Herd Immunity Sweden

[SmallTown]

I just don't like how the ability to pay for stuff could be exclusively digital. Access to money could be turned off by a switch by evil doers.

It has its pros and cons.

Not really, not anymore than, say the internet can be. It's a lot harder to mug people for digital money

 

[ForssAwakens]

There was a combination of a large pool of vulnerable people and a system where care homes are large, with a lot of poorly paid staff, often immigrants with a poor grasp of Swedish and insufficient PPE. They failed, as a few nations did, to keep the virus out of those large institutions. Hence 5000 of their 5800 deaths being in the over 70 age group and most with critical co-morbidities. The most frequent co-morbidity is high blood pressure, which doesn't surprise me as the Swedes put insane amounts of salt in and on their food.

it seems Sweden have a higher percentage of deaths under 70 than the worldwide average at 13- 14%?

i guess if you letting it spread you would during the second wave see the percentage go smaller as it’ll be older patients dying.

 

[Billy Horner]

Just to continue down this cul-de-sac for a moment, I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with Randy. Personally, whilst the convenience and security of paying for many things by card is great, I think there should always be a role for cash.

Take tipping for example. If you choose to pay a gratuity by card there is absolutely no guarantee that any of that money will find its way to the staff. It’s not uncommon for chain pubs/restaurants to charge excessive ‘administrative costs’ to such payments.

Then there’s the liberal argument. Money is supposed to simply provide an efficient mechanism for the exchange of goods and services. It’s fine for people to choose to pay by card, but should we really mandate that there’s an audit trail for every single item of expenditure we all make for our entire lives (and for what other purposes could that data be used)?

Finally, there’s the fact that the central banks and large financial institutions have been pushing for cashless societies for many years now. They do not do this from a sense of altruism.

Financial institutions want to be able to charge fees on a wider range of transactions in order to maximise profits. Central banks want the ability to impose negative interest rates at times such as these, to ‘incentivise’ people to spend disposable income rather than saving for a rainy day. None of this is possible whilst cash exists, as people would simply withdraw money from the ATM and hoard cash.

 

[Randy]

I don't know what to say Billy, flabbergasted.

As for tipping when paying by card if you do that at our place for example as soon as the bill had been cleared with a card and a customer had chosen to tip the amount tipped comes out of the till and into the tip jar. Split between front and back of house with a higher percentage going to the guys and gals out the front.

Back on subject I've read that folk behind closed doors in parliament are actively championing a shift in emphasis towards the Swedish way of handling things.

 

[bear66]

I don't know what to say Billy, flabbergasted.

As for tipping when paying by card if you do that at our place for example as soon as the bill had been cleared with a card and a customer had chosen to tip the amount tipped comes out of the till and into the tip jar. Split between front and back of house with a higher percentage going to the guys and gals out the front.

Back on subject I've read that folk behind closed doors in parliament are actively championing a shift in emphasis towards the Swedish way of handling things.

Do you think the front guys getting more is fair Randy? If the food's poor, it doesn't matter how good the service is.

 

[Randy]

Do you think the front guys getting more is fair Randy? If the food's poor, it doesn't matter how good the service is.

If it was up to me I'd have it as 50/50 split and we've argued the point at work many times in the past but it's never happened. Started to cause an atmosphere in the place between front and back so the chef's all decided to leave it and focus on making the dishes better thus hopefully bringing in more tips for everybody.
I've come to see it as bonus and not something to expect, us lads out the back get our tips monthly, a different figure each month whereas the guys our the front tot theirs up every night.

 

[1finny]

If it was up to me I'd have it as 50/50 split and we've argued the point at work many times in the past but it's never happened. Started to cause an atmosphere in the place between front and back so the chef's all decided to leave it and focus on making the dishes better thus hopefully bringing in more tips for everybody.
I've come to see it as bonus and not something to expect, us lads out the back get our tips monthly, a different figure each month whereas the guys our the front tot theirs up every night.

Presumably a different pay structure too.
Different skills back of house more highly rewarded whereas front of house largely minimum wage?

 

[Abel Tasman]

They are just beginning their first wave really Rob, as they kept the virus out in the Spring. It was always going to be a problem when they relaxed rules and came out of lockdown as they would have a ready vulnerable population. You wouldn't expect them to have such a huge problem as Sweden had though because the population is much smaller, the cities are smaller and the population is spread out over mountainous areas that create physical barriers between villages/towns etc Fjords for instance.

Yes you think so so why is Iceland so high then?

 

[Randy]

Presumably a different pay structure too.
Different skills back of house more highly rewarded whereas front of house largely minimum wage?

That aswell mate, I'm on salary as are 3 of the others out the back with rest clocking in and out. A few out the front on salary aswell mind.

But yes you are right back of house are far superior to the front (jokes)

 

[borolad259]

Yes you think so so why is Iceland so high then?

Not familiar with how Iceland is fairing but Iceland's population is concentrated in the capital. There's quite a bit of high density housing in Reykjavik. Spent time in some of it.

 

[Frozen Horse]

I don't think Iceland's infection rate is especially high, 51st in terms of cases/million.
However, one reason why they're as high as they are is that, with the exceptions of the likes of Monaco and Andorra, they lead Europe in testing. How many cases have gone unrecognized in other countries that don't test so much?
Certainly their death rate is extremely low, particularly compared to their infection rate. 29/million: ours is over 20 times greater.