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Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by weberer on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @02:13PM (#47604455)
That's not my experience in Finland. The unemployment rate passed 10% a few months ago. Youth unemployment is now over 20%.
Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by tovej on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @02:48PM (#47604898)
Of course, this is due to the current Finnish govt. weakening its welfare system, driving down demand and creating incentive traps.

I.e. making the economy more like the US.

Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by weberer on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @03:16PM (#47605225)
No, the current austerity measures are due to the national debt crisis in 2023, before the last parliamentary election. Even Yle acknowledged this beforehand.

https://yle.fi/a/74-20007883

https://yle.fi/a/74-20017437

Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by tovej on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @03:18PM (#47605266)
I did not even mention the causes of austerity measures, I'm simply describing their effect.

You are not even responding to anything in my post. Please try again.

Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by weberer on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @03:22PM (#47605333)
You're blaming the "current" Finnish government for austerity measures and implicitly removing blame from the previous administration for driving up the debt in the first place. I would just blame "the Finnish government" (over all administrations).
Re:A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind ... by tovej on Thursday April 02, 2026 @02:46AM (#47610787)
Uh, no. The unemployment is due to this govt. The austerity measures have led to purchasing power dwindling, leading to lowering domestic demand, and changes to unemployment, removing the possibility to do part-time work while on benefits has disincentivized people from becoming employed.

These austerity measures have made the Finnish welfare system more U.S.-like. This is all I'm commenting on. My initial comment did not assign blame, it simply described the situation.

The debt issue is separate from this point, since we're not talking about why these measures were made. But the debt is definitely not due to the previous govt. If you look at the data, the debt has been an issue since 2008 (just as it has been worldwide).