Ed Yardeni’s research from today discusses the financial “super heroes” who have been either rescuing, or ruining, various economies around the world.
It was a big surprise to me that Sweden has implemented such a successful and widely known formula. Here is an excerpt from today’s research piece from Mr. Yardeni:
Sweden has a couple of true superheroes, the prime minister and the finance minister. Fredrik Reinfeldt became the country’s prime minister in 2006. The 5/11 Investors.com features an article about his success in managing the Swedish economy. It is titled, “Sweden’s Reputation As A Welfare State Is In Trouble.” Sweden fell into recession in 2008 and 2009, along with most developed economies. But it has pulled strongly out of the decline, posting GDP gains of 6.1% in 2010 and 3.9% last year, when it ranked at the top in
Europe’s list of fastest-growing economies.
Sweden’s government deficit was eliminated last year!
Reinfeldt took office in October 2006, and by January of 2007, he started cutting taxes. The Reinfeldt government also cut welfare spending–a.k.a. austerity–and began to deregulate the economy. Reinfeldt’s sidekick is his finance minister, Anders Borg, who was featured in an in the 4/14 Spectator.co.uk. The Financial Times recently declared him the most effective finance minister in Europe.
Now we only need our own “super heroes” to follow this model.
