20 May, Wednesday, Day 50

Economy
My thoughts are usually not drawn to the economy. I am thinking that if it works out with the disease, also the economy will work out.
One news from Omni yesterday did, however, made me jump. "The State Budget in a 400 billion deficit this year." (Emma Hedin, Omni, Idag [200519] 09.52.)

The article suffers from the same problem as most all news. One never gets a figure to compare with, making the information difficult to evaluate. Neither a message from the Government Debt Office (19 maj 2020), which the article had a link to, contained any figure to compare with. There was, however, enough information to calculate that the Swedish GNP in 2019 was 5,059 billion krona, slightly more than I thought.

I believe that the State Budget is 1,100 billion krona, and then a deficit of 400 billion looks disastrous. It would be interesting to know how much is loss of revenues and how much is increase in costs, one day, one might get to know.
It is going to be interesting to see how this is solved. An increase in taxes might back-fire and printing or borrowing money will fuel inflation. I wonder if we have forgotten what a nuisance inflation is.

Slovakia 
I found the text below in a newsletter. There were a lot of interesting things in the newsletter, although it is difficult to evaluate most of it with no medical education. I did, however, feel that I wanted to add the following to my diary:

Lessons From Slovakia—Where Leaders Wear Masks (The Atlantic, 13 May) Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned from Slovakia is of the value of leading from the front. * The country’s president, Zuzana Čaputová, and its nascent government administration, which came to power amid the pandemic, were among the first to model best practices for how to handle the outbreak—most notably by wearing protective masks and gloves for the government’s swearing-in ceremony. * Their efforts played a crucial role in normalizing the use of face masks across the country. * Despite often-conflicting advice about the efficacy of masks, Slovakia was among the first countries worldwide (and the second in Europe, after the Czech Republic) to make them mandatory in public spaces. * The picture in Slovakia has now changed—but its leaders are still proceeding with caution and leading by example.

(Unfortunately, I cannot include an URL. I got the newsletter in an e-mail, and did not find the newsletter on the publishers extensive web-site. The sender is, however, https://policyexchange.org.uk and the title of the newsletter is "Policy Exchange - Coronavirus Newsletter - 19 May 2020.)

Today's Statistics  
Today's statistics says 3,831 dead (+88). The number of confirmed cases is 31,523. (Text-TV)

SWEDISH

Ekonomi

Mina tankar brukar inte dras till ekonomin. Jag tänker att om det löser sig med smittan så löser det sig med ekonomin också. En nyhet från Omni igår fick mig dock att rycka till: ”Staten väntas går back drygt 400 miljarder i år.” (Emma Hedin, Omni, Idag [200519] 09:52)

Artikeln lider av samma problem som i stort sett all nyhetsrapportering: Man får aldrig någon siffra att relatera till, varvid informationen blir svår att utvärdera. Inte heller det pressmeddelande från Riksgälden (19 maj 2020) som artikeln hade en länk till innehöll någon jämförelsesiffra. Det fanns dock tillräckligt med ledtrådar i pressmeddelandet för att man skulle kunna räkna ut att BNP år 2019 var 5 059 miljarder, något mer än vad jag trodde.

Jag tror nu att statsbudgeten är 1 100 miljarder, och då ser ett underskott på 400 miljarder närmast katastrofalt ut. Det vore intressant att veta hur mycket som är intäktsbortfall och hur mycket som är kostnadsökningar, men det kanske man får veta någon gång. Det skall också bli intressant att se vilket tänkande som de nya siffrorna leder till. En skattehöjning kan rekylera och att köra sedelpressarna eller låna sätter igång inflationen. Jag undrar om vi har glömt att det senare är ett otyg.

Slovakien

Hittade nedanstående ord i ett nyhetsbrev. Det fanns mycket intressant i nyhetsbrevet, även om det för en icke-medicinare är svårt att värdera det mesta. Kände dock att jag ville foga nedanstående till min dagbok.

Lessons From Slovakia—Where Leaders Wear Masks (The Atlantic, 13 May) Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned from Slovakia is of the value of leading from the front. * The country’s president, Zuzana Čaputová, and its nascent government administration, which came to power amid the pandemic, were among the first to model best practices for how to handle the outbreak—most notably by wearing protective masks and gloves for the government’s swearing-in ceremony. * Their efforts played a crucial role in normalizing the use of face masks across the country. * Despite often-conflicting advice about the efficacy of masks, Slovakia was among the first countries worldwide (and the second in Europe, after the Czech Republic) to make them mandatory in public spaces. * The picture in Slovakia has now changed—but its leaders are still proceeding with caution and leading by example.

(Kan tyvärr inte bifoga en URL. Jag fick nyhetsbrevet i ett mail och hittade det inte på avsändarens omfattande hemsida. Avsändaren är dock https://policyexchange.org.uk/  och titeln är ”Policy Exchange - Coronavirus Newsletter - 19 May 2020”.)

Dagens statistik 

Dagens statistik säger 3 831 döda (+88). Antalet bekräftat smittade 31 523. (Text-TV)