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It's ironic that cellphones are such a blessing in the rich world, while
coltan, one of their principal ingredients, is a major reason for the bloodbath
in Congo.
Ed Weick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 7:51
PM
Subject: [Futurework] Re: A Volvo without
tyres
Hi Keith!
Things are changing fast.
Ten years ago Finland was in very serious
trouble.
In 1945 Finland had to pay very large
reparations to Soviet (Russia). But Finland was allowed to do it by delivering
goods to Sovjet, and not money, and whole industries was built in Finland
to produce the finished goods to Soviet, and when the reparations were paid
Finland went on producing for Soviet, but now Soviet paid for the goods,
often in oil. And this was a good business for Finland, because Soviet
bought whatever that Finland was able to produce, and bought half of
Finland's export. But then Soviet collapsed ten years ago, and half of
Finland's marked's disappeared. The unemployment rate in Finland became higher
than 20%. But within few years Finland was able to develop new markeds
and new industries, Nokia is wellknown. And today the situation of Finland is
much better!!
Sweden, or Ericsson, did not predict the
development of the markets of cellphones (mobile telephones), and that is
the big problem of Ericsson. Ericsson thought that the big market for
cellphones would be professionals and other grown-up groups, and did not see
the very large, and dominant, market of young people. All young people has
cellphones, and because fashions change and because they lose their phones
they often buy several phones every year, while older persons buy one
phone which lasts for a longer time.
Ericsson did not get that dominant marked, but
Nokia did it, and Ericsson is losing money. But that problem is much smaller
than the problems of Finland ten years ago, and when Finland was able to
recover I am sure Sweden will too! Sweden is more than Ericsson! There are ups
and downs, and it is when it is downs that a welfare state is import to keep
the people healthy and fresh!
Tor
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 1:46
PM
Subject: A Volvo without tyres
Hi Tor,
Further to our recent discussion as to whether Sweden
can afford its high spending on welfare or not I quote some paragraphs from
a recent Economist report. (Incidentally, about your own country, the report
says that many Norwegians thinks that oil-bloated success could smother
other parts of the economy, making you lazy, unenterprising and decreasingly
able to generate new value. I'm sure this doesn't apply to you, but this is
what the Economist thinks of some of your countrymen!)
Keith
Hudson
<<<<
Meanwhile Sweden, the region's biggest
economy, has gradually been slipping behind its Nordic neighbours in terms
of income per person. "Sweden has become the poorest in the neighbourhood.
Iceland, Norway, Finland and Denmark are richer and on a better trajectory,"
says Magnus Henrekson of the Stockholm School of Economics. Ericsson, the
country's biggest telecoms-equipment company, is having a rough time. It is
shedding 60,000 jobs over three years, and in April reported its eighth
consecutive quarterly loss.
The city of Stockholm boomed briefly at
the end of the 1990s, mostly because of big investments in technology
companies and heavy spending on research and development, but the shine is
wearing off here too. Swedes worry about the lack of new big companies.
Small service firms do well, but Stefan Folster of the Confederation of
Swedish Enterprise points out that every one of Sweden's 50 largest
companies was formed before 1970.
In the early 1990s Sweden's public
sector became too dominant even for Nordic tastes, with public spending in
1993 reaching 67.5% of GDP and the economy shrinking by 5.2% between 1990
and 1993. Carl Bildt's Conservative government introduced reforms to cut
public spending which were carried further by its Social Democrat successor.
Since then, says Mr Pagrotsky, the industry minister, "We've had fairly good
development for ten years, though we have not been fantastic."
But
now he is worried about adverse demographic factors. All the Nordic
countries face an acute problem with ageing populations, and Sweden also
suffers a higher rate of sick leave and absenteeism than other European
countries. Mr Folster says these problems are so widespread (especially in
the public sector and among women) that the proportion of people actually
working is now the same as in 1995, when Sweden was in recession. Already
the Finns are joking that: "The Swedish welfare state is like a Volvo
without tyres: it is a great car, but it doesn't
work."
>>>>
Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden
Place, Bath, England
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