Tuesday, 12 January 2021

The more epidemic spreads, the more people need unemployment benefits

We all want to be rid of the coronavirus, of course, although EU's media are still talking about a third wave. Furthermore, another partial lockdown may continue to destroy small businesses, such as restaurants, cafés, clothes retailers, and other small businesses, while Wall Street’s analysts are still busy finding the stocks that are primed for gains in the next 12 months. As a matter of fact, since April 2020 we have already seen a sharply rise of some companies listed on the stock market, such as of pharmaceutical, electrical car makers, and biotech. 

In this cloudy perspective, there is a great talk about rising tax with the aim of increasing public services and unemployment benefits, considering that since March 2020 many people have been loosing their job. Some countries in Northern Europe, such as Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark, are known as having a high standard of living and social security, which their taxes help to pay for. Those countries  have a progressive tax system, meaning that people with a higher income pay a higher percentage of taxes than people with a lower income. Therefore, a large proportion of tax money goes into education, health care, parental support, unemployment benefits, etc.   

The good thing is that people who live in those countries don't even think about how much taxes they pay, because they say their tax system works very well. Clearly, those resources are going to be used by everyone in the population. On the contrary, cut taxes measures could have an impact on the society, as most people trust the public sector is able to do good things with their money. 

The four pictures below were taken in 2019 by a friend of mine, Stefano, who went in Sweden for job.

 




14 comments:

  1. ...the economy will never recover unless the pandemic is brought under control.

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  2. This is so true...many people are struggling financial because of the lockdown ....
    Beauty and Fashion/Rampdiary/Glamansion

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  3. Un vero e proprio disastro economico quello cui stiamo assistendo, e temo il peggio debba ancora arrivare. Il Governo, come saprai, in Italia, è sull'orlo di una crisi... intanto l'incubo pandemia continua!
    Ti auguro una serena giornata!
    Kisses, Paola.

    Expressyourself


    My Instagram

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    1. E' indubbiamente un atteggiamento irresponsabile quello di chi sta provocando questa crisi di governo, il quale, come sempre accade in Italia, é spinto (e supportato) da oscuri poteri forti.

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  4. Mi limito a guardare le immagini che sono bellissime, per il resto, ogni mio commento aggiungerebbe tristezza a una situazione di per sé disperata. Comunque, io non perdo la speranza Giorgio e ti lascio un sorriso e un saluto. Buona serata.

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    1. Sono d'accordo, Viví. Apprezzo il tuo modo di guardare gli eventi in positivo 😷😊

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  5. La situazione in Friuli ò spaventosa,se non cessa questa pandemia ci sarà una gravissima crisi per la gente comune.I ricchi si salvano sempre.Buona serata.

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    1. Mi dispiace per le piccole attività economiche che sono costrette a chiudere, purtroppo non solo in Friuli.
      E' proprio così come hai scritto: questa crisi non sta minimamente toccando i ricchi.
      Grazie per aver condiviso il tuo interessante punto di vista, Olga.
      Buon fine settimana ❄

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  6. Boa tarde meu querido amigo, infelizmente aqui no Brasil, o governo não ajuda os mais carentes e fico envergonhado com a situação de Manaus que o mundo esta vendo.

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    1. I have heard the hospital system of Manaus is collapsing! So sorry to hear the Amazon city is running out of oxygen. 😷 I hope we will see international aid soon.✈
      Have a nice weekend, my friend!

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  7. These are challenging times indeed. Many businesses have gone belly up and unemployment is on the rise.

    Stay safe, Giorgio.

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  8. I know a few people who live in Sweden and they say they wouldn't change a thing. However, when I speak to people here about rising taxes to have health care, day care and other things like Sweden. People have a fit and say they already pay enough taxes. I am afraid in the US it would not work. I think that is a shame.

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    1. Rising taxes means less money to rich people. On the other hand, it means better health care, education, public transport, public housing, etc. ... as we can see in the strong welfare states of North Europe (like Sweden that you mentioned).
      As we have seen, since the late 1990s political choices in South EU and US have been antisafety and antienvironment. The public decisions have been made toward the privatization of the whole social security system.
      The efficient and advanced welfare system of the Nordic model (mainly referred to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, etc.) can be reconciled with low degree of inequality. Not to mention of high standard of living, considering that those countries are the wealthiest countries in Europe, although they never had colonies.

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