Sweden’s central bank has introduced a controversial new measure that will deter its citizens from saving. The oxymoronic “negative interest” now paid out on tax accounts is technically designed to stimulate the economy. In reality, all it will do is encourage people to spend rather than save, boosting government figures for economic growth while disadvantaging society. It’s merely the latest example of governments debasing their citizens’ savings in favor of debt-fueled consumerism.
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Swedes Kiss Goodbye to Saving Incentives Thanks to Negative Interest
The introduction of negative interest, set at -0.5%, will give Swedes zero incentive to place their savings in the scheme, knowing that their wealth will be diminishing with each passing year. The official reasoning for the new policy is to stimulate the economy and encourage consumer spending. Born out of a global obsession with growth at all costs, this mindset has left billions with no real savings to speak of, and conditioned an entire generation to “spend now, pay back later”, racking up vast debt in the process.
Spend Now, Regret Later
The extraordinary financial stimulus measure enacted in Sweden has actually been blessed by the International Monetary Fund, which in a recent statement opined that “clearer signs that inflation is on a sustained uptrend are needed before unwinding monetary accommodation [in Sweden]…at this stage an accommodative monetary stance remains appropriate.” As the FT reports , however, the country’s central Riksbank “has been accused of shirking responsibility to maintain financial stability, encouraging spiralling house prices and consumer debt.”
People rebel against the insight that the disturbing element is to be seen in the malinvestment and the overconsumption of the boom period and that such an artificially induced boom is doomed.
This “malinvestment” – uneconomic decisions made due to perverse incentives – can be seen playing out in supposedly advanced economies, from Sweden to Japan, the UK to the US. Growth at all costs is the narrative of our time that must be relentlessly pursued. For so long as governments maintain a monopoly on money, they will be free to weaponize it to suit their own narrow agendas, no matter how much their self-serving policies may disadvantage the people. Should a mass exodus from fiat currencies to decentralized digital money ultimately occur, governments will only have themselves to blame.
Do you think governments deliberately discourage saving in their quest to stimulate consumer spending? Let us know in the comments section below.
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