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Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by workingclasshero
not sure if following the nortic model would be very smart at all
us debt to GDP ratio....currently about 100% (our national debt is equal to the gdp (ballpark figures))
norway 210% of its gdp
((((fyi on the other northern Europe countries: finland 215% of its gdp .. sweden 269% of its gdp ..denmark 308% of its gdp.....netherlands 369% of its gdp))))
denmark and norway have high costs of living, ultra high taxes..high crime, and a poverty problem too
denmark is one of the wealthiest countries and has a high poverty rate, especially among imigrents:
17.3% of all Danish children, almost 200,000 in total, were touched by poverty .....that's higher than the USA
hmm the nortic model:
small population...... 4.9 million....smaller than NYC
WHITE RICH population (norway is the second most wealthy country in the world)
22% of their GDP is from OIL EXPORTS
very LIMITED immigration......the usa has 20 million ILLEGAL immigrants and annual legal immigration of legal of about 1.5 million
very limited fast/fried food
norway has a MANDITORY MILITARY OBLIGATION (conscript) for 2 years for males....voluntary for females
another key factor:.....The state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, such as the strategic petroleum sector (Statoil and Aker Solutions), hydroelectric energy production (Statkraft), aluminium production (Norsk Hydro), the largest Norwegian bank (DnB NOR), and telecommunication provider (Telenor). The government controls approximately 40% of the stock values at the Oslo Stock Exchange. Norway is a major shipping nation and has the world's 6th largest merchant fleet, with 1,412 Norwegian-owned merchant vessels. The country is richly endowed with natural resources including petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Large reserves of petroleum and natural gas were discovered in the 1960s, which led to a boom in the economy.
other key factors:
1) They don't manage a world empire and the military it takes to hold it (like the USA does).
2) They don't constantly give their citizen's money away to other countries (like the USA does).
3) Their politician's don't bribe their citizen's into voting for them by promising stupid (and expensive) programs if elected (like the USA does).
4) They drill off-shore like there is no tomorrow (yet the "greens" never mention this) and they tax heavily on it.
5) Their citizen's pay 53 cents per dollar in taxes.
6) They operate on a balanced budget principle that BOTH DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO EMPLOY!
they make their money through ....CAPITALISM
oh and they hhave been having a real tough time with the world wide recession too:
norway is having a lot of financial problems over the last 4 years.......even The Lillehammer factory which has produced the famous Norwegian cheese slicer is bankrupt..... the organizers of Norway's biggest summer music festival have declared bankruptcy for the second time in 3 years.......Sea Launch Company, LLC bankrupt........Absolute Poker owners are bankrupt .......in 2009 more than 140 Norwegian building companies have submitted applications for bankruptcy. It is on 30 % more, than the year before.
while norway was not hit as hard during this world recession..they did feel it
oh and, norway ... ABOLISHED their wealth tax
to sit there and compare or contrast Norway to the usa, would be like comparing apples to automobiles
I'm not going to respond to ask if your post, which sorry to say, is somewhat disjointed.
However, you are wrong about the debt/GDP ratios. Here are the correct figures from the IMF.
At least it was not Norwegians who bombed some of Europe's most beautiful cities like Hamburg and Dresden to ruins, killing thousands of women and children.
So, considering the circumstances, it was wrong to bomb those cities?
I wonder if those who criticize a European system like Norway's ever think about the fact that not everyone's highest priority in life is to get super-rich, become No.1 and spend his all life on getting there. Most people will never make it to super-rich anyway. A lot of people would rather spend more time on family, childraising, doing a job that is enjoyable even if it does not pay all that well, travelling, educating themselves, spiritual pursuits, sport etc., while not being considered losers for it, than become locked in an endless rat race the modern America offers you.
Last edited by SiegendesLicht; 04-09-2015 at 03:15 PM..
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD
So, considering the circumstances, it was wrong to bomb those cities?
Hamburg...phosphorus bombs. Tell me the military objective, other than to copy the Nazis bombing of civilians in London.
When Dresden was bombed, it was full of refugees, the Allies knew it was full of refugees, and the war was for all intents and purposes over. That particular bombing campaign should have qualified as war crimes.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,184 times
Reputation: 4561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aunt Maude
Norway, no doubt as others have mentioned, is a funny case. A kind of Saudi Arabia of the north and all that.
What I'm always interested in are countries that are non-monocultures that actually do well (wealth, crime, etc.) and why.
Canada certainly is culturally and ethically diverse, probably even more so than the USA. Comoparable personal taxes, less corporate taxes, taxpayer funded universal healthcare tht 96% of Canadians wouold not want changed as comapred to the US, and our budget will be balanced this year, and the debt paid down. That is not even on the horizon for the US.
Germany has had a large influx of non- ethic Germans, and we all know how well it is and has been doing.
Both have a lot less crime rate than the US, and certainly incarcerate less. The US incarceration and execution rate is worse than many third world countries and some dictatorships.
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