Posted on 10/12/2011 5:37:17 PM PDT by kathsua
Ever been to Norway? We visited it this summer. Clean cities and towns, lots of hills and fjords, very green foliage, a really pretty place. Summertime temperatures were just perfect (winters hit 35 below).
As "nanny states" go, Norway is just about the top of the heap. Supposedly, Norwegians are some of the happiest people on earth. They seem to just send most if not all their money to the government and they are taken care of pretty much cradle to grave.
We did notice some things about Norway, though, that don't immediately meet the eye; that's because they aren't there. Does Norway have any factories? Make any cars? Washers or dryers? Refrigerators? Airplanes? No, no, no and not so much. There is activity in the mining industry and some ship building, but consumer products are not Norway's strong suit.
The cost of living is very, very high there. Wanna buy a car? Sure. Buy one, pay for two. That's right. The motor vehicle sales tax is 100 percent. Those who can afford it keep a small apartment in Sweden so they can register their car in Sweden and avoid most of that tax. Gasoline is $12 a gallon. Anyone familiar with the commodities market knows that the gas is less than $3 and the other $9 is taxes. Everything is heavily taxed.
Apparently, this nanny state has moved on from just "taxing the rich" to the necessity of having to tax everybody. This should give us pause as we creep down the nanny-state trail.
One more thing, we took a bus tour that happened to go through the Oslo business district, and we passed the U.S. Embassy. The tour guide advised us there was a plan to move the embassy to another part of town, because the "appearance" of the embassy was not to their liking. This didn't seem to make a lot of sense. Even if the U.S. embassy were moved elsewhere, the building would still be there and still look the same. It has finally dawned on me why they wanted to move the U.S. Embassy out of the main business district. The objectionable "appearance" was their fellow Norwegians, day after day, lining up out the door, down the street and around the corner, applying for visas to leave Norway and come to the United States.
That looks like something I would pass on.
≤];^)
We Americans are extremely proud people too and have the best food,skiing and all that you mentioned in your glorification of Norway in the world.
CC
My first wife was a Norski from Trondheim. Where to begin.
The main lesson I learned after 13 years of marriage was just because they look like you doesn’t mean that culturally they are anything like an American. They love our inexpensive life style and weather but miss the cradle to grave socialism.They also like to drink. A lot.And smoke. A lot. They drink until they pass out or it’s all gone. I’ve witnessed drunks driving in a blizzard at 30 below drive in the middle of the night 30 miles round trip for tobacco. They have a name for the pre party, the party and the after party. They are binge drinkers of the highest order and call Wednesday night “little Saturday”. They are tough as nails, drunks, hard workers and absolutely nuts. I once asked my wife if she would go back to Norway to live. She said “no”. I asked “why”?. No garbage disposals. That kind of summed it up. I could go on.......
My first wife was a Norski from Trondheim. Where to begin.
The main lesson I learned after 13 years of marriage was just because they look like you doesn’t mean that culturally they are anything like an American. They love our inexpensive life style and weather but miss the cradle to grave socialism.They also like to drink. A lot.And smoke. A lot. They drink until they pass out or it’s all gone. I’ve witnessed drunks driving in a blizzard at 30 below drive in the middle of the night 30 miles round trip for tobacco. They have a name for the pre party, the party and the after party. They are binge drinkers of the highest order and call Wednesday night “little Saturday”. They are tough as nails, drunks, hard workers and absolutely nuts. I once asked my wife if she would go back to Norway to live. She said “no”. I asked “why”?. No garbage disposals. That kind of summed it up. I could go on.......
That is freaking hilarious, and I wish you would go on !!
“No garbage disposals” ! Of all the damn things.
That would be a cool thread - “Married to wives from other countries....tell your story.”
Would be very entertaining.
They spend nothing on defense—and who do you guess they come running to?
For some reason, I didn’t notice the men so much....LOL
Anyhow, yes, I suppose their men would be considered handsome.
My brother-in-law looks and sounds just like Fabio...if you consider those sort of Romance novel model looks handsome....
They are a member state of NATO...so Uncle Sugar would have to keep the Big bad bear “Putie Pute” away.
I wouldn’t mind coming to their defense though...for all the reasons mentioned earlier. I’d rather defend them then some of the other worthless countries we are trying to nation-build now.
I have the sudden urge to learn Norwegian.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.