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.

I was wrong

Sweden's Central Bank AKA Riksbanken chose not to raise the key interest rate. It remains at 4% but, according to central bank governor Erik Thedéen, may be increased in the future.

However, many experts believe that Sweden has reached the end of the increase and predict that Riksbanken will instead lower the policy rate in 2024. Riksbanken themselves say that a reduction in the key interest rate will come in the second half of 2025 at the earliest.

Nevertheless, what Riksbanken says should be treated with caution since the previous central bank governor, Stefan Ingves, said as late as April 2021 quote "Riksbanken estimates that the key interest rate will remain at 0% until 2024" unquote.

Allow me to be wrong

Tomorrow at 11am, Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken will issue its next monetary policy statement.

Today, spokespeople from Sweden's business community and one of the major Swedish trade unions have made similar statements and said that further increases in the policy rate could deepen the ongoing decline.

I still believe that Riksbanken will raise the policy rate by 25 basis points. After this potential increase, I believe that the policy rate will remain at 4.25% until the summer of 2024 and then drop a little.

In the times of waiting

Nordea has for several years had 2 parallel online banks, the old and the new. Since the user interface between these 2 online banks is very different, I guess that Nordea's plan was that the 2 would run in parallel for a short time so that we, the users, would have time to learn to find our way around the new online bank.

Nordea has previously shut down the old online bank only to be forced to open it again because the new online bank did not work satisfactorily for either Nordea or us users.

Nordea must now believe that all the programming bugs in the new online bank have been fixed because yesterday Nordea closed the old bank again and we are once again completely referred to the new online bank.

Personally, I'm a little unsure of how stable the new bank is, as Nordea still hasn't collected the capital tax from us on our endowment insurance. In the almost 6 years we have had our capital insurance with Nordea, they have never charged us the capital tax later than the 19th of the month.

Today is the 22nd and they still haven't charged us for November. It remains to be seen if the old online bank is resurrected, again.

Nordea is the bank with more lives than a cat.

It is set in stone, we miss the mark

Today we get our last slightly larger dividend for November, Hercules Capital, Inc. Common Stock (HTGC). In addition to a regular dividend of $0.4, they also distribute a special dividend of $0.08. HTGC has payment day today.

This is our last slightly larger dividend for November. After this distribution, the remaining total dividends for November are less than $150.

Our holdings in all our portfolios combined contain more than 70 different stocks. The size of each holding varies between 5 and 3000 shares. Assuming I didn't miss an announcement about a special or supplemental dividend for December, 2023 will not be our second best dividend year ever. We will miss the target by about $500.

However, 2023 will outperform 2022 despite the fact that the engine of 2022, NewtekOne, Inc. Common Stock ( NEWT ), changed both its business and dividend yield at the beginning of the year. All in all, with that in mind, I'm happy with the outcome for 2023.

Pure idiocy in my opinion

The first "snow" of the season in Stockholm already fell on October 19, 2023. The snowflakes melted as they reached the ground. Since then it has "snowed" on a couple more occasions.

The weather report calls for 0.15 ft (5 cm) of snow tomorrow. From experience, I know that the first snow always causes problems for public transport, motorists and pedestrians.

If this season is like the last 5 years, the bike lanes will be freshly plowed and completely free of snow and ice already tomorrow morning, while the road lanes will be plowed during the day. The sidewalks will not be plowed at all for the first week.

I cannot understand how the ruling politicians in Sweden's capital can prioritize cycle lanes in a city in northern Europe. The priority should be sidewalks for several reasons. An obvious reason is to avoid fractures, which means both an increased burden on the healthcare system and personal suffering. In addition to this, there are many elderly people who walk with walkers who cannot even get to the grocery store to buy food when the sidewalks are not plowed.

Given that Sweden has the fifth highest tax burden in the world, sidewalks and roads should be able to be plowed simultaneously several times a day. I see no gain whatsoever in plowing the bike lanes in winter. The fact that cycle paths are not just plowed but have the highest priority is due to the Green Party.

Since October 2022, it is the Social Democrats, together with the Green Party, that govern the city of Stockholm. Between 2018 and 2022, it was the Green Party together with the Moderate Coalition Party that governed the city of Stockholm. I'm not a fan of the Green Party.

My abstinence is brutal

I'm beginning to distrust my vertigo specialist's diagnosis, vertigo migraine, as it should have healed by now.

On my last visit to him, he complained about my lifestyle with bad eating habits without regular mealtimes and high sugar intake. To avoid further scolding at the next visit, I have decided to reduce my sugar intake.

As of yesterday, I have eaten 3 times a day and only food, i.e. no sweets, hot chocolate or the like. My craving for sweets right now is almost unbearable.

Never underestimate human vanity

The Governor of Riksbanken has previously said that quote "the krona's development in recent years with the recent trend weakening is not welcome when it comes to fighting inflation" unquote.

The weak status of the Swedish krona has often been pointed out as the driving factor behind Riksbanken's interest rate increases.

The main reason why I believe that Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken will raise the policy rate is the statement that Erik Thedéen made during the last interest rate meeting.

The members of Riksbanken themselves stated at the last interest rate meeting that the weak krona is a significant risk factor for increased inflation.

But at the same meeting, a possible mistake on the part of the authority was also raised, namely that Riksbanken may have misjudged the real effect of a weak krona.

Quote "a lot of evidence suggests that the impact from a weak exchange rate to rising inflation may be greater than we previously expected" unquote and quote "it represents an upward risk for our inflation assessment" unquote says Erik Thedéen according to the meeting minutes.

The same protocol also mentions quote "so that we can reach our inflation target within a reasonable time, it is therefore important that the krona is not further weakened" unquote by Erik Thedéen.

So even if Riksbanken itself is aware that misjudgments may have been made, I am convinced that Erik Thedéen and Riksbanken will follow through on their plan just to appear secure and confident in their positions.

I hope I'm wrong

On Thursday, Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken will deliver the next monetary policy announcement.

It is just as uncertain that they will leave the policy rate unchanged as that they will raise it, if what is written is to be believed.

Personally, I think that the governor of the central bank, Erik Thedéen, will raise the key interest rate by 25 basis points. Even if it's completely the wrong way to go. I base this on the fact that he previously said that another interest rate increase is to be expected and he does not want to appear incompetent and weak.

What speaks against an increase is that more and more people seem to believe that both the Federal Reserve (FED) and the European Central Bank (ECB) will not raise interest rates again. In addition, the inflation outcome was lower than expected in Europe, the USA and Sweden.

Tesla Motor Sweden AB, I take my hat off to you!

Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) impressed us today.

We discovered a damage to the glass roof of our Tesla model Y two weeks after we picked it up at Tesla delivery center. We contacted TM and about a week ago they contacted us again and announced that we could make an appointment for service.

This morning we dropped off the car and this afternoon we picked it up. In addition to replacing the glass, they also installed our winter tires completely free of charge.

This is something TM is offering this season to avoid that third parties, Tesla car owners, are affected by the ongoing strike between IF Metall and TM where several tire workshops are on sympathy strikes. The app also contained coupons for Uber rides that we could use during the day to transport ourselves from and to the workshop.

Our previous cars have always been the Audi Allroad A6. We had three Audi cars before we chose to be without a car for a number of years. During all the service visits we made to Audi during all these years, we always had to arrange transport from and to the service workshop ourselves.

We are approaching the best day of the year

Today the sun shone for several hours in Stockholm.

As we are almost as far from the sun as we can get at the moment, I didn't feel any warmth, but it was great to finally get sunlight on my face after all these gray and overcast days. I can really understand why November is called the gray month.

I think one of the best days of the year is when the winter solstice occurs. This year it is Friday 22 December 2023 at 04:27 Swedish time (UTC+1). Just knowing that we are heading towards brighter days means a lot.

The longing is almost unbearable

I really long to travel. Unfortunately, there will be no trip during the world's most perfect teenager's Christmas break this year either.

Had there been time and money, we would have traveled to Florida on the day the offspring's Christmas break begins and returned in time for the start of school.

YMD's school has a week longer Christmas break than Swedish schools because the majority of the school's students are children of guest workers who wish to be able to travel to their home countries during Christmas and New Year. Instead, their summer break is a week shorter.

The fact that the children get a week off before Christmas means that they have time to enjoy Christmas a little more because for many children, Christmas "ends" with the opening of the presents.

I hope that the economy has improved and that the Swedish krona has strengthened against the US dollar by next summer so that we can travel to Florida then instead. My dream is to live there permanently.

I could be in deep water here, part 2

Since I live and work in Sweden, my assumptions are based on Western laws and values. In my opinion, Newton's cradle can also be applied to school.

When my parents went to school, it was allowed to punish naughty children. My father, for example, was hit on the fingers by his teachers with the ruler.

It was not until 1958 that punishment was banned in Swedish schools, and in 1979 Sweden was the first Nordic country to completely ban child punishment.

When I was in school, mainly throughout the 80's, teachers was allowed to tell students who were disruptive to leave the classroom. In addition, to avoid the disruption of classes by late students, the teachers could lock the doors, making one absent from these classes.

Today, the ball has swung so far to the other side that teachers do not have the right to exclude students from lessons when they are disruptive or late as their rights to education outweigh.

The consequence of this is clearly visible in society as there are too many children who, after finishing primary school, can neither read nor count. Hopefully the ball is heading back towards the middle.

I consider myself to have gone to school when the ball was in the middle.

I could be in deep water here

Since I live and work in Sweden, my assumptions are based on Western laws and values.

I believe you can graphically explain changes in society with the help of Newton's cradle. One sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres; a force is transmitted through the stationary spheres and pushes the last sphere upward.

The currents in society move like the balls in Newton's cradle, where momentum and energy are conserved with an elastic shock.

When trade unions began to form in the second half of the 19th century, it was a reaction (elastic shock) to the abusive relationship between employees and employers for many years.

Because the abuses had been going on for so long, there was a tremendous damping force in the elastic shock that for many years moved in one direction and led to laws and rights for workers all over the world.

Eventually it reached the point where it turns and, according to Newton's second and third laws, begins its journey to the other side.

Since many western countries have very well developed both laws and rights for workers in their countries, unions have almost played out their role in that part of the world.

I guess that the ball has started its journey back towards the middle since IF Metall's offer of both free membership and a 130% strike salary cannot get the workers at Tesla Motor Sweden AB to abandon their agreements with the employer in favor of a collective agreement instead.

It will be interesting to see if the ball stops in the middle or continues further out through reduced protection for workers in the future.

This will be fun, the follow-up

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.

Today, Daniel Helldén was elected to replace Per Bolund as spokesman for the Green Party. I guess we've only seen the beginning of the internal power struggle given how frosty things have been between the present female spokesperson Mrs. Marta Stenevi and the male candidate Mr. Daniel Helldén during the nomination period.

Mr. Daniel Helldén wants the Green Party to focus only on environmental issues, while Mrs. Marta Stenevi has steered the Green Party far to the left and wants to shift the focus to social issues. Hopefully, this internal power struggle will lead to the party breaking into two phalanxes and imploding.

🎼Always look on the bright side of life🎼🎼

The sun failed to break through the cloud cover throughout the day. New info says Thursday next week should be sunny so I've decided to keep my hopes high.

On the upside, my wrinkles are not currently being aggravated by the sun.

Doubtful

Today, the meteorologists have promised us that we will get sun in Stockholm.

It's 9:25am and it's looking bleak.

Hopefully the cloud cover will break up and we will get at least a couple of hours of sunshine today.

A once famous climate hero, now over the hill

When Elon Musk changed Twitter's name to X, the media coverage was enormous. Everyone reported that he destroyed the world's most famous brand. Personally, I think Mr. Elon Musk's renaming of Twitter was a stroke of genius.

The enormous media time that both big and small media houses gave Mr. Elon Musk is priceless. Even his opponents and people who don't even like him gave him publicity without even realizing it. Changing the name on Twitter has to be the biggest, cheapest and smartest advertising campaign ever.

Miss Greta Thunberg, on the other hand, has tarnished her brand. During Miss Greta Thunberg's latest demonstration, she chanted quote "no climate justice on occupied land" unquote while inviting a woman from Palestine, even some of the supporters had enough. A man took the stage, took the microphone from her hand and said he came for a quote "for a climate demonstration, not a political view" unquote.

The Swedish media dutifully reported in a very short feature about Miss Greta Thunberg's new message. The number of invitations to prestigious climate meetings will most likely drop drastically.

Today is a good day!

It's not set in stone as Nordea won't update the account specification until tomorrow but I'm pretty sure the money credited to our endowment insurances today is a refund of foreign withholding tax.

That Sweden's largest bank does not have account information in real time is incomprehensible. Patience is not my strongest attribute. I would have liked to have the payments confirmed today. I would also like to have been able to confirm or deny that Nordea made a deduction for the capital tax today.

Because of this, we can't take any chances and have to wait until Monday to make any acquisitions.

I embrace the nerd in me

We have already received more than 75% of this month's dividends. Despite next month being by far the best dividend month of the year, all the numbers point to us missing the target of surpassing 2018's dividends. Despite having several dividends paid out this week, we are refraining from acquisitions until the capital tax has been deducted from our endowment insurances.

I am looking forward to 2024 as my Google Sheets have been continuously adjusted throughout the year and will hopefully be completely accurate next year. Being able to see how acquisitions made increase the dividends for the remainder of the year and to hopefully confirm that the outcome will be exactly the same as the calculation will be extremely exciting.

Hoping for sunshine instead of darkness

It is still just under an hour that the sun has managed to shine through the cloud cover that has covered Stockholm for the past 3 weeks. I can't remember ever going this many days without at least a semblance of sunshine before.

According to the meteorologists, we should get some sun in Stockholm during the coming weekend. However, I don't know of any other profession, apart from politics, where it's perfectly okay to be completely wrong and still not have to be held accountable. Or at least a little questioned.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 4

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

Due to the fact that so few of the workers at Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) are members of IF Metall, the union is currently offering free membership, regular price is $54 per month, as well as 130% in strike pay to new members. This is to increase the degree of organization, says Jesper Pettersson, press officer at IF Metall.

Despite this, no workshop employee at Tesla's delivery center in Huddinge has joined the strike. IF Metall may have bitten off more than they can chew.

As the icing on the cake, IF Metall donates just under $128,000 per year to the Swedish Social Democrats. That equates to $0.05 per month per member.

Even if the amount that IF Metall donates to the Social Democrats is marginal, it is more problematic than that. Support for the Social Democrats among Swedish workers has steadily declined over the past 10 years. Donating money to a party you do not sympathize with may not be very alluring.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 3

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

The SEKO trade union, which is striking in sympathy for IF Metall, sold its holding in Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) shortly before IF Metall took its members out on strike.

Lancelot Camelot is the name of the fund that SEKO actively invests in, whose value at year-end amounted to more than $5,700,000, where TM was the thirteenth largest holding.

SEKO states that the fund divested its holding in TM quote "a couple of months ago" unquote. This was a consequence of SEKO continuously reviewing its placements, communications manager Jonas Petterson writes in an email.

I am sure that the fact that the sale is taking place in close proximity to an upcoming strike was just a coincidence.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 2

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

One of the companies that IF Metall has ordered to go on a sympathy strike is a car repair shop. This company works almost exclusively with repairing Tesla cars. They have more than 90 workshops in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The group employs approximately 1,200 employees.

Besides prevention being better than cure and to stay one step ahead, it is speculated that the company will have to start notifying employees soon. With 1,200 employees, any notice must be given early in the process to avoid incurring large costs that contribute to the company ending up insolvent or, in the worst case, going bankrupt.

Every working hour with 1,200 workers on strike is extremely costly even if the union pays the wages of its striking members. In addition to the fixed costs like rent, insurance, pension insurance, telephony, electricity, vehicle fleet, etc. run as usual, there are always staff who are not covered by the union that the company has to pay.

Before a notice affecting more than 25 full-time employees enters into force, 2 months must have passed between the notice and termination. Therefore, I believe that a notifying will come quite soon.

The union concern for the individual worker is non-existent, which may soon become clear when many workers with collective agreements risk unemployment due to these sympathy strikes.

It is rumored that only 6 employees out of 130 at TM are unionized. That IF Metall's concern for these 6 workers is more keen than the existing members who are covered by the collective agreements and risk losing their jobs does not feel credible.

It all comes down to the union wanting its 1.5% of the gross salary that a collective agreement entails.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 1

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) continues. Personally, I sincerely hope that Mr. Elon Musk does not give in to the union.

The original conflict is between the union IF Metall and TM. A further number of unions have joined the conflict by ordering their members to go on a sympathy strike.

For example, Sweden's ports are not allowed to unload goods that include Tesla cars or spare parts, car workshops are not allowed to repair Tesla cars, car paint companies are not allowed to paint Tesla cars, tire workshops are not allowed to change tires on Tesla cars, companies that service Tesla charging stations are not allowed to carry out work on them and so on.

Even the mailmen are on a sympathy strike and will not distribute mail and letters to TM. All companies that have a collective agreement with the unions must, according to the agreement, participate in a sympathy strike if the union orders it.

I guess the union is at a really low point right now but the good news is that the worst is still ahead.

I miss the sunlight

November has really been dreary so far. The sun only managed to shine through the clouds for 30 minutes between November 1st and November 8th, 2023.

However, it has rained every day. Admittedly, I am grateful that our water reservoirs are full for the winter, but for now rain is enough.

Just as beautiful and fantastic Stockholm is on a sunny spring day, just as cold and terrible is the city on a cold and rainy day well into autumn.

We have dark and cold winters ahead of us

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. Politically, I am very far from communism and socialism.

The Green Party's demand to support the Social Democrats in the 2014 and 2018 elections was that Sweden should decommission our fully functional nuclear power plants. They managed to decommission 6 of our 12 nuclear power plants.

Since this phase-out, Sweden is always at risk of having to introduce temporary and regional electricity rationing. Especially during the winter.

Sweden has an enormous resource in hydropower, which is our biggest source of energy. Unfortunately, we cannot replace the lost nuclear power plants with the expansion of additional hydropower. We have already affected nature significantly through the existing hydropower.

The project to produce fossil-free steel increase the risk of power outages, significantly higher electricity prices and above all electricity rationing because the amount of electricity needed to produce fossil-free steel is gigantic.

It is sad that the Social Democrats put power ahead of a reliable electricity grid.

🎼 Now don't try to kid me, man-cub 🎼 🎼

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. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism. Neither I nor anyone close to me is of Jewish origin.

The Social Democratic Member of Parliament, Jamal El-Haj, who on May 31, 2023 was forced by the party to take time out from his assignment in the foreign affairs committee after it emerged that he participated in a Palestine conference with connections to Hamas. At the turn of the year, Jamal El-Haj's timeout expires and the party still has information about his future.

Hamas' horrific attack and massacre of Israel and its citizens on November 7, 2023 exposed a world-wide hatred of Jews like no other. Especially for the left, this has proven problematic.

As recently as October 23, 2023, a social democratic journalist, Goran Greider, wrote an editorial in which he writes quotes "Damn, I'm sick of all the flimsy claims that the left somehow shares a worldview with a far-right Hamas!" unquote. This editorial becomes a clear picture of the left's increasingly desperate attempts to mislead people about the currently undesirable connections.

If Hamas is a far-right organization, why do a large part of the Social Democratic party's voters and this Member of Parliament sympathize with them? Why was this editorial written only now and not several years ago?

Hope still lives

At the beginning of the week, my husband discovered that we had missed selling off our fund holdings on Avanza. Due to the fact that our holdings in Avanza are considerably lower than in Nordea and Nordnet, the holdings in Avanza are slightly overlooked.

We also had a small amount of both Global Net Lease, Inc. Common Stock (GNL) and Macerich Company (The) Common Stock (MAC) that we sold off at the same time.

This reallocation reduced the distance by $100 to our goal of 2023 being our second best dividend year ever. In order to reach the goal, it is required that more of our holdings decide on a special or supplemental dividend with a payment date of December 31 at the latest.

I'm on his naughty list

Today the world's most perfect teenager was at the dental hygienist's for the first time since removing his braces. Going to both the dentist and dental hygienist with a so-called post-dental brace is a little more time-consuming than normal.

In order not to miss school time, I had booked his appointment. The offspring was not happy about having to get up at 5.45am to make it to the dental hygienist in Solna, which is a town of its own just outside Stockholm.

When he was done and we had made our way back to Stockholm, he discovered to his great chagrin that he would be on time for school. It wasn't a cheerful teenager I saw walking across the school yard into the school building...

Close but not close enough

Now October's last dividends have compensated our endowment insurance. The end result was better than I hoped.

Several companies have announced their final special and or supplemental dividends for 2023. Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), Hercules Capital, Inc. Common Stock (HTGC), Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) and Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX) constitute the largest additional dividends for us.

Where FDUS and MAIN stand for almost more than 95% of the total.

When I add up the expected dividends, both regular and additional, remaining for 2023, we are $1400 short of making this year our second best dividend year ever. This year's December is going to be a nail biter.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

My ingrained guess was wrong

I have always believed that the stock market declines were mainly due to the strategies and actions of the big banks.

I recently read that it is actually the small savers who depress the stock market when they convert their equity funds into cash. During the period from October 16 to and including October 23, 2023, the Stockholm Stock Exchange fell in value every day.

October 2023 is the month when most Swedish mortgage holders who tied their mortgages 2-5 years ago with a fixed interest rate renegotiated their mortgages. If they have not lived according to a more normal interest rate of 4-5%, the step from 1-1.5% will be very high.

My guess is that part of the explanation for this stock market decline is that a large portion of these mortgage holders sold off their fund holdings to make extra repayments on their mortgages with the renegotiation.

Looks aren't everything!

One of our online banks, Avanza, has the absolute most user-friendly website. Even my dad who is the most non-technical being to walk this earth can log in and find the information he seeks.

Despite Avanza's user-friendly site, my husband helps my father with all his stock acquisitions and investments.

On the other hand, there is much to be desired in general when it comes to Avanza. Their payout rate is low both in terms of dividends and refunded foreign withholding tax. We still haven't received all the dividends for October.

Both Nordea and Nordnet have paid out all dividends several days ago. We are still waiting for the dividend from Gladstone Capital Corporation Common Stock (GLAD) and OFS Credit Company, Inc. Common Stock (OCCI). As soon as Avanza has paid them off, I can close October.

You don't choose your family

I love my parents, deeply and sincerely. However, that doesn't stop me from sometimes feeling a great deal of frustration towards them.

For 20 years I worked for my father who had a large construction company. One of my younger sisters also worked there at the same time. I worked in finance and she in HR.

During all these years we had exactly the same monthly salary even though she worked 50% less than me. For the first 15 years this did not bother me. While working for my dad, I did the bookkeeping for my sister's husband's company for free all these years.

All this changed when I became a mom. That I would miss time with my son because I was doing pro bono work for my sister's husband's company didn't feel good. It took me 5 years before I decided to leave my employment at my dad's company.

During these 20 years, I worked at the same time with our own company, so my free time was non-existent.

At the same time that I ended my employment with my father's company, I ended my commitment with my sister's husband's company. During the 20 years that I handled all their accounting including annual reports and declarations, I didn't even get a flower as a thank you.

Instead of being grateful for all the work I did for them over 20 years, my sister got mad at me and started speaking ill of me to our other sister. So for the last 10 years my contact with my sisters has been a bit strained.

In connection with my mother becoming ill a number of years ago, my father wound up his construction company and became a consultant instead. I have taken care of all his bookkeeping since then, free of charge. Today my mother is healthy and stronger than ever.

The only times he visits me is when he hands over documents, invoices, etc. that he received in paper format and not electronically. This behavior sometimes makes me feel like Cinderella.

I hope they take it coolly

On Thursday, it will be 3 weeks until the next monetary policy announcement from Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken.

Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve (Fed) left their key interest rates unchanged recently. I hope Riksbanken does not rock the boat and leave the policy rate unchanged this time, although I highly doubt it.

Our current central bank governor, Erik Thedéen, will most likely push for a policy rate hike. The consequence will most likely be that Riksbanken will be forced to lower the policy rate as early as 2024 or 2025 at the latest.

I would not be surprised if Riksbanken is forced to introduce zero interest rates in 2025 as their monetary policy will rather deepen the ongoing recession instead of mitigating it.

Demand has changed

The fact that a very large number of households have now changed their mortgages with a fixed interest rate to a significantly higher variable interest rate is now clearly visible in society.

In our store, for example, spare parts are now in demand instead of new faucets, as was the case a year ago. There are people who choose not to fix their broken faucets because they think the price of the spare part is too high, with the justification being that it only drips a little.

Another example is that last spring you had to book a table at Stockholm's restaurants compared to yesterday when my husband and I were walking around the city of Stockholm and noticed that almost all the restaurants were empty.

It will be a long and lean winter for many.

Parents know best!

10 years ago, the world's then most perfect child's wish was to start a YouTube channel. My husband and I said no and he hated our decision.

At the time he was practicing taekwondo. One of his friends at the taekwondo course had a Youtube account even though he was only 6 years old. At one point I was engaged in a conversation with another mother and did not notice that the child in question and our son were recording a short 7 seconds video.

When the offspring was in grade 7, he and his peers had a project that involved Googling their names. I have never seen Junior as embarrassed as he was the day he came home and had found the video.

Today he is incredibly grateful that we prevented him from starting a YouTube channel. He has tried to get in touch with the boy who posted the video to get it taken down from Youtube to no avail. It took us several months to get him to see the 7 seconds video as a good reminder that it could have been much worse.

Our son is one of the very few children who are barely on the internet. No foolish teenage sins shall come back to bite him on my watch.

I'm a Christmas rebel

I am very traditional in many ways, but there is one Swedish tradition that I have never followed. It is customary in Sweden to put up the tree on the before Christmas Eve.

My parents, like everyone else I know, follow it slavishly. Personally, I have always put up the tree on the first weekend in December to take it out before the New Year.

I have already taken out the Advent candlestick. Since the Swedes are very traditional, I don't dare to hang the Advent stars in the windows before the weekend before Advent.

Close but no cigar!

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX) has also declared a special dividend of ¢7 to be paid on December 20th.

My rough calculation confirms that these three known extra dividends, FDUS, MAIN and TSLX, as well as the estimated remaining ordinary dividends are not enough for us to reach our goal of 2023 being our second best dividend year ever.

The acquisitions we will make with the year's remaining dividends whose payment date is before December 31 are negligible and barely affect the final outcome.

I have a hunch that we will miss our new target by about $1000 once all 2023 dividends have been charged to our endowment insurances.

I am happy

He used his day off for good things and restored our apartment to a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom.

Having a non-functioning shower is frustrating. Now I don't have to step out of and into the bathtub with my vertigo migraine to have a shower.

He is already a fully trained driver - according to himself

There is nothing a teenager does not know or can do, according to themselves. We had promised the world's most perfect teenager that we would practice driving again today.

Since he drove so well last time, we had decided that he would be allowed to drive on the motorway today. When we were to prepare him for what situations can arise on a highway, he answered us with the quote "I know how to drive on the highway" unquote.

I can confirm that he has a lot to learn...

He is a tough opponent

Having a teenager is a bit like living in constant cross-examination. Although our teenager is unusually kind, he questions almost everything we say.

We must always be prepared to have well-founded arguments with reference to sources. Otherwise, we are not credible, if only barely.

Sometimes I wish I had studied law instead of economics.