Sweden does not need a new Mr. Stefan Ingves

One of today's articles in one of Sweden's financial newspapers, Dagens Industri, is about Sweden's central bank governor Erik Thedéen.

According to the article, Erik Thedéen is self-critical that the eight interest rate increases implemented by the central bank may have contributed to deepening the ongoing Swedish recession and caused a crisis situation for both Swedish companies and households.

At the same time, Mr. Erik Thedéen said that the interest rate increases had the desired effect and pushed inflation down. Whether the central bank did too much or too little remains to be seen, according to the central bank governor.

In his last appearance before the Christmas break, Erik Thedéen said that he no longer considers it necessary to raise interest rates in early 2024, which he saw as a likely scenario just a few weeks earlier. Although both households and businesses are having a tough time right now, I hope that Mr. Erik Thedéen is cautious about possible future interest rate cuts.

If he's happy, I'm happy

The world's most perfect teenager received, among other things, a new golf bag, a 52° golf club and a new mobile phone from Santa Claus. That I hid all the Christmas gifts and put them out on night before Christmas Eve after he had fallen asleep was very successful.

It has been many years since the offspring was this pleased with Christmas and his gifts in particular. The older he gets, the harder it will be to create that special Christmas feeling for him. No matter how old he gets, it will always be my ultimate goal to give him the best Christmas ever.

Junior is so happy with Christmas that he hasn't complained once about all the schoolwork he had to do every day except Christmas Eve.

I sincerely hope that all this work will reward him promptly. It would help me a lot. It will be difficult to motivate him otherwise.

Money will soon roll in

With 3 business days left in 2023, we are still waiting for more than 70% of December's estimated dividends. Hopefully we will get some of these tomorrow but most won't arrive until Friday and Monday/Tuesday next week.

Due to the recent strengthening of the Swedish krona against both the US dollar and the euro, the hope of matching the 2018 dividend is gone. However, 2024 will be our second best dividend year ever.

How many years it will take before we catch up with the 2019 dividend remains to be seen.

My Google Sheet is ready for 2024!

Today the world's most perfect husband got to go for a walk by himself. In addition to working for a couple of hours, I checked that the values for next year's dividends in my Google Sheet was correct. The platform I use to compare the values is Seeking Alpha. It took almost 2 hours.

I wish I could connect my Google Sheet to Seeking Alpha instead of Google Finance. As superior as Google Sheet is to Excel, just as superior is Seeking Alpha to Google Finance. According to me.

Hard times await

Every Christmas means constant eating. I've decided to give up sweets ...again. From January 1, 2024, I can only eat sweets on Saturdays. All other days are off-limit.

As I neither smoke nor drink, with the exception of the occasional glass of champagne, I have always allowed myself to eat sweets. Unfortunately, this time of year my sugar intake is off the charts.

To cope with this, I have to give up sweets for the whole of January to get rid of the sugar cravings. January is going to be one hell of a month.

Their incompetence is off the charts

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

The city of Stockholm has been governed for just over a year by the Social Democrats and the Green Party with the Left Party's tacit acceptance.

At a recent dinner I found myself sitting next to a friend of a friend whom I had never met before. Turns out he's as annoyed as I am about the lack of snow shoveling.

He had even called the city hall and asked why the streets and pavements were not kept clear of ice and snow. He was told that there was no money budgeted for the amount of snow that had fallen so far this year. When he asked if the health care budget won't exceed their budget with all the broken bones caused by all the snow and ice, they responded quote "that's a another budget" unquote.

That answer confirms their total lack of grounding in reality and lack of ability to adapt to the current situation. An increase in funding for snow removal to reduce the burden on the healthcare system is a no-brainer. Even my four year old niece's son knows that.

A beautiful Christmas night

In Sweden, we open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. Ever since I was a child, I have had trouble sleeping the day before Christmas Eve.

Despite the fact that I will soon turn 54 and the number of Christmas presents under the tree for me is extremely limited, I still have a hard time sleeping this night so now I am sitting on the sofa and enjoying the silence, the darkness and the Christmas tree even though it is only 5:05 am.

In Sweden, it is most common to open Christmas presents in the evening, but since we are visiting our best friends, we open our Christmas presents at breakfast.

In a couple of hours I will make cheese, ham and egg sandwiches, make tea and light candles. Next, I wake up the world's most perfect teenager and husband.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

The last thing before Christmas

Since we all work a lot, we have chosen to have a potluck tomorrow. We bought a Christmas box with ham, rainbow salmon, herring, sausage, minced meat, cheeses, various mixes and more. Everything was ready except for the ham which had to be grilled and the meatballs which had to be rolled and fried.

My husband and I have never grilled a Christmas ham before so it will be "exciting". Meatballs, on the other hand, are a Swedish specialty that we master to the fullest.

My best friend loves to cook and bake. She and her husband have spent the whole day in the kitchen baking Christmas bread, preparing Jansson's temptation and much more. I myself have been working all morning plus making sure the world's most perfect teenager has done his homework.

Tomorrow will be one long orgy of food, candy, cookies, Christmas presents and spending time with friends.

Same procedure as last year

This year my parents are celebrating Christmas in their second home in the Stockholm archipelago with my youngest sister. We will celebrate Christmas at the home of our best friends who live just outside Stockholm.

This year, dad didn't put accounting documents like paper invoices and cash receipts in the same bag as the Christmas presents.

Not because he didn't want to burden me with work in connection with the delivery of Christmas presents, but because mom took the bags before he could put down all the documents and left the bags with us.

Instead, I received a text that he had put the accounting in our mailbox today. Just when I thought I was done, I got extra work.

An update

The world's most perfect teenager has completed a considerable number of math problems every day for the past eight days. In addition to this, he has also done a Spanish task every day.

He hasn't done it voluntarily, on his own initiative, or without grumbling, but he has delivered. I got a little annoyed a couple of days ago and asked why he wasn't showing more interest for the school tasks, he replied quote "Mom, I've been slacking on school all fall. Do you think everything changes just because we had a brawl?" unquote. I realized he is right and I need to give him more time before counting on a "lifestyle change".

However, I will continue to nag him and make sure he performs in school in an exemplary manner. I intend to make sure he reaches his full potential.

I owe Mr. Erik Thedéen an apology

I have been quick to judge Sweden's current central bank governor Erik Thedéen. The conditions that his predecessor Stefan Ingves left behind were an almost impossible task to solve, at least in the short term.

Erik Thedéen did what Stefan Ingves should have done several years ago, i.e. raised the Swedish policy rate. Now Erik Thedéen had to do it at the same time that Sweden, together with the rest of the world, was hit by one of the highest inflations in a long time. Although almost anyone, apart from Stefan Ingves, has the backbone to pull the band-aid, it was Erik Thedéen who did it and for that he must be praised.

Many analysts claim that Sweden's central bank will make several reductions in the policy rate during 2024.

The Swedish krona has strengthened against both the US dollar and the euro recently, causing our holdings to lose value. The central bank's eight increases in the policy rate in a row means that our mortgage has become more expensive. Even if Erik Thedéen's actions lead to us personally losing wealth and having increased living costs, I hope that he stands up to the pressure from the media and the market and limits possible interest rate increases to an excessive extent.

We made it

This morning at 4:27am the earth passed the special point in its orbit around the sun which means that Sweden is moving towards brighter times, literally. I personally think that this time is easier than the time that occurs in connection with Midsummer, which means the exact opposite.

This time also means that the astronomical winter begins, although Sweden has had a meteorological winter for a while now.

It is currently raining in Stockholm, but the temperature will drop during the day, causing the rain to turn into snow. According to the meteorologists, we have a good chance of having a white Christmas.

I like that he has the ability to see the whole picture

For full transparency and my own agenda, I do not know any sex workers or sex buyers as far as I know. I believe that Swedish taxes should be lowered, but that all work should be taxed equally, regardless of the nature of the work.

In Sweden, it is forbidden to buy sex but not to sell it. Thanks to the internet, a lot of sex trafficking has moved from the street into different establishments. In addition, Sweden is one of the very few countries in the world where cash is hardly used anymore and is not even a valid means of payment in many restaurants and shops. This has led to many buyers choosing to pay for their sex purchase via Venmo, which is easy to track, despite the risk of getting caught.

A couple of weeks ago, the offspring and I watched a morning show together. One of the features was about sex workers getting their earnings inflated when the police raid these establishments and track all payments through Venmo.

The two guests in the feature were representatives from an organization that supports sex workers. They believe that the sex workers, in addition to being taken advantage of by the buyers, are also taken advantage of by the IRS who profit from their labor.

YMD sat quietly throughout the feature, only to question afterwards whether the two representatives were serious about their claim. He didn't really understand their thinking because he saw a big problem with who would judge which jobs would be tax-exempt and why.

The world's most perfect person does not like the idea that someone should base a decision on what the person in question feels and not on what applies according to Swedish law.

In their quest to be good, they become evil

The world's most perfect teenager is currently in the preparatory year for the 2-year college preparatory program international Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. In practice, this means that he has to continue his studies at either college or university in order to obtain a vocational training.

He wants to become an engineer, which type of engineer is still unclear to himself. Fortunately, he has a couple of years left before he has to decide on his major.

With everything that is happening in the world right now, I am worried about the school environment that awaits him. I don't want him studying at a university that allows tearing down pictures of kidnapped Israeli children or allows demonstrations in support of terrorist organizations.

It was an awakening for me how woke many universities are.

Don't mention the war

Nordea still hasn't charged us the yield tax for either November or December yet. I called them around November 20th and asked why they hadn't charged our accounts with the tax.

I was told that they are having problems with their new system and that the yield tax for November would be collected at the same time as December's, that is sometime in the middle of December. If the charge hasn't been made by the end of the day, I'll call them again tomorrow.

Considering all the unimportant messages that Nordea sends out regularly, it's interesting that they can't communicate that they have a problem with their system. Which is actually an important message.

Without that information, the probability is high that I assume that the money in the account is the net amount after deduction of withholding tax and that I make bigger acquisitions than I have money for.

It's just like they think the problem doesn't exist if you don't address it.

Patience is a virtue

Despite the fact that December is by far our best distribution month, the outcome so far is incredibly poor.

Three of our holdings make up more than 50% of the month's total distributions. The holdings are Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) and Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX).

There are only 8 weekdays left in the month of December and we haven't even received 10% of the month's estimated dividends. Hopefully we will get a substantial amount of money in our accounts today.

According to my notes, the Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) regular dividend is due to be paid to us today.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 9

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

The power struggle between Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) and IF Metall continues. On December 20, the now international sympathy strike will be extended to also include the car and transport industry's labor union AKT in Finland.

Port workers in Finland will start a blockade which means they will stop stowing and dismantling TM's cars that are supposed to be transported to Sweden.

Even in Sweden, the measures against TM are being expanded by the union Kommunal stopping all collection of household waste at Tesla's operations from January 2, 2024.

Trade union Seko's communications manager Jonas Pettersson says quote "it would have been much easier for Tesla to just sign a collective agreement" unquote.

I don't think TM does "easy", they do unbiased. Why should TM be forced to sign the collective agreement which according to IF Metall itself is voluntary?

Although for us personally it would mean future problems with repairs, I hope that TM and mr. Elon Musk would rather leave Sweden than sign the collective agreement.

Apparently it annoys him more than he lets on

We have deliberately only placed two Christmas presents under the tree so far. To top it off, these two gifts are for our godsons and not for the world's most perfect teenager.

We have hidden his Christmas presents around the apartment and at our workplace. All to tease our teenager.

Junior hasn't said a single word about the meager supply of Christmas presents until last night. He walked by after cutting his nails, washing his ears and flossing, and casually mentioned the meager number of Christmas presents.

I have to admit that it feels a little satisfying that we have managed to agitate him a little.

I hope I can get him to drive

If the road is clear of snow and ice tomorrow, I intend to have young Master Dewlar practice driving to the restaurant tomorrow.

The winter solstice occurs this Friday, December 22, so it will be dark early in the day. The last time he did a practice drive it got really dark and almost caused him to make a wrong turn at an intersection due to lack of experience and routine.

He hasn't wanted to practice drive since then so I feel it's becoming urgent to get him behind the wheel again. He could really benefit from more hours behind the wheel.

I, the eye-servant

Tomorrow we are invited to a Christmas dinner by my in-laws. Since they live in a city 3 hours drive from us and my sister-in-law, we meet halfway.

I am very fond of my in-laws, but ever since we had the world's most perfect baby who later became the world's most perfect teenager, I have always wanted to prove that I am a good mother to their only grandchild. Which in practice means a flawless offspring.

Therefore, all nails will be cut, ears must be washed and teeth must be flossed before departure. YMD is not too keen on all this but is used to it as this has been going on for 16 years.

Since I was almost 38 when junior was born, my future daughter-in-law most likely won't have to feel the same way about me since I will be both deaf and blind when I eventually become a grandmother.

A girl can dream, can't she?

In addition to its regular dividend of ¢32 and a special dividend of ¢4, New Mountain Finance Corporation Common Stock (NMFC) has declared an additional special dividend of ¢10 also payable on December 29. Unfortunately, our holding in this company is limited.

I wish Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) could do like Costco Wholesale Corporation Common Stock (COST) and do a $15 special dividend.

All numbers still point to us being $400-500 short of reaching the 2018 total dividend.

For next year, I will add a chart to my Google Sheets next year where I subtract the extra dividends so that the estimated dividends vs. the realized dividends will be more fair.

The goal is that the calculated vs executed bars will be roughly the same height.

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Hmm

One of our holdings, Realty Income Corporation Common Stock (O), has been doing well recently. We bought as many (O) as we could during September and October this year. Unfortunately, we were not as liquid as we would have liked, but we managed to double our holdings before the price turned upwards again.

As recently as early October, analysts advised against investing in (O) to change its today recommendation to a buy. No significant information has come to light to justify this change.

I really hope the penny has dropped

It's never a good sign when the world's (maybe not) most perfect teenager calls me during school hours. Yesterday was indeed such a day.

When junior started year 10 or the preparatory year for the Diploma program, I was at a meeting at school. His advisory for his personal project advised us parents to back off a little and give the teenager some space. Constantly nagging them about their schoolwork would, in her experience, stifle the teenager and lead to poorer performance.

When my teenager called me yesterday between his penultimate and last lesson of the day, I could immediately hear in his voice that something wasn't right. It turned out that he had had a meeting with his Individual and Society (I&S) teacher. My son's grade in this subject drops from a 6 to a 4, which in his world and mine is a disaster. During the conversation, it emerged that all his grades are falling, but that it is mainly 4 subjects that are affected.

The offspring asked me to return to our previous arrangement where we jointly go through his schoolwork. He also wanted to increase the review from once to twice a week.

I put together a timetable where he can continuously fill in upcoming formative and summative tests. This timetable helps him plan which days and what to study for the exam.

He could see right away that he has to study a chapter of math every day for the entire Christmas break as he has a big summative next year's second week of school. In addition, he needs to do a Spanish assignment every day during the same time period. I explained that if you ignore school during school hours, you have to "pay" in the form of all school holidays.

It will be interesting to see how long his motivation lasts. Last night I could have made him read Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus without the slightest protest.

I want to file a complaint

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

The non-existent snow removal in Sweden's capital Stockholm is ongoing. Even though we've had several days with degrees above zero, neither the ice nor the snow is gone from the sidewalks.

Instead, it's almost worse with all the ice and snow slush, partially covered by meltwater. Below is a picture of an icy and snowy sidewalk taken today. Next to it runs the cycle path, which is completely free of ice and snow.

According to the weather reports, the cold will return so all the meltwater will freeze to ice again. The emergency rooms will be busy with all the broken arms and legs.

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Our holdings as of today

The sale of all of our Medical Properties Trust, Inc. common stock (MPW) shares as well as a number of other sales and acquisitions made has changed our pie chart.

However, FDUS and MAIN are still our biggest holdings.

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November is closed

I contacted Nordnet today regarding the dividend from Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC) that we miss.

The young woman on customer service condescendingly informed me that OXLC's dividend does not have a payment date until December 29, 2023 even though I started the call saying I missed November's dividend. I had to repeat myself 3 times before she understood which month I meant.

She promised to look into the matter and get back to me. After a couple of hours she called back and made it sound like the payout that was due in the afternoon was planned for a long time.

Regardless, I'm grateful to be able to close November.

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Erik Thedéen is not to be blamed

Between 2015 and 2022, the Swedish central bank bought gigantic amounts of securities. In 2021, the holding was more than $86,350,000.

The National Audit Office's assessment regarding this measure was harsh. All these measures were taken under the leadership of former Riksbanken Governor Stefan Ingves.

It is stated in the review report that the National Audit Office has not managed to find support for the fact that the gigantic purchases of government bonds and other interest-bearing securities have affected inflation in a tangible way. The National Audit Office also announces that the measure was untested and that the state of knowledge was poor. Today, the central bank needs more than $7,085,000 to cover the losses on these purchases of securities.

These gigantic purchases have cost taxpayers large sums of money. As recently as October this year, it was also revealed that the Swedish central bank was insolvent thanks to these securities.

The current central bank governor Erik Thedéen was not given an easy task when he took office on January 1 this year.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 8

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

Norway's largest union also announces that they will also shortly go on strike in sympathy with IF Metall. That unions in soon 3 countries come together to force a company, Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM), to sign a voluntary collective agreement is unusual.

With each day that the strike continues, the risk increases that one of the companies involved in the sympathy strike will go bankrupt and its employees will become unemployed.

If such a scenario were to arise, I wonder how the union concerned would justify that some have to lose their jobs in order for another company to be forced to sign a voluntary agreement.

At least you get protection when you pay the mafia unlike the union which demands you 1.5% of the gross wages but does not provide protection.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck

I am one of the few who actually think that Riksbanken's Governor Erik Thedéen is right when he points to the problems with organized crime in Sweden. Even if his field is managing the country's economy and not fighting crime.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he says that the wave of violence in Sweden risks countering Sweden's long-term growth. Erik Thedéen also points out during the interview that trust between people and between people and authorities has been one of Sweden's main competitive advantages.

He believes that if the current wave of violence is not overcome, it could be a potential threat to the growth potential in Sweden. In the same interview, he also admits that the fight against inflation has turned out to be much more difficult to handle than expected. I have to give credit to Erik Thedéen who actually tells it like it is.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 7

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

The circus with IF Metall, the Swedish Transport Agency, PostNord and soon also Denmark's largest union continues at full speed. The Swedish Transport Agency is a state authority and must not take a position in a conflict.

According to the district court's ruling, the Swedish Transport Agency must hand over the registration plates to Tesla, otherwise they risk a fine of just under $89,000. Which in practice will be paid for by the Swedish taxpayers.

The Swedish Transport Agency's assessment that there is a security risk in handing out license plates to a representative from Tesla who presents himself with an identification as they at the same time handing out license plates in unlocked mailboxes is laughable. This behavior clearly shows that the Swedish Transport Agency AKA the Swedish state has chosen a side in this conflict.

IF Metall's excuse for carrying out this strike is that they are defending the agreements that exist in the Swedish labor market and that they must be followed. The problem with this position is that it is stated in IF Metall's statutes that a collective agreement is voluntary, so which agreement has been broken or left behind?!

Tesla, in turn, has responded that if they choose to sign the collective agreement, they will lower wages to the lowest level of the agreement. Which IF Metall in turn dismisses with the quote "The threat is hollow. Such low wages would be a breach of contract." unquote.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Elon Musk does not give in.

I believe that we must protect women's sports

For transparency, I do not have a transgender person among my family or friends. However, I have several homosexuals both among our friends and family. You have to be able to distinguish things. I have absolutely nothing against trans people.

However, I am completely against trans women being allowed to compete against biological women. I believe that the risk of injury is far too high as trans women are biologically stronger and usually larger than biological women.

Also, all the records currently held by biological women are broken by trans women, for the exact same reason, they are biologically stronger and bigger. This will lead to biological women dropping out of elite sport as it does not matter how much they practise. There will always be a trans woman who is totally superior to them, depending only on biology.

I see two solutions, either transgender people get their own league or they get to compete against biological men. My opinion is only based on the sporting side.

Please don't call me a transphobic just because we do not share the same opinion. Those are two completely different things.

Good times await

We are still waiting for a final dividend for November before I can close the month. It is our holding in Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC) on Nordnet, which is a Nordic digital platform for savings and investments, whose dividend we are still waiting for.

Nordnet is by far the worst at managing the distributions from OXLC. In some months there has been more than 11 days between Nordea, which is the fastest, and Nordnet, which is the slowest. In between, Avanza is roughly in the middle.

The current month is by far our best dividend month. December's dividends, including regular and extra, correspond to roughly 14% of all dividends for entire the year. With that in mind, the second part of December will be the best time of the year, payout-wise.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 6

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

IF Metall may have bitten off more than they can chew regarding Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM).

PostNord, which is tasked by the Swedish Transport Agency to distribute the license plates, is striking in sympathy with IF Metall. Yesterday, the District Court ruled in TM's favor regarding the license plates and gives Tesla the right to collect the license plates directly from the Swedish Transport Agency. The Swedish Transport Agency chose to request inhibition in the Court of Appeal, which means that they want the interim decision that the district court has taken to be postponed.

Today, Denmark's largest union announces that they also intend to strike in sympathy with IF Metall.

The self-awareness at IF Metall that they are neither needed nor wanted by TM's employees is non-existent. A clear sign of this is that it is only at the companies striking in sympathy, national and soon international, that the strike is noticeable. At Tesla, it's business as usual.

The whole system is set up to be deceived

Sweden has a gigantic problem with gang criminals who have infiltrated the whole society.

In addition to all the explosions and shootings that are going on, it turns out that the gang criminals have, through various methods, deceived our welfare.

Sweden must be the only country in the entire world that distrusts the people who pay money into the system and trusts those who withdraw money.

The approach for those who pay tax is based on control, while for those who receive grants it is based on trust.

What are they doing with our money?

Snow removal in Stockholm's inner city is still conspicuous by its absence.

According to the latest weather report, Stockholm's should get about 34-36℉ (1-2℃) on Thursday so I guess the city of Stockholm intends to wait out this milder weather and avoid paying for snow removal.

The cost of both the medical care and the personal suffering due to all the broken bones that follow the non-existent snow removal must be astronomical.

This is not worthy of a capital city with the fifth highest tax burden in the world!

Battle of egos

In connection with the Swedish central bank's latest monetary policy decision when they chose not to raise the key interest rate, central bank governor Erik Thedéen warned that further increases may come.

Following this warning, a senior economist, Robert Bergqvist, from one of the largest Swedish commercial banks, SEB, has spoken in the media. Mr Robert Bergqvist does not believe the central bank's warnings about further increases. On the contrary, he believes more in a reduction of the key interest rate already next year, in contrast to the central bank's announcement that a reduction could come in the second half of 2025 at the earliest.

The governor of the central bank talks about a "Table Mountain", i.e. an interest rate path that has risen rapidly and will remain at that level before falling again. The senior economist speaks more of a "Matterhorn", i.e. a rapid increase followed by a rapid decrease.

Mr Robert Bergqvist does not believe that we will get a zero interest rate again, but rather a key interest rate of 2-2.5%. I sincerely hope he is right, a zero interest rate is a clear sign of a crisis situation in the economy.

If you think I'm exaggerating

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

That the people of Stockholm are not standing outside the City Hall and protesting against the lack of snow removal this year is beyond my understanding.

Below are two photos taken at Old Town in Stockholm last Thursday. It is clear how well the cycle path is both shoveled and salted, while both the sidewalk and the car and busway are almost untouched apart from traces of pedestrians and motorists.

Stockholm's city board, the Social Democrats and the Green Party with the Left Party's tacit acceptance, have completely crazy priorities.

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New Times

When I hugged the world's most perfect teenager yesterday morning as he was going to school, he smelled amazing of Clinique's Happy perfume.

I asked if there was a particular reason he wore perfume he just replied quote "I've been wearing perfume for a long time" unquote. Since I always hug him several times a day, I know that's not entirely true.

Who has captured his interest to the point of perfuming himself remains to be seen, assuming we even find out. On the upside, maybe we won't have to forcefully apply the deodorant to him after he showers.

Everyone is in the same boat

Samhallbyggnadbolaget i Norden (SBB), which is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, has had profitability problems since last spring.

It is not only the small savers that SBB has caused both losses as well as worries. It turned out that the European Central Bank (ECB) has also invested in the company.

According to the rumor, the ECB has bonds in SBB worth "a few hundred million euros". The bonds in SBB are currently traded at approximately half of their nominal value. On 24 November 2023, SBB announced that it had bought back bonds at a reduced price. According to the same rumor, the ECB must have been one of the sellers.

An ECB spokesperson declined to comment on SBB or any losses incurred. The spokesperson instead referred to the central bank's website where the ECB characterizes its losses as "side effects" where the message instead is that the ECB's large profits in recent years more than compensate for any losses.

The hunt continues

OFS Credit Company, Inc. Common Stock (OCCI) announced the day before yesterday that it is lowering its dividend for next year from $2.2 per year per share to $1.2 per year per share. At the same time, they change the distribution rate from once every three months to every month.

Our holding in the company amounts to approximately 1,400 shares, which means that the dividend reduction makes a clear impression on our forecast for next year.

This year's acquisitions as well as changes in the existing holdings have been a protracted quest to reach the starting value of the 2023 projected dividends when these imploded due to NewtekOne, Inc. Common Stock (NEWT).

Although December is by far the best dividend month of the year for us, I don't think we will be able to repair the damage that OCCI just inflicted on us. The only positive thing is that OCCI announced changes in good time so I had time to adjust all the values in my Google Sheet before the turn of the year.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 5

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

The power struggle between the union and Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) is still ongoing. Personally, I sincerely hope that Mr. Elon Musk does not give in to the union even if it ends up with TM leaving Sweden. In the end, this power struggle will have hurt IF Metall and its sister unions much more compared to TM.

Delivery of mail is part of Sweden's infrastructure and is regulated in the Postal Act. TM recently sued PostNord, which is appointed by the Swedish Transport Agency to distribute registration plates to vehicles. The district court in Solna decided that PostNord has three days to submit its statement and during that time TM is still denied access to the license plates.

As icing on the cake, PostNord is owned 60% by the Swedish state and 40% by the Danish state. Sweden, the country that is marinated in socialism almost appears as a communist country.

Desperately seeking Christmas gifts

For the first time since we had the world's most perfect offspring, I have bought four Christmas presents before December even started. Although I am far from finished, it feels very good to be started.

My husband has warmly handed over this activity to me for 28 years. Usually I run around the shops on December 23rd in a wild panic, desperately trying to find the right gifts.

The goal is to be done with all Christmas presents before December 20. I doubt if the set goal is realistic...

No one changes more than a teenager

There is one sector that is moving faster than all other sectors, the teenage parenting sector. What was set in stone one day had never even been mentioned the next day, according to the teenager himself.

Young Master Dewlar is almost done with the first term of grade 10, which in his school is a preparatory year for his Diploma Program.

Last night our son and I attended a Teams meeting. The purpose of the meeting organized by the offspring's school was to inform both guardians and students what a DP education entails and what is expected of our children.

During the meeting, it was made clear that the students must choose 1 subject out of 6 different groups that they will study during their DP education. At least 3 of these subjects must be studied at a higher level while the remaining 3 at a standard level. It is also possible to choose to study 4 subjects at higher level and 2 subjects at standard level.

I was surprised when our son declared that his intention is to study 4 subjects at a higher level. But as a tried-and-true teenage parent, I assume that he has changed his mind when he comes home from school and would prefer to study 4 subjects at standard level, even though it's impossible.

How can a bike lane in northern Europe be prioritized in winter?

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

The city of Stockholm was governed during 2014-2018 by the Social Democrats and the Green Party with the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

Winter is not coming, it has arrived in Stockholm. Today it snowed a lot. Large amounts of snow cover sidewalks and roads. Even the bike lanes are covered in snow.

In 2015, the city of Stockholm changed the priority regarding snow removal. It was decided that bus streets, bike lanes and sidewalks would be prioritized. Snow banks would be avoided on the pavements, as they are used by walkers and prams.

Because women more often walk and bike while men drive, the priority has come to be called equal snow removal or feminist snow removal.

During the last 7 years, bike lanes have had the highest priority in Stockholm. For example, the bicycle paths have always been completely free of both snow and ice, while the pavements have not been plowed for several days.

Today was the first time in many years that the bicycle paths were not completely free of snow and ice.

What a "lovely" way to wake up

At 6:40 am my husband and I woke up to the alarm in our apartment going off. About 45 seconds pass before we get out of bed and turn off the alarm. After about another 30 seconds, the alarm company calls.

The battery in one of our IR detectors was almost dead and sent a tamper alarm. Since we were both awake when the alarm company called, my husband asked me to ask the alarm company to put our alarm system into service mode so he could change the battery right away.

Mr. Dewlar who can literally fall asleep within 10 seconds went to bed while I was wide awake so I sat on the couch and started a movie. After 30 minutes, the alarm company calls again, the alarm system sent a tamper alarm immediately when the service mode ended.

Apparently my husband who is not a morning person put the IR detector back wrong. Our son who slept through the entire commotion is still sleeping. I envy him.

The union won't get the joke

The union SEKO, whose members are mainly postmen, package drivers and staff at postal terminals, is on strike in sympathy with IF Metall in their conflict with Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM).

SEKO's sympathy measures involve a blockade against the delivery, delivery and collection of shipments, letters, packages and pallets handled by PostNord and CityMail to all of Tesla's workplaces in all locations in Sweden.

If I were TM, I would say that a proposal was sent with PostNord several days ago….

You can't make this stuff up even if you try

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

The city of Stockholm has been governed for just over a year by the Social Democrats and the Green Party with the Left Party's tacit acceptance.

A report compiled by the opposition city councilor Jan Jonsson, the Liberals, shows that the alliance that governs the city of Stockholm have spent $17,800,000 on costs that do not belong to the city's core business.

The costs are distributed as follows:

Marketing, $3,700,000

Communications and Management Consultants, $7,100,000

Entertainment and conferences, $7,000,000

The entertainment has been enjoyed at the luxury restaurants Grand Hotell Stockholm, Restaurang Lux and Hallwylska.

These 3 restaurants represent everything the left hates but is happy to spend their time at and taxpayers' money on.

Since the tax money is not enough for the city's expenses, the alliance that governs the city of Stockholm have decided to raise the municipal tax in the city of Stockholm next year.

Sweden, the country marinated in socialism.

Arrogance or laziness...

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Also, we are not affected by residential parking fees as we rent a parking space in a garage.

The city of Stockholm has been governed for just over a year by the Social Democrats and the Green Party with the Left Party's tacit acceptance.

This alliance that governs Stockholm city budgeted that the people of Stockholm would park incorrectly for 29,580,000 dollars. Instead, the outcome was $25,590,000.

Sweden has been in a deep recession for a long time, affecting the citizens' economy severely. In a strained economic situation, which a recession means, everyone avoids unnecessary costs, especially parking fines. Even first graders understand this.

This has resulted in the residential parking fee increasing by 45% next year and the Traffic Office will be without a Christmas table this year.

Despite the two measures, there will be $8,850,000 missing in the budget for next year, according to traffic councilor Lars Stromgren, the Green Party.

The alliance that governs the city of Stockholm should perhaps ask our first graders for help with the budget.