So you want to be Sweden during a pandemic, do you?

A case for economies with soul, 04.30.20

Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP — Getty Images

My husband and I have two kids. Like most kids, they are certain about many things, and they make choices based on that certainty, sometimes over and against our suggestions or against common sense.

Here is a thing I say to my kids, whom I love, on a very regular basis, especially during the lockdown in Minneapolis: This is what that choice feels like.

I have said this to myself, too, many times. Two years ago, I had a client who was clearly struggling on a number of fronts. My gut told me to bless her and move on. But I stayed, hoping things would get better, making accommodations when she couldn’t pay her bills on time, trying to be supportive, making excuses for her increasingly erratic and unpleasant behavior. I know, I know — if you’re good at boundaries, there are multiple flags on the field here. And you’re right — the thing that was basically inevitable is the exact thing that happened: a crisis point, she went off the rails, cut ties, skipped proverbial town, with a hefty unpaid invoice.

I sat in my living room that night, stunned and freshly “fired,” contemplating the dozens of labor-hours I would never get paid for without serious legal hassle, going over each opportunity I had to walk free from an abusive relationship…