MrFrankeisten
101423
1765
42
Jul 4, 2023 7:51 PM
MrFrankeisten
101423
1765
42
thegarts
Do you all need nurse anesthetists?
mickjl
But are they free???? Apparently yes.
Jinxer13
Always get "oil money" comments. Clearly that's not the factor when other countries have more oil production per capita. Maybe the socialization part of that oil money is a more important factor ppl screeching "oil money" don't want to acknowledge
Valharroth
It IS an unshakable fact that we wouldn't be where we are without oil money, but it is our tax and social policies as well as strong labour movement that keeps us in the top 10 happiest nations. (7th as of per now, not 1st like the post states.) Still a lot of work that needs to be done though, especially on the migrant worker front.
MissSiesta
Differences are increasing in Norway too. We're well off, especially compared to the US, but every country has issues it needs to work on. Buying your own home is pretty much impossible if you don't inherit money, for example. This will, in time, result in larger class divides.
Excludos
Maybe this is a bit pedantic, but we don't have paid vacation time. Vacation money is (by law) detracted from out salary every month, so it can be paid out instead of regular salary during vacation. It's still very nice, of course, but it's not magic money that comes for free
WinstonSmith101
Avsfan
Appreciate the technically correct, not sure if that is the message that will help those without though. It can be used against the front line propaganda “THEYRE taking from YOU”. Yet it’s accounted for and part of the system. And that increases the chance of it happening to be 100%. All other benefits are the same, this just makes it transparent. And heaven forbid we start it now and give it to someone new, “because I never had it (under different circumstances) and I’m fine (I’m not)”.
TheSwedeLife
Sad Norwegian sounds. :)
SJBSavageInk
Their big Mac is cheaper than the US and they pay them $20/hr
Pulsifer
Also more billionaires per capita than the US. 2,2 over 1,8 per million. Granted, that's only 12 out of 5-something million. But still. Shouldn't the country that has sacrificed so much - veterans, pensioners, public health, public education, public welfare, the integrity of its' political and judicial systems - at the altar of unregulated capitalism have more to show for it? More than the odds at 1 to 555 555 of becoming a billionaire? (At most - not corrected for generational wealth)
Metlahaed
Don’t forget the black metal
Jattetont
When is this from? Finland has led the World Happiness Report ranking six years running, with Norway placing 7th (bottom of the Nordic countries, and below Israel and the Netherlands) in the 2023 edition. If I read the data right, Norway does very well on all QoL factors in the survey except the basic "Do you feel happy/unhappy?"
cccook
Was going to say the same thing. Also fun fact the #1 indicator for that ranking is social support.
hoopyhoop
Petroleum economy pays for a lot of goodies.
barnwolf
The secret is lots of oil money, being used to benefit everyone instead of just the rich assholes.
Hyndisfox
Problem is, all of that oil is being burned and fueling the climate change disaster, which is an existential threat to the entire biosphere. Norway pretends to be a very green country because it uses renewables for its own local power, but just because someone else burns the oil doesn't give them clean hands. They're destroying the planet as much as the Saudis are.
LaffertyDanie1
A shitload of oil
potatoispeople
Fuck it I'm moving to Norway. Ha det!
WilliamHuskerAdama
Nearly a month? Pretty much all jobs I've worked (in Norway) had 5 weeks
NickNackGus
I suppose if you mix and match business days vs every day, you get 25 business days vacation, which is under a month of 28 normal days at the shortest. Doesn't really make sense to compare it like that, though.
WilliamHuskerAdama
Yes it does, because you only need 5 days to have 1 full week off work, since 5 days/40 hours is the standard work week.
ali4z
Yea, 5 weeks is minimum in law. https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/1988-04-29-21/KAPITTEL_2#KAPITTEL_2
TimeTravelingUser
How bizarre
ImAllergicToCatsAndIMustPspsps
How dare they!
FordF
Nearly a month? 5 weeks!!! :D
RagingNorseman
We're riiiich, bitcheeees!
Diverge
Äh, håll snattran därborta! ;)
lgnoramus
It's al fun and games until you buy a few rounds of pints in the pub
HandoB4Javert
Only because the massive debt is measured in petrodollars.
RagingNorseman
The massive Norwegian debt..?
HandoB4Javert
No, silly the USA'ers. Norway owns about 3.5% of shares on the planet in the Sovereign Fund set up by the former Iraqi who wasn't allowed to do the same there.
RagingNorseman
Iraqi...?
HandoB4Javert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_Al-Kasim Smart man. Saw it was a limited resource and built for the end, just after discovery.
marsgoose
You are number 3 in median net income due to your high tax, right after United States and Luxemburg, but all 3 are close enough together so it's more to do with cost of living on who actually gets more wealth.
NorwegianSheepknuller
We don't don't go bankrupt for going to the hospital.
marsgoose
I decided having experienced both the socialized Euro style system and the US one, I don't like either.
HavetsHerren
And also, I can tell you, Norway feels a lot more rich than the US, and so do Norwegians. I love the US, just spent 3 weeks there again, but it feels more like a country like Colombia, just with different demographics. (Love colombia too)
marsgoose
I'd like to see Norway for sure, will probably try making it a stop on my next trip back to the old home. US has done extremely well for me so far, but I'm in tech and this is the place to do tech, so it might not work out as well for everyone.
HavetsHerren
I'm in tech as well and the fact of being tied to a visa and an employer in the US always deterred me.
HavetsHerren
Norway's taxes are actually ok compared to the rest of Scandinavia, France, Germany etc. But Kroner get you a lot more bang for your bucks than dollars. The sheer amount basic things cost in the US, like Internet, phone, glasses, dentist...
marsgoose
Yes, you hit on lots of leftovers from the great depression and new deal. Government didn't get the memo that it's been over 80 years and they can remove legislation that gave all these companies protections from competition. Dentist cost about the same, last work I got done in Italy before coming to US, and the prices for root canals, fillings, crowns are the same for me now( I have shit teeth).
kaarbaakimgr
Population just smaller than Houston. 98% one ethnicity. 65% belong to the state church. And they make all their money exporting oil and gas to burn up the planet! YAY NORWAY!!
matthewacker
Yeah but very few rich politicians and billionaires so....
Dolenmorgul
Wait till you hear how they get to be so rich to afford all this
Kringon
Nearly a month? I have 5 weeks each year plus Easter, Christmas and other "red days". And any overtime is compensated with at least 100% plus time off.
nixwheenie
Preach
SallyMcCrumbles
I keep reminding folks that these things are not free. They are paid with taxes. Americans are so quick to jump on this ‘free’ = freeloaders argument that saying universal healthcare is ‘free’ is unhelpful for those trying to make people understand. It is universal coverage; making lives for their citizens better by creating this fundamental right and removing a huge cause of stress and financial misery. Saying it is ‘free’ fuels outrage that they are paying for someone else (God forbid.)
LurkMasterP
I have a friend who unironically told me "yeah, Norway has all that good stuff but they don't have any freedom."
Teledabby
the free 'muricans do what ever HOA dictates.
ThrowAwayAcct0000
As an American, I'll trade that "freedom" for what Norway has, any day. I'm gonna pass on the "freedom to die bankrupt", thanks.
HeavyBaryon
Freedom of poverty?
Sheldonian
The cult is strong with this one
RoyalWithChz
So many of the ignorant masses of this country believe were the only truly free country, despite having the largest incarceration population
Assbandit
Don't have freedom in what way?
Drix1942
American. I don't know what it means but that is their whole shtick; American freedom.
Higure
We don't have the freedom to shoot ourselves in the foot. There are things individual people are not allowed to do, such as sign away our own worker's rights. And because we aren't allowed to do that, employers are unable to expect us to. Which goes directly counter to "muh freeduhm", as yes, in one respect it does limit personal freedom, and it also limits the freedom of employers to do whatever they want and "let the free market sort it out".
NotoriousBadassWhoLovesMusicals
Freedom to get killed while being educated
Sidewaysgts
Guns!!!! And MORE guns!!! Mercia!
randomwalrus
Brainwashed into believing nonsensical bullshit.
temposaur
They don't have freedom for 1) Guns 2) War 3) Guns 4) President Trump. Your move lousy liberals!
BrianFarr
He probably meant weapons
KingORedLions
...but they do have weapons - about 40% of the population own a firearm. You can apply for a license for a firearm as young as 12 (with limited caliber and consenting legal guardian).
b3n9
This is simply not true.
johnnyboy1996
36% is arguably close enough to round to 40
b3n9
To clarify further, only about half a million people in Norway have a gun permit, out of five and a half million. The number of guns per capita is close to what you’re saying, but most gun owners own several weapons for different kinds of hunting.
thundercactus
Yeah but you can't even own a belt fed machine gun that fires full automatic rocket launchers filled with fireworks /s
shponglefan
I've had Americans tell me I live in a Communist dictatorship (Canada). I just point them to various freedom indices that rank Canada higher than the U.S.
landofentrapment
Do you have a list of these indices?
sfcorax
Not even room here to post everything the rest of the world do better than America.
shponglefan
Wikipedia does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices
Nobody7713
We have slightly less freedom of speech (hate speech laws that I'm grateful for) and owning a weapon is a privilege rather than a right, but in exchange, among many other things, people can get abortions and trans people can get gender-affirming care anywhere in the country.
Youhavinagiraffe
I wouldn't consider hate speech laws to be something that reduces your freedom of speech. They are the anti-biotics you need to maintain free and healthy public discourse
Nobody7713
I agree. They reduce free speech from an absolutist perspective, but in practice they allow marginalized people to participate more freely in public discourse.
haroldmann
I had the same from a group of Americans as a travelling Brit, that I was a communist for having the NHS…sure things guys
Youhavinagiraffe
I had this too. Also they very confidently informed me that Britain doesn't have freedom of speech (and this was well before the recent Tory clampdown on the right to protest)
hagishead
Maybe America should invade to liberate them
nanyatenyaa
And then we install a dictator who inevitably we lose control of and declares war on us while oppressing his people. Then we blame those people and claim we have to go to war to liberate them from the dictator that we don't know how they got into power. Must have been a secret power. Promo code or some shit. So we spend 20 years occupying, I mean, liberating the people from their leader.
azimir
Okay, I'm on board. Here's the plan: I'll go there with my family. We'll get jobs, settle down, marry our kids off to locals, and gather intel on the region. In about 30-40 years I'll let you know when it's okay for the invasion to begin. Unless we forget by then. !remindme 30 years.
TheCriticsWereConciseItOnlyTookFourLines
And don't forget about the beautiful fjords.
gsmdo
Mind you, moose bites can be dangerous…
alyssaaac
Slartibartfast is that you?
Excludos
He won an award for those, you know
alyssaaac
I bet they’re beautiful
ispendtomuchtimehere
I live in a shithole country
Dysfunkshunill
GrammarAndPunctuationNazi
Table5
As a Canadian I'm confused by this response meme
crimpitdown9001
Stripes - John Candy, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis. Classic and still holds up. School in the US, students would raise their hand when they were called for attendance. Instead of saying "here" or "present".
Table5
I know the movie.
crimpitdown9001
Regardless, did the explication of "raising your hand" help reduce your confusion of the use of this meme?
wookietiddy
USA USA USA
squelcheswetly
We*
jlist
Where?
DarkBusterBaron
Same.
CatEyebrows
Fuck the USA. We are a terrible country
sonomarco
USA, Do-ah; Me-sa,Too-ah.
Raichu900
A yes. I too am American
hungmung
Yeah I'm in America too.
Iamjamjam
Murica
datphone777365
ya live in the shithole payed tier of a country, others live on the "exploite the other shithole tier" tier of the country.
CatSparkleBreaker
Happy 4th!
TeelMoobeel
Yeah, we're so fuckin happy here in the usa.
11Weasel11
You stole my joke!!! Good job, sir!
CatSparkleBreaker
I didn't steal it, I discovered it!
11Weasel11
That's a different holiday!
I0VE525P00GE
Sweden would probably say that ignorance is bliss…cos the Swedes think the Norwegians are all dumb. Not my words…my ex was Swedish, blame her.
MissSiesta
Well, Norwegians and swedes fight amicably. It's a thing.
dbbbbs
Which is why the Nobel Prize is hosted in Norway?
I0VE525P00GE
No I don’t think that the reason the Nobels are hosted in Norway is because the Swedes think Norwegians are dumb. I think it’s more likely that it helps cement a union between Sweden and Norway. Alfred Nobel was Swedish, so I assume that’s the reason.
MissSiesta
Nobel wanted Norway to host it because Norway was one of the countries of the world who had not initiated war against any other country.
ModernVoodooApostasy
To be fair, it's also an entire country of only 5 million people that is sitting on top of oil
Kringon
Sweden has the same. No oil. Denmark too. And Finland. And Iceland. It's the system...
untrugby
It’s almost like all the countries with a large amount of land, natural resources and a low population are doing well. Hmm oh well it’s must be capitalisms fault
Sergejblackout
It is, moroooooonooonoo.
pleaseconsiderthatImightbejoking
This usually is not the case. It's called the paradox of poverty.
WilliamHuskerAdama
You mean like Mongolia, Western Sahara, Namibia, Mauritania, Botswana, Libya, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Kazakhstan, CAR, Gabon, Bolivia, Turkmenistan, Chad, Oman, Paraguay and South Sudan? They're all relatively low population, high density countries with fairly homogenous populations and a good amount of natural resources. I wonder if it could be the socialist policies in Norway, Finland and Iceland that makes them stand out
WilliamHuskerAdama
Sorry, low density*
echoawoo
With a GDP per capita almost half of the US's. The US can do it, but we prefer instead having financial God kings.
echoawoo
Correction... the Fins got it up to 2/3rds
Myrealnameisunusual
Ye-es. But it's how they use their wealth that's the difference.
Memaleph
Without really needing the oil since they have enough hydroelectricity for the whole country
Weblord
Hydroelectric is no good in your gearbox or differential.
mrthewhitee
This is a bs "to be fair". Us has a shit ton of resources, including more oil than their oil companies can drill.
nanyatenyaa
*looks at the gdp per capita* I think its just math man. Why you pissed at math? The difference is more than 20%. Its ratio of resources and people, you silly fuck. They have more resources per person.
mrthewhitee
I'm not mad at all. I just disagree that that gdp gap is significant enough to make this impossible for the US to match.
nanyatenyaa
Its more than 20%, whats your cut off where the gap is big enough?
nanyatenyaa
I dont know about you but if I made 20% extra today I'd be throwing a fucking month long party.
unsneakyLurker
GDP isn't resources, it's circulation of money. Going "they have more resources so there's nothing we can do" based on GDP is fundamentally wrong and pointlessly defeatist.
nanyatenyaa
Just because something is not in your favor does not mean its defeatist. And I didnt say anywhere at all nothing can be done. So now youre just putting words in my mouth to suit your own point.
Everfearful
Square footage of California with 2 million fewer people than the bay area, high taxes across the board and huge, highly taxed oil reserves. Norway is like playing simcity on easy difficulty.
Vavre
The Norwegians nationalized their oil industry and invested the profits to allow them to finance the shit they need for happy lives. Not only that but they use the profits to invest in renewables to transition to a point where they won't need the oil anymore.
thundercactus
This. So much this. They nationalized the single most profitable and most potentially corrupt industry that was available to them. Oil profits now buy school supplies and housing instead of superyachts.
Razblaze
Really makes you hate humanity when you realize what we could accomplish if we put greed aside.
thundercactus
Moreso given the fact we have an actual example of such a system staring us in the face
hjf2011
also it's funny: I live in Argentina. we're not considered a green country because, among other reasons, "our hydro plants are too big" and "we raise cattle that generates greenhouse gases". Norway is very green because it has a lot of hydro. But no one ever says anything about Norway's obscene oil exports that have far more impact than Argentina. It's like the system is rigged to always favor first world countries or something?
potshot
To be fair, under 10% of Argentinian energy is renewable or nuclear, while over 98% of Norway's is. Norway does get flack for it's oil production, but not in the context of internal energy economics.
thundercactus
There's a ...different... reason why people generally don't look too kindly on Argentina. But I agree with the concept. We bitch at South American countries for destroying rainforests, but we're the ones that are financially motivating them to do it. We bitch at China for pollution, yet we're the ones sending all our manufacturing over there.
hjf2011
not sure what the "different reason" you talk about is. south american countries don't "destroy rainforest", as in SA is not a single big entity. argentina, for example, doesn't have significant rainforest - ah but when argentina signed a free trade agreement with the EU, EU farmers bitched about the amazon burning......???? the amazon river is 5000km north of argentina, in a completely different country.
Redbulloth
Not to mention stuff like calling burning wood pellets in Euro power plants "carbon neutral" but saying the trees being cut in the US and Canada are bad
Arcblaire
Damn, sounds almost like Canada. But we're getting shafted up here too.
ModernVoodooApostasy
Define shafted.
Arcblaire
As an example, our publicly funded healthcare is slowly being drained of funds in contrast to the increase in need. Wages for healthcare workers are also being (allegedly) purposely stagnated.
ModernVoodooApostasy
Those are not good things, but compared to what "shafted" means in the states, it sounds more like "slow decline"
Arcblaire
Its a big deal here in Canada, but its definetly relative.
Kenbamazingbutprobablywontbe
Healthcare is being choked out to make a private system look better.
Arcblaire
This is my conclusion too. Here in Alberta, our pirvate healthcare supporting politicians have said some real sus things while also being somewhat responsible for the decline in funding. Shame they won again.
OriginalSyn
Norway used Alberta's Heritage Fund as a model to ensure their nation would continue to prosper when the oil or its demand ran out. Alberta however went a couple years and then said fuck that we need massive tax cuts for corporations and no plans for when we run out of oil. Norway has over a trillion dollars invested, Alberta has less than $20 billion invested (and would have had about half a trillion if the conservatives following Lougheed hadn't fucked over our province.)
OriginalSyn
correction the HF is now exactly $20billion as of last report.
pullingsixty
I thought it was empty a few years ago. Amazing to think of Alberta's power within Confederation if they had $500B in the bank. How much they could have done for their people. Everyone in Canada would want to live there.
OriginalSyn
No I believe we just stopped contributing to it. Now any gains are simply from market forces.
Arcblaire
Thank you for the numbers. I live in Alberta so I definetly see it. Especially during elections
uniquepseudonym
Alberta conservatives are SUPER corrupt. Their quid pro quo has been perfected. When they closed the provincial liquor stores the argument was that local corner stores should benefit. No person who got a license to sell liquor had previously owned a retail store, on the other hand, everyone of the first round of licences went to conservative party donors. And that province full of suckers just keep electing them.
OriginalSyn
It is encouraging that we're starting to learn. This previous election just needed around 1300 votes to flip in close ridings and it would have been an NDP. That's huge gains for a party that cons claim needed the right split to win
SarcasmTortoise
Can confirm. We ate dumb as hell here. I know people who would light themselves on fire without hesitation if the conservatives told you to.
KaleoM
It doesn't hurt that Norway also has a very homogeneous population, which makes it noticeably easier for people to work together for the "common good"
ThrowAwayAcct0000
I have never understood why people think we all have to look the same to want the same things. Humans of all colors want healthcare, food, shelter, education, decent wages, etc.
WilliamHuskerAdama
This.
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
Why is this always a comment? Canada's people work together for the "common good" too, and it's one of the least homogeneous countries on earth.
WilliamHuskerAdama
BS. Norway is only 75% ethnic Norwegians. We have a lot of immigration, we just deal with it very differently than the US.
KaleoM
I have no doubt that immigration is dealt with differently, but 75% is, by definition, a lot.
brdmuffinman
Your argument sounds ignorant and kind of racist.
WilliamHuskerAdama
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country ~15% of population are immigrants, according to UN. ~0.5% more than the US. It's not as much as countries like Sweden (19.8%), Canada (21.3%) or NZ (28.6%), but I'm pretty sure it's not relevant to our success.