Sweden’s Next Likely Leader Takes Dig at ‘Grinning’ Bankers
Sweden’s Andersson Takes Dig at ‘Grinning’ Wall Street Bankers
(Bloomberg) -- The woman most likely to become Sweden’s next prime minister began her tenure as leader of the ruling party by taking a dig at Wall Street bankers.
In her first speech to the Social Democratic Party after her election, Magdalena Andersson recalled encounters with “grinning bankers” who said her country’s welfare model was doomed after Sweden’s financial crisis in the 1990s.
The global financial crisis, however, made it obvious that unregulated markets are the problem rather than the solution, she said.
“Instead of increasing prosperity, what we got was an insane speculation economy,” Andersson said. “And where did the banks turn? To society, to politics.”
Seeking to mobilize her party ahead of next year’s election, and appeal to voters who have been disillusioned by compromises with center-right politicians, Andersson portrayed her vision as part of a global movement for economic equality.
She noted how institutions like the International Monetary Fund are turning from “neoliberal bastions” into organizations that now write “one report after another about how equality and growth are not opposites, but instead are necessary conditions for each other.”
Andersson, who has described herself as “Europe’s most frugal finance minister,” is still viewed with some suspicion by left-leaning factions of her party, who will use the congress to push for increased spending on welfare and climate.
The finance minister has rejected calls to create a separate investment budget to allow for larger outlays, but said in her speech that she wants to provide at least 100 billion Swedish kronor ($11.6 billion) in credit guarantees for climate investments during a four-year period.
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