Norway is, in real terms, the richest western nation on earth?

[Mr7134]

I always knew that Norway was a stable western democracy. I had no idea just how rich it was though. It might be, in real terms, the richest western nation on earth. Or it seems that way to my, uneducated, mind.

Seriously Google....

The Government Pension Fund of Norway or, it’s former name, The Petroleum Fund of Norway.

Then remember that Norway has less than five million people.

I think, the wealth of the fund works out at something like USD 200 000 per capita.

To steal a line. Norway be ballin', yall.

 

[The Big Ragu]

On a per capita basis, Norway is up there. Expensive as all hell, but only Russia and Saudi Arabia export more oil.

Take a look at Luxembourg and Qatar first, though. Richest places on a per capita basis.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Norway!?! Pffft, buncha socialists with their 100-percent health care coverare. So therefore their nation is a failure.

 

[Bubbler]

Uffda!

 

[cranberry]

Norway!?! Pffft, buncha socialists with their 100-percent health care coverare. So therefore their nation is a failure.

Yeah! Damn socialists. But I bet our richest people are richer than their richest people.

Of course our poorest people are probably poorer than their poorest people, too.

 

[Football_Bat]

Norway!?! Pffft, buncha socialists with their 100-percent health care coverare. So therefore their nation is a failure.

Yeah! Damn socialists. But I bet our richest people are richer than their richest people.

Of course our poorest people are probably poorer than their poorest people, too.

I'd wager our stupidest people are stupider than their stupidest people.

 

[budcrew08]

Norway!?! Pffft, buncha socialists with their 100-percent health care coverare. So therefore their nation is a failure.

Yeah! Damn socialists. But I bet our richest people are richer than their richest people.

Of course our poorest people are probably poorer than their poorest people, too.

I'd wager our stupidest people are stupider than their stupidest people.

Me too. and God forbid we have 100 percent health care.

 

[exmediahack]

Akkurat! Bra! Utmekert!

Yup before we start comparing Norway with the United States, get back to me when Norway opens its ports to anyone who wants to come there and improve their life.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

God forbid we have a 99 percent literacy rate in this country. We can't be having none of that.

 

[BTExpress]

Scale is, well, everything.

It's a little easier to take care of a culturally homogenous population of 5 million that lets few immigrants in than it is to take care of a culturally diverse population of 310 million that lets 1 million (legal) immigrants in every year.

God forbid we have a 99 percent literacy rate in this country. We can't be having none of that.

We could. If we shut our doors to everyone except only the most exceptional immigration applicants.

 

[cranberry]

We could. If we shut our doors to everyone except only the most exceptional immigration applicants.

More than 10 percent of the Norwegian population are immigrants. The five largest groups are Polish, Pakistani, Swedish, Iraqi and Somali. They also took in large amounts of war refugees from the Balkans.

 

[Stoney]

I don't know if the salaries are much higher in Norway, but the public benefits are outrageously generous compared to the U.S.

Tuition to public universities is completely paid by the govt, all health care is paid by the govt, they have the world's longest paid maternity leave laws, ridiculously long vacation time rules, extraordinarily generous pension/retirement benefits, and plenty else their govt provides that ours won't.

On a recent trip to Mexico, I met a couple Norwegian surfer dudes who were telling me how every year they took a month-long surfing trip together to various far flung locations all around the world, and then returned to their working class jobs in Norway. They seemed quite surprised when I explained to them that guys in their position in the U.S. don't get the vacation time to do that every year.

You don't need to make much to live comfortably there. If you know your college education, health care and retirement are covered, the rest becomes a whole lot easier.

 

[The Big Ragu]

The country owns the sea rights to enough oil to be the third-largest exporter in the world, and the government is a state-run oil company monopoly (Statoil). You can't compare it to any other place on earth. They control and profit from being a huge supplier of the two most-demanded commodities in the world--oil and natural gas. It sits on a wealth of other natural resources that make a lot of money. And it has a very homogeneous population of only 4.8 million people. How many metropolitan areas does the U.S. have with more people than that -- rich and poor? Of course when that few people control that much oil, they can afford to buy themselves health care and give new parents a year off of paid leave. But their good fortune isn't something anyone can emulate. Unless you can emulate luck -- they discovered massive amounts of oil in the 1960s. How do you make that happen in the U.S.? If the world's dependence on oil ever lessons, their crazy world goes poof. Until then, they know they are blessed. When you are that sickly rich, it's nice that you offer asylum to people from crappy places like Vietnam and Chile (the 70s), the Balkans (90s), Afghanistan (00s). Those people are grateful to be anywhere but where they were born and the Norwegians need people to do the manual jobs the natives don't want. But as nice and liberal and laudable as their immigration policy is, there are about a half a million immigrants living in the country in total. That total isn't even half of what the U.S. lets in every year, and the U.S.'s GDP per capita isn't nearly as high -- we aren't oil rich.

EDIT: Meant to include this. Their standard of living, despite their GDP per capita being so high isn't nearly as great as people on here are assuming. It's a ridiculously expensive place to live. There are way more than 4.8 million Americans living better than the majority of the 4.8 million Norwegians. Also, they need to stay insular to enjoy their oil wealth. It's why they have refused to join the EU. They'd have to support much of the the rest of Europe. They are not THAT magnanimous.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

God forbid we have a 99 percent literacy rate in this country. We can't be having none of that.

We could. If we shut our doors to everyone except only the most exceptional immigration applicants.

There's a reason it takes 7-10 years to get into some countries.

 

[micropolitan guy]

You'd have to pay me $200,000 kroners a year to eat lutefisk and lefse.

 

[The Big Ragu]

You'd have to pay me $200,000 kroners a year to eat lutefisk and lefse.

That's $33,700 US. Don't you want to hold out for a bit more?

 

[cranberry]

There are way more than 4.8 million Americans living better than the majority of the 4.8 million Norwegians.

No kidding? So the top 1 percent of Americans are living better than the majority of Norwegians? Imagine that? How many Americans do you imagine are living far worse than the majority of Norwegians?

The truest test of any society remains how well it cares for its most frail -- the young, the elderly, the poor and the disabled.

 

[The Big Ragu]

There are way more than 4.8 million Americans living better than the majority of the 4.8 million Norwegians.

No kidding? So the top 1 percent of Americans are living better than the majority of Norwegians? Imagine that? How many Americans do you imagine are living far worse than the majority of Norwegians?

The truest test of any society remains how well it cares for its most frail -- the young, the elderly, the poor and the disabled.

That was kind of the point. Norway is a country that hit the lottery, discovering huge oil reserves off its coast. And it has a tiny, insular population. People on here making sarcastic comments about how the U.S. is too stupid to emulate NORWAY are essentially saying, "We should take 4.8 million people of similar background who won the lottery, and we should extend what they do to everyone in the U.S!" I simply pointed out that the U.S. has population 65 times greater than Norway. Our immigration policy is way more liberal than theirs is. And a great deal (more than 4.8 million people) of our population enjoys a standard of living just as great as the typical Norwegian.

The truest test of any society may be lots of things, but using your standard, how can anyone compare Norway to the U.S.? Norway can afford to give people a year off when they have a baby and guarantee a full salary -- the state-run monopoly oil company makes that possible. Tell me how the U.S. can control a huge amount of a VERY scarce resource that is in worldwide demand (thus making us rich beyond belief), and I'll indulge a comparison between how our society is structured and how Norway's is. They live in Candyland.

In many ways, Greece's society is structured very much like Norway's. Minus the oil. And they kept up this great charade most of last decade. Retire at 60. Full pension. Health care for everyone (although it really is one of the ****tiest, underfunded system, but they couldn't create THAT much debt). Half of the people being paid by government jobs that are guaranteed. Their government doesn't have an oil monopoly to fund it, though. They racked up huge amounts debt, lied about their debt, and pulled it off for a few years until the whole thing crashed like a house of cards. And now the people are striking and rioting because of the sense of entitlement to the Candyland you advocate.

Seeing that, I'd say a better test of any society is how entrepreneurial it is given its natural resources and how much liberty its people are given to pursue their own course and create sustained economic growth that can continue raising its people's standard of living.

 

[mustangj17]

Norway!?! Pffft, buncha socialists with their 100-percent health care coverare. So therefore their nation is a failure.

Yeah! Damn socialists. But I bet our richest people are richer than their richest people.

Of course our poorest people are probably poorer than their poorest people, too.

Doubt it. Flat broke is flat broke wherever you are.

 

[AgatePage]

neat argument. still want to visit, though. heard it's a beautiful place.