Today’s big news from the Social Democrats was presented an hour or so before Magdalena Andersson’s speech at Almedalen. It was about finances and state aid.
A somewhat complicated but exciting news.
More interesting is Magdalena Andersson’s rhetoric – which some would call hypocrisy.
Demanding one thing from others and then committing the exact same error yourself is usually called hypocrisy. But to understand what happened, we have to go back to what happened an hour or so before Magdalena Andersson’s speech on Thursday, when today’s big social democratic news was presented.
The Social Democrats demand that state aid must be indexed to inflation. Translated into Swedish, this means that the money that the state gives to municipalities and regions must be hedged against inflation. A billion should be worth a billion even after inflation. It is a system change that would have great significance.
Magdalena Andersson and Mikael Damberg had calculated that it would give the equivalent of around eleven billion in state aid to municipalities and regions.
S’s proposal is not enough in the long run
The Social Democrats have spent large parts of the spring and summer criticizing the Tidö parties for not announcing how much they plan to give in state aid to municipalities and regions.
In her speech in Almedalen, she repeated the rhetoric – the government must announce how much money the state will help municipalities and regions with.
It’s just that the message Magdalena Andersson herself gives – eleven billion – is not enough by a long shot, even according to the Social Democrats themselves.
Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions, SKR, has demanded 24 billion. The trade union Kommunal, which is very close to the Social Democrats, has made approximately the same calculations. So much more than eleven billion is needed for these actors to be satisfied.
Used by many is called hypocrisy
Naturally, both Andersson and Damberg were asked questions about this at the press conference. They then replied that these eleven billion should be seen as a floor.
But, and here comes the interesting part, they also could not give any information about how much state support they themselves want to give. That announcement will only come in the fall. Probably after the Tidö parties put their budget.
To make harsh criticism of someone, and then do the exact same thing yourself is usually called hypocrisy by many.