ericson and Andreas Bryhn (I didn´t have the time to talk about all 47 reviews...). I also announced my favourite and my least favourite review (both socialists actually)and revealed the five mistakes in my book that no reviewer found.

Unfortunately, none of my reviewers attended, so as a service to them (and others who weren´t there) my powerpoint pictures and an mp3 of my presentation are available here.

19:08 - QUOTE OF THE DAY: 

"America did not win the Cold War by mistreating or killing communists."

- David Ochmanek & Lowell Schwartz, UPI. (Thanks Peter)

13:46 - BODSTRÖM IGEN: 

Apropå varför Thomas Bodströms svarta affärer blåste över så snabbt skickar Patrik mig detta utdrag ur Bodströms bok, om första dagen på departementet, måndagen 16 oktober - andra dagen efter avslöjandet:

"När allt var klart flera timmar senare väntade ett antal intervjuare som ville köra ytterligare ett varv med städhjälp, hasch och mina artiklar. Tv-kameror, bandspelare och raspande pennor. Några briljanta svar gav jag knappast, men jag tyckte mig se att intresset inte var lika stort längre. Dels berodde det nog på att jag inte på något sätt försökt dölja det som varit, dels att schabbel med städhjälp och att ha provat haschrökning i ungdomen kanske inte framstår som så där oerhört avlägset för flertalet journalister."

08:03 - SÅ KAN DET GÅ NÄR MAN INTE ÄR LIBERAL KVINNA: 

"Det blev inte av helt enkelt [att betala skatt för städhjälpen]... Jag har helt enkelt inte levt mitt liv inriktat på att bli minister."

- Justitieminister Thomas Bodström i Ekot om varför han bl a hade svart städhjälp, 14 oktober 2000.

"Statsminister säger dock att han har fortsatt förtroende för Bodström som justitieminister. Göran Persson tänker dock...fråga varför han inte till Skattemyndigheten redovisat att han haft städhjälp."

- Statsministerns överslätande kommentar. Den 15 oktober 2000 följer Ekot inte upp Perssons fråga och Bodströms svar. Ingen bryr sig och frågan dör.

07:51 - LYSSNA, JÄMFÖR OCH IFRÅGASÄTT: 

"Göran Persson sa på TV igår att han aldrig själv kunde ha en finansminister som använt svarta tjänster. Om man lyssnar på Dagens Ekos arkiv från 14 oktober 2000 får man höra den nya justitieministern Thomas Bodström berätta om sina köp av svarta tjänster, därefter uttalar sig statsminister Göran Persson om detta, han har inget särskilt att erinra. Av någon anledning är det upprörande bortom all sans att en finansminister gör samma sak som är ok för en justitieminister. Som du skrev: And why has no journalist asked him about that? Och varför kan ingen spela upp Göran Persson 2000 och 2006 för att jämföra?"

- Mail från Göran (nej, en annan). Och man kan väl t o m fråga om det inte är än värre att just en justitieminister har brutit mot lagen...

22:40 - VI HADE KUNNAT FÅ EN REPRESENTATIV KULTURMINISTER: 

Det droppade in ett mail från en av landets ledande kompositörer:

Brasilien har en musiker (Gilberto Gil) som kulturminister. Han har säkerligen jobbat svart han med..."

13:51 - RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR PRAISES TOTALITARIANISM: 

Before EU and Russia meet later this week, Russia´s EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov makes clear for EUobserver where Moscow stands:

12:21 - PRECIS DÄR PASSERADES GRÄNSEN MELLAN SKJUTJÄRNSJOURNALISTISK OCH LÖJL: 

"Det är skamligt, det är en katastrof."

- Omdöme om Aftonbladets försök att koka soppa på en redan sönderkokad spik. Nej förresten, fel av mig, omdöme om Anders Borgs påstådda 50-lappar till en niondeklassare som satt barnvakt.

10:17 - AN ELITIST GOVERNMENT: 

In my DI column today I point that in a government that represents the people, at least 8 of the 22 ministers should buy services informally. Because almost 4 out of 10 Swedes say that it´s ok - when they are interviewed over the phone by a stranger from a polling firm. So the real proportion is probably much higher. So if the two resigning ministers are the only ones who did it, this government has distanced itself from normal people - but for the opposite reason than the one the commentators talk about.

Two more things about this scandal:

- Yes it´s bad to lose two ministers in ten days. Very bad. But remember that this is a brand new government where almost everybody is new, and are checked by the journalists at the same time. Social democratic governments had their fair share of scandals, but since those governments were regenerated with one minister at a time (since they are always in power), it never seemed as dramatic.

- When Pär Nuder says that no one who broke the law can be a part of the government, does that mean that he will hold the next social democratic government to the same standard? And is that a promise that Thomas Bodström will not return as minister of justice? (I cross my fingers) And why has no journalist asked him about that?

14:40 - STEGÖ CHILÒ RESIGNS: 

My old Timbro boss, Cecilia Stegö Chilò has resigned as culture minister, since she had hired a nanny without paying taxes, and for 16 years didn´t pay her TV-license. As I see it three things made this unavoidable:

23:57 - ATLAS SURPRISES: 

Angelina Jolie will play Dagny Taggart in the movie adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. My favourite was Uma Thurman, but I guess this will be great anyway, at least if we get to see Jude Law as John Galt...

Almost as surprising is the result of Timbro´s essay contest about Atlas. In fierce competition, Boris Benulic, Sweden´s most interesting Marxist, won second prize. Dominika Borg is first and Sandra Karlsson is third. Congratulations.

Captus publish the winners.

22:05 - TALKING TO THE DEVIL´S ADVOCATE: 

The Devil´s Advocate is a fascinating Danish podcast show. With a series of qualified in-depth interviews they have created a new forum for radio based political debate, independent of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

This week they interviewed me about liberalism, globalisation, inequality, the Nordic welfare state and more. The result can be listened to here (in English).

12:15 - SWEDISH BLOGOSPHERE HEREBY ESTABLISHED: 

"The day blogs bring down a member of the parliament (Riksdag) or a Minister, then the blog has become established".

- Hans Kullin quotes me from Bloggforum 2004.

14:06 - A HERO AWARDED: 



Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made its wisest decision in...well, perhaps ever. Alfred Nobel wanted his peace prize to go to the individuals who did the most to promote fraternity between nations and organised peace congresses. Those congresses were started in the mid-19th century by free traders like Cobden and Bright - and in Sweden by the liberal journalist S A Hedlund - to promote communication, trade and goodwill between nations, so as to make war less common. Nobel understood that reduced poverty and mutually beneficial trade could promote peace.

So do this year´s extremely well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize winners, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. By pioneering microcredits, Yunus has shown that the poor are not poor in talent or will, but in credit and opportunities. Grameen´s loans for the poor have created investments and entrepreneurship where no one expected them, and it has reduced poverty and encouraged trust and voluntary cooperation between the borrowers. As Yunus puts it in one of his writings:

10:55 - WHY I WOULD NEVER PAY MY TV LICENSE: 

It´s strange to see so many politicians who suddenly realise that they "forgot" to pay their TV license - including more than a third of all MP´s, 124 of them. It´s tempting to conclude that at least some of them did it for ideological reasons. Ideological reasons that I share. But why? Why is this tax worse than other taxes?

The reason is this: In a democratic society with transparency and division of powers, you have private and voluntary organisations and institutions on the one hand, who have to rely on voluntary cooperation and payments - on the other hand you have the state and governmental organisations, with the right to enforce decisions and taxes. What you don´t have are privileged independent institutions with a legal sanction to use force and extract money from those who have never been asked if they want their services or not.

That´s a distant memory from the middle ages, with incorporated organisations, guilds and companies who got a specific royal sanction to use force. To a large extent, the liberal struggle in the 19th century was about fighting these guilds. Swedish public service television, with its legal sanction to take our money if we own a television, and its East German attempts to encourage neighbors, relatives and friends to be informers, is such an organisation. To collaborate with that system, for example by paying the license, is worse than not to. (Even though I do understand if people don´t want to follow their ethical believes when it´s against the law.)

So do I pay? The thought would never cross my mind. My wife does, but I am trying to hide the invoice every time they send us one.

UPDATE 11.15: This does not mean that I know that any of these politicians share my motives. It has been claimed that it was an open secret at Timbro that Cecilia Stegö Chilò didn´t pay her license. That´s strange. Because I know her well and worked with her for a year, and not even I knew that.

17:03 - KULTURARBETARE UTAN STOLTHET: 

"Det svenska kulturlivet behöver ju stöd och hjälp... [En god kulturminister] blir sentimental och tycker synd om kulturarbetarna."

Författaren Lars Ardelius sammanfattar sin självbild i SvD.

09:58 - ÄVEN SKATTEMYNDIGHETEN TYCKER ATT SVARTJOBB ÄR OK: 

Apropå min kommentar om att det är fullkomligt självklart för alla att barnvakts- och städtjänster är svarta i en ekonomi med våra skatter fick jag ett mycket intressant mail som tyder på att jag hade mer rätt än jag anade: 

"Det som är lite extra kul med din kommentar om att Reinfeldt skötte sin dagmamma vitt är att han enligt en för mig mycket trovärdig person vände sig till skattemyndigheten för att få reda på exakt hur han skulle göra och fick till svar något i stil med:
 
´Det där brukar man sköta direkt mellan de inblandade personerna.´

Reinfeldt tvingades säga vem han var och att han satt i skatteutskottet innan man bad att få komma tillbaka i frågan. Tydligen ansåg även skattemyndigheterna att det var OK med svart barnvakt."

20:35 - CHINA´S RICHEST MAN IS A WOMAN: 

Yes, it´s a new world. According to the latest list, China´s richest person is 49-year old recycler Zhang Yin, who made her $3.4 billion by buying scrap paper in the US and processing it for sale.

18:22 - HOW TO PRETEND THAT YOU DID THE JOB YOURSELF: 

The story about Maria Borelius´ income came from a social democratic blogger, Magnus Ljungkvist. Expressen liked it so much that they stole the story and never even mentioned Ljungkvist, and the mainstream media credited Expressen. Only Lena Mellin in Aftonbladet is decent enough to tell her readers that a blog was first.

17:59 - A PROBLEM FOR ARNOLD VINICK: 

 84%

- The proportion of Americans who think that "the US is not ready to have an atheist as president", according to Populus.

13:35 - WHAT THE MINISTERS SHOULD HAVE SAID: 

"Yes, we broke the law when we gave nannies money under the table. But the big crime is the grotesque taxes you in previous governments introduced, that moved all service jobs like this to the informal sector. If a nanny is supposed to get as much as the buyer do after tax, the buyer has to make six times more than that before tax to pay her. In this way, you destroyed the belief in the tax system, you destroyed jobs for people and you made it impossible for more women to combine kids and career.

Everybody knows that this is an informal sector, that the workers would hate us if we asked for a receipt and that this is your fault. They also know that the only reason why some actually contact the tax board to register these jobs is that they have planned a political career their whole life  - like our colleague, the prime minister, for example. Well, we didn´t and we don´t want to go along with such a charade.

We are not proud of what we did, but neither are we ashamed. YOU should be ashamed. And now we will work hard to dismantle this perverse system and legalise all those workers, and if we have any say, we will introduce a general amnesty for all who commited the crime of working and buying services despite your attempts to sabotage it.

PS. Why Cecilia didn´t pay her TV-licence? Well, listen to that word again. A ´licence´ for owning a TV-set? As if it was a dangerous chemical or a gun. As if you should be forced to pay for shows that you have never asked for. The only mistake she did was to begin to pay it again when she became a minister, and now her priority is to relieve everybody else of this stupid extra tax."

Sure, that would also have been hugely controversial. But then the debate would have been about the right things.

14:48 - ETT OFFICIELLT NORDKOREA - OBEROENDE AV REGIMEN...: 

Eftersom jag nyss hånade Göran Persson för hans välvilja mot Kim Jong-il (och än värre är Perssons "Man får acceptera den konstitution som de har kommit överens om") är det inte mer än rätt att hänga ut den nya regeringen för samma okunskap om hur en totalitär regim fungerar:

"Det [kunskapsbistånd till myndigheter, banksystemet etc] är relativt lite pengar och har ingen koppling till regimen, men däremot till delar av det officiella Nordkorea."

- Biståndsminister Gunilla Carlsson till TT.

14:09 - EU IS LOSING SWEDEN - TWICE A YEAR: 

The EU Commision´s efforts to cut European red tape is going nowhere fast. But it is getting better at measuring the damage it does. According to new estimates, made public in Financial Times today by the enterprise commissioner Günter Verheugen, the annual bureaucratic cost to business of complying with European legislation is up to:

That´s more than twice Sweden´s annual GDP. And it is money that would have gone into the most productive investments possible.

11:58 - ROJAS IN FLIPPER: 

Even though I have not always agreed with the policies folkpartiet´s Mauricio Rojas has proposed in the last few years I think that he would have made an excellent minister for integration. He is a real intellectual and one of the smartest persons I have met, and despite (because?) his interest to provoke, he is a fantastic communicator. Partly thanks to him, this year, folkpartiet was the first center-right party in Sweden´s history who got a larger proportion of votes from those born abroad.

Rojas is also one of few persons who are able to turn the tables with journalists, and put them on the defensive and even make them silent. Just listen to this interview in the latest Flipper, beginning 5.30 into the show. About 40 minutes into the show it gets really interesting. (Thanks Erik)

10:46 - NEOPOD: 

Now Neo has started doing podcasts in Swedish. In the first one, Johan Lagerkvist talks about his dissertation on China, the internet and political liberalisation.

17:09 - OUR SELECTIVE MORAL SENSE: 

Now many journalists regret that they didn´t write more about Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered two days ago for telling the truth about Putin´s regime. Because of our ideological prejudices, brutal oppression in the east often gets less attention than trivial problems in the west. Maciej Zaremba says what needs to be said in DN today:

09:18 - EN RUBRIK JAG ALDRIG TRODDE FIA SKULLE FÅ: 

"Nedfrysta lik i väntan på frystorkning stoppas."

- SvD-artikel som i papperstidningen illustreras av bild på Cecilia Stegö-Chilò, ny kulturminister - med ansvar för begravningsväsendet.

08:56 - IVRIG MAN MED BOMB: 

"Påläst och ivrig"

- Förre statsministern Göran Persson beskriver Nordkoreas diktator Kim Jong-il efter besöket i maj 2001.

17:28 - NÅGRA REAKTIONER PÅ VALET: 

Bästa galghumorn:

"Jag kommer att vara borta från kontoret fr.o.m. 2006-10-04 och kommer inte tillbaka förrän 2010-09-20. Jag kommer att svara på meddelandet när jag kommer tillbaka."

- Automatiskt mailsvar från avgående (s)-tjänsteman i regeringskansliet (via Jonas Morian)

Mesta det-är.vårt-land-som-ni-bara-har-till-låns-repliken:

"Jag förväntar mig att den borgerliga regeringen - med moderaterna i spetsen - känner ett ansvar för att lämna över ett lika välskött land till nästa regering, senast i 2010 års val."

- Göran Persson säger att bordet är dukat - och ger därmed intryck att folks enda skäl att rösta bort honom är att de tycker illa om honom som person.

Bästa freudianska felskrivningen:

- Skärmdump från svd.se omedelbart efter regeringsförklaringen. (via HAX)

Mest spännande spekulation:

Därför bjuder [Pär Nuder] Mona Sahlin på lunch och gör en Gordon Brown, dvs säger till Sahlin att han stöttar henne som partiledare, mot att han blir hennes högra hand och att hon efter några år lämnar över till honom."

- Håkan Jacobson 

Mest hoppfullt:

"Men ni har väl enats i valmanifestet om att inte luckra upp till exempel Las (Lagen om anställningsskydd)?"

"- Njae, vi har bestämt att vi ska låta globaliseringsrådet diskutera hur vi kan få en flexiblare arbetsmarknad. Det ska studera de effekter globaliseringen har på svensk arbetsmarknad. Där ligger en flexiblare arbetsmarknad."

- Maud Olofsson till DN.

17:05 - WILL THEY GET AWAY WITH MURDER?: 

The journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the bravest critic of Putin´s regime and the war in Chechnya, always knew that her life was in danger. When interviewed by Sofia Nerbrand in Axess two years ago, she said:

"But the attention to my work and my contacts outside Russia give me a certain protection, since it would be a loss of prestige for Putin if I am harmed. He only understands the language of power and if he is criticised by the international community, it could effect his behavious."

Today, Anna Politkovskaya was shot to death in an elevator in Moscow.

So wake up, international community, now it´s up to you. European leaders have made far too many excuses for Russia´s slide into dictatorship. If the thugs in Moscow also get away with murdering an internationally respected journalist, they know they will get away with anything.

Right now I am very eager to hear the condemnation from Sweden´s brand new foreign minister, Carl Bildt.

14:29 - THE NEW GOVERNMENT´S POSITIVE SURPRISE: 

The prime minister´s inaugural speech was ok, but predictable and Castro-long. As usual he mentioned as many things and areas as possible - just to mention them - so that everybody is happy. The first Swedish prime minister who just gives a 15 minute speech about the things he really cares about will make history.

As I said, the message was very predictable. So far, the most positive new message from the new government is that the new minister of finance, Anders Borg, has promised not to cut off his ponytail. Very good. If he ever breaks that promise he has lost my confidence, and I will attack him vigorously and repeatedly on this blog.

13:55 - INPUT FOR THE MINISTER OF CULTURE: 

I said that I was looking forward to the hostile reactions to the new minister of culture, my old Timbro boss, Cecilia Stegö-Chilò. And oh what a great day for reading the papers. I don´t know what´s most pathetic, the theatrical leaders who think that it is a threat to democracy that their radical leftist views aren´t governing the country (mostly in SvD), or those who vaguely praise her, not because they like her, but because they think flatter results in funding (mostly in DN).

The common denominator is that they think that culture is synonomous with government subsidies, and that they all seem terrified of the Swedish population, and that our choices might get more influence. Like Anders Ehnmark they want a strong leader who decides what is good and takes money from what he doesn´t like and gives it to what he likes.

They have just given Cecilia all the input she needs to understand how insular and self-absorbed, and at the same time so completely devoid of any real self-confidence, the Swedish cultural scene is.

12:39 - SWEDEN´S NEW GOVERNMENT: 

Today the new Swedish government has been announced, and it’s strange to see some friends as ministers and even more as probable advisors. Suddenly I understand how social democrats must have felt all the time.

My fellow Neo advisory board member Maria Borelius becomes minister of trade and my former boss at Timbro, Cecilia Stegö-Chilò, becomes minister of culture, which is quite a surprise (perhaps the first time a big free-market think tank´s president goes straight into a government). I really look forward to the expected outrage from tax-funded socialist artists and authors. Sven-Otto Littorin, the free-market moderate party secretary, becomes the minister of labour (since he praised my book, I hope he brings it to the ministry). And it’s great to see Maud Olofsson in charge of the ministry of industry.

I like it and I expect a lot.

But the big problem with this government is that the four alliance parties control the departments that they care most about, and where they want to spend the most. The moderates get justice and defence, folkpartiet education, centern agriculture and infrastructure, and the christian democrats get to control social policies, health and alcohol. In other words, just what Mattias Svensson feared.

Unfortunately, this has all the ingredients you need for a coalition for increased expenses. The only thing that can stop that is the new minister of finance, Anders Borg (a post-libertarian, centrist liberal), a young economist with a will of his own, who will stop anything that would endanger Sweden’s economy.

So some good things and some bad. A good starting point for a friendly but critical relation…

19:27 - BACK FROM THE DEAD: 

Om du vill ha rykten, spekulationer och analys om regeringsbildning och partipolitik kan du stänga TV:n och radion och slänga tidningarna. Det enda du behöver är:

- Gudmundson

och

- Gudmundson

18:24 - TACK FÖR GOD MATCH: 

En av mina gamla debattvänner från gymnasiet, socialdemokraten Johan Sjölander, hittar min 13 år gamla antologi Nyliberalismens idéer och slås av den mix av moral, bildning och uppror som vi nyliberaler då gjorde anspråk på. Och jag blir alldeles nostalgisk när jag läser det. Tonårspojkar som som kunde få en enda tepåse att räcka i tre timmar på Café Art i Gamla Stan, och visste att världen kunde förklaras av just den handfull böcker som vi bar under armen. Ahhh...

(Nu har jag förstått att det kräver ett par böcker till - och en helårsprenumeration på The Economist.)

Och apropå ungdomssynder skriver TittiP om hur vi bråkade om allt på litteraturvetenskapen. Det säger mycket om vilken slentrianbabblare jag var att jag inte förstått förrän nu att de faktiskt gaddade ihop sig för att ge mig svar på tal. Jag trodde att oupphörligt intellektuellt gräl var sakernas normala tillstånd... =)

(Men Ekelöf tyckte jag bara illa om innan jag läste honom, sedan blev jag helsåld.)

16:12 - DEBATING SWEDEN: 

If you missed my debate with America Vera-Zavala about our book Ett annat Sverige är möjligt, you have another chance on Monday:

Monday 9 October, 18.00

ABF-huset, Stockholm

09:57 - DO IT LIKE CHRISTIAN: 

Since 1947, Swedish employers have been forced to pay the employees´ income taxes in advance, so the employer never knows how much he really pays. In the three decades after that, the tax burden in Sweden increased by ten percentage points per decade.

In Dagens Industri this Tuesday, I suggested that the most important thing the new Swedish government could do to increase the demand for tax cuts is to give the whole income to the employees and force them to pay the taxes personally. Our taxes are like vampires - they can´t survive in daylight.

But even if the government don´t do this, all private businesses can and should present all those taxes on the wage slips of the employees. I got an email from Christian, an entrepreneur, who does this:

"I vårt bolag har vi börjat skriva ut exakt hur mycket av lönen som betalas i skatt samt sociala på själva lönebeskedet. På så vis fattar anställda vilka kostander vi som bolag har.

De ser alltså att totala kostnaden för lönen är ca dubbelt så mycket som det netto de får ut i lön. Det får folk att haja till.

Vi insåg att innan vi gjorde detta så fattade inte folk hur mycket skatt som betalas på löner.

Det är ett bra sätt att sprida kunskapen om hur mycket skatt vi betalar."  

09:27 - JOHNNY: "VAD VAR DET JOHAN SADE?": 

Jag brukar inte säga "Vad var det jag sade?". Min blygsamhet förbjuder mig sådan självgodhet. Men den här gången kan jag gömma mig bakom Johnny Munkhammar, som säger just detta apropå mitt resonemang om trängselavgifter och borgerlig majoritet. Tack, Johnny.

22:04 - 300 000 000 AND COUNTING: 

Yestreday I did the last thing that I really had to do in the US this time - visited Christie´s fantastic Star Trek collection. So now I am back, a few days before the American population is expected to break through the 300 million mark. As Stephen Moore points out, a new American is born every eight seconds, and a new immigrant arrives every 30 seconds.

200 years ago, Malthusians thought that overpopulation was the problem. Back then the American population was around 10 million. The opposite was the case: The more people who think, innovate, create and consume, the more progress. These 300 million live 40 years longer and are 25 times richer than the 10 million were back then.

UPDATE 2006-10-05 07.05: Oh, of course, I meant to end this post by saying that the Americans live long and prosper... =) (Thanks Daniel)

06:42 - WORTH WAITING FOR: 

Many are worried that the rapid growth here in America bypasses the workers, because of new technologies and the competition from China. The Economist recently pointed out that total employee compensation (including health and pension benefits) has risen by only 1.5 percent since the start of the recovery in 2001.

But this could also be the normal pattern after a recovery, that productivity first increases and then wages follow. The only difference would be that the productivity increase is even bigger this time and delays the wage increase. But sooner or later, it will come.

New figures, presented by Allan Hubbard & Edward Lazeat in Wall Street Journal, indicate this: Employee compensation over the first half of 2006 has grown at an annual rate of no less than 6.3 percent after inflation.

The American economy has also added 5.7 million new jobs during this recovery - more than EU and Japan combined.

15:13 - MY LITTLE ACHIEVEMENT: 

On Wall Street Journal´s editorial page today I write about "Humanity´s greatest achievement". Needless to say entrepreneurs, not the government did it. (Registration required)

14:57 - HOPE FOR MEAT-LOVING VEGETARIANS: 

If you are like me you love meat, but are slightly uneasy about the way the industry treats the animals. Don´t worry, The Economist´s Technology Quarterly reports that biotechnology comes to the rescue. It´s easy to grow muscle cells in a nutrient broth. But now we are learning how to create the connections that get these cells to form small bundles, and in the end: meat.

The possibilities are endless, and it could be healthier too:

"As Ingrid Newkirk of PETA, an animal-rights group, puts it, ´no one who considers what´s in a meat hot dog could genuinely express any revulsion at eating a clean cloned meat product.´

Cultured meat could be grown in sterile conditions, avoiding Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter and other nasties. It could also be made healthier by adjusting its composition—introducing heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids, for example. You could even take a cell from an endangered animal and, without threatening its extinction, make meat from it. Giant-panda steak, anyone?"

04:45 - DUMB AND DUMBER: 

Do you want to know what the trade debate sounds like in the US? Right now I am watching the two contenders in the Ohio Senate race on MSNBC´s Meet the Press.

The Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown says that NAFTA and normal trade relations with China destroys jobs and must be re-negotiated. The Republican incumbent Mike DeWine responds with pride that Brown is just a talker, but that he considers himself a doer - the doer who forced Bush to implement steel tariffs and gave the revenue from anti-dumping tariffs to domestic competitors.

And this is BEFORE the recession...