Unemployment in the US is around 5.5%. Growth is correlated with jobs, expendable income, etc. So its important if you want to lower real unemployment.
>In Sweden we currently have negative prime interest rate and people have higher salaries than ever and housing prices are all time high.
France went, roughly, this route a decade or two ago. Now they have riots in the streets because young people can't find jobs. Youth unemployment in Spain, UK, Greece, Italy, etc are also scary. The socialist style government does a good job governing the problems of today it seems, but the capitalistic styles does a better job of taking care of the future and the young trying to enter the workforce.
Those nations saw their economies as 'good enough' at one time. They were paying out big salaries and pensions to their public sector unions and overtaxing their corporations and made their budget. Now they're in hysterics about employment, real estate bubbles, youth riots, and lack of growth.
>>In Sweden
I'd also be concerned about your .8% GDP spending on military, which is fairly low, especially in an age of a Russia that routinely sends subs into your territories and annexes lands not too far from you guys. Its weird that we're still applauding the welfare nanny state when its been shown to be fail past a certain point, especially in a country with near 8-9% unemployment. Also your GDP has been raising steadily, so I find it hard to believe that growth isn't' a contributing factor to what you perceive as success:
If that was a flat graph you wouldn't be chiding us on the internet. You'd be selling shoe shines for gruel or your poor parents would have elected to not birth you.
Also, are you an older established person? Wonderful, but please don't throw down the very ladder that you climbed:
Today:
Still almost 22% youth unemployment. Countries that care about growth, like the USA, have half that level. So yeah, maybe you should care about growth.
That's an official statistic (US Bureau of labor statistics) that is, in all reality, fiction. Might want to look at ANY other analysis, other than the announced statistic. Like simply comparing the (est) population to the (est) jobs. Turns out it's more like 10% at best, but that's not the end. Yahoo, Experian, Amazon, etc. The vast majority of the tech employed have become contractors. At least be reasonable enough to do your research.
You seem to be woefully glib about topics you haven't been following. Growth hasn't helped the situation as there hasn't been much at all, if any. Rigid financial systems have failed and will do so again if the interest rate (inevitably?) spirals out of control. The executive branch talking heads and investing-in-debt schemes have been paying off for the last few years. It's been increasingly difficult to determine what lengths the fed will go to, in stabilizing the economy and maintaining a positive spin.
>That's an official statistic (US Bureau of labor statistics) that is, in all reality, fiction.
and the Swedish one is 100% honest? Oh okay. If you bothered to understand this topic you would know that there are different categories of unemployment (U6, etc). I chose the one that best fir the comparision with Sweden.
>You seem to be woefully glib about topics you haven't been following. G
and you're yet another anti-US HN "expert" unwilling to accept the facts or understand how national economies work. That attitude will get you precious upvotes here (I see you got your token anti-fed comment in, so on HN bingo you're doing pretty good), but its not remotely tied to reality.
Unemployment in the US is around 5.5%. Growth is correlated with jobs, expendable income, etc. So its important if you want to lower real unemployment.
>In Sweden we currently have negative prime interest rate and people have higher salaries than ever and housing prices are all time high.
France went, roughly, this route a decade or two ago. Now they have riots in the streets because young people can't find jobs. Youth unemployment in Spain, UK, Greece, Italy, etc are also scary. The socialist style government does a good job governing the problems of today it seems, but the capitalistic styles does a better job of taking care of the future and the young trying to enter the workforce.
Those nations saw their economies as 'good enough' at one time. They were paying out big salaries and pensions to their public sector unions and overtaxing their corporations and made their budget. Now they're in hysterics about employment, real estate bubbles, youth riots, and lack of growth.
>>In Sweden
I'd also be concerned about your .8% GDP spending on military, which is fairly low, especially in an age of a Russia that routinely sends subs into your territories and annexes lands not too far from you guys. Its weird that we're still applauding the welfare nanny state when its been shown to be fail past a certain point, especially in a country with near 8-9% unemployment. Also your GDP has been raising steadily, so I find it hard to believe that growth isn't' a contributing factor to what you perceive as success:
https://www.quandl.com/c/sweden/sweden-economy-data
If that was a flat graph you wouldn't be chiding us on the internet. You'd be selling shoe shines for gruel or your poor parents would have elected to not birth you.
Also, are you an older established person? Wonderful, but please don't throw down the very ladder that you climbed: Today:
http://ycharts.com/indicators/sweden_youth_unemployment_rate...
Still almost 22% youth unemployment. Countries that care about growth, like the USA, have half that level. So yeah, maybe you should care about growth.