U.S. media appears to want Sweden to fail. The Swedes did not completely hunker down and that is not what the MSM wants. With some mitigation, Sweden called for businesses to remain open. Swedish officials do not believe in engaging in the unsustainable and they want to get to herd immunity.
DIRE PREDICTIONS FROM CNBC
CNBC cites a forecast by Sweden’s central bank that Sweden’s GDP will shrink between 6.9 and 9.7 percent in 2020, and grow by between 1.7 and 4.6 in 2021. It cites another forecast that predicts a contraction of 7 percent this year, with unemployment rising to 10.2 percent.
CNBC compares these predictions to forecasts by the IMF for various European countries, but not Sweden or Norway:Â The International Monetary Fund predicted earlier in April that Germany and the U.K. will see their economies contract by 6.5% and 7% this year, respectively. France is expected to see a 7.2% contraction, Spain an 8% contraction, and for Italy to see its economy shrink 9.1%.
Sweden’s neighbors Finland and Denmark, which also imposed lockdowns, are also expected to see their economies contract by 6% and 6.5%, respectively.
These predictions are probably as reliable as the IMF and IHME forecasts that closed down the world economies.
The economies of countries that closed down will shrink more than 8 percent and if Sweden has a 10% unemployment rate, they will be among the best in the world.
As is the case of models like the IHME, we should reject the world of forecasting in favor of the real world.
The actual employment and spending numbers in Scandavia has Sweden on top because, even though their supply chain is disrupted, they kept their businesses open.
Sweden’s numbers are clearly the best: Personal spending in Denmark is down 66 percent and in Finland, it stands at 70 percent, compared to only 30 percent in Sweden. Unemployment claims in Norway are rising four times as fast as those in Sweden.
The facts and the predictions do not jive. Does CNBC hope to convince people to stay hunkered down until, say, November?
Sweden is being hit harder by the virus, in the short term, than some European countries. However, the economies of comparable European countries are faring worse than Sweden’s.
Sweden says they will also hit herd immunity much faster.
The U.S. went from flattening the curve to help keep hospitals under control to crushing the curve, to not opening until the virus is gone. This is unsustainable. It was a good idea to start, now end it. Someone shut Dr. Fauci up too.
