The Welfare State Set to Topple By Brian Simpson

     With all of this free communist welfare money being splashed around like there is no tomorrow, where will this lead? Why the collapse of the welfare state, naturally, with Finland being one of the early cabs off the ranks:
  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/finland-is-told-its-welfare-state-can-t-cope-with-virus-fallout

“One of the world’s best-funded welfare states is starting to crack as the fallout of the coronavirus triggers mass unemployment. Finland’s system of jobless benefits can’t cope with the sudden surge in demand, the country’s biggest unemployment fund, YTK, said. There are more than 300,000 Finns who suddenly find themselves without work, either through temporary layoffs or outright job cuts. A large chunk of them may have to wait until next year to get their first benefit payment, YTK said. Money’s not the problem, Managing Director Sanna Alamaki said in letters to members sent through April 1. It’s “that the benefit applications can’t be processed and, consequently, money can’t be paid out quickly enough,” she said. YTK is expecting “a flood” of more than 100,000 applications through April. That’s double the number it would process during an average year. Even if it triples staff, people would still face a three-month wait for their jobless benefit, YTK said. That exceeds the legal limit of 30 days. Finns, along with their Nordic neighbors, rely on a generous welfare system to ensure that those who drop off payrolls still get some form of monthly support. When that safety net starts to crack, it risks upending the social model that underpins the high levels of trust in government typical to the Nordics. The fund, which represents 20% of wage earners in Finland, called on the government to help, and asked that it provide subsidies to companies laying off workers so that they still get paid through the payroll. In a letter to members, the fund said more than 270,000 members are at risk of losing their jobs. That compares with the 187,000 people who were unemployed in February, according to official statistics.”

     See, the problem is that Finland cannot give away the money fast enough, which is a management problem, not financial. Everybody relax, and bask in the joy of welfareism. And just have a looky-see what Hungary is doing to transgender rights, truly shocking stuff:
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/hungary-to-end-legal-recognition-of-trans-people-amid-covid-19-crisis

“A draft law proposed by the Hungarian government would end legal gender recognition for transgender people. The bill, submitted on Tuesday as attention was focused on the introduction of a controversial set of measures ostensibly aimed at fighting coronavirus, stipulates that gender should be defined as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes”. It would record people’s “sex at birth” in the Hungarian civil registry and thus make it impossible to change anyone’s legally recognised gender. On Monday, the Hungarian parliament passed a law that allows the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to rule by decree for as long as the coronavirus crisis is deemed to be continuing. It also mandates jail time for intentionally spreading disinformation that hampers the coronavirus response, measures that were roundly criticised by the opposition at home and politicians abroad. The gender regulation, part of a larger bill on a number of issues not related to coronavirus, will still be considered by parliament in the normal way. It shows that even as Orbán requested special measures for fighting coronavirus, his government had not forgotten its other battles. Trans rights and so-called “gender ideology” are frequent bugbears of alt-right and conservative politicians, and Orbán’s government has previously introduced a measure that in effect banned universities from teaching gender studies.”

     Queer times indeed.