[TWohlford]

Once again we see the welfare state staying alive thru deception and shared poverty.

[Tribune7]

This was in the New York Times????

[martin_fierro]

We got lions and tigers only in Kenya

[franksolich]

Ping for the Norway ping list.



You know, this is something about which I have always wondered.

I've always watched the statistics, and of course am influenced by the "mainstream media" (i.e., the "'America bad, everybody else good' media"), but I have always been left wondering.....what is the truth?

Of course, many of my impressions about life in the Paradise of the Workers and Peasants (Ukraine and Russia) were immediately demolished upon first meeting the sanitary facilities.....in the airplane, even before I got over there.

One suspects that life is actually pretty good in Norway and all that, but not as good as the "image."

[BIGZ]

Come on get real! Put into perspective, Norway has 4.5 million people, all the North Sea oil, and virtually no minorities. Of course Socialism works under this criteria.

Socialized Medicine works great under this system also.

[aberaussie]

bttt

[feedback doctor]

Socialism and Communisim, the opiate of liberals

[Publius6961]

This Articles stinks. The name of the study is not given, nor a link to where it might be found.
What was the methodology?

[DumpsterDiver]

...the welfare state staying alive thru deception and shared poverty.

It does appear that way. These were the last two paragraphs from the article:

Meanwhile, the references to Norway as "the world's richest country" keep on coming. An April 2 article in Dagsavisen, a major Oslo daily, asked: How is it that "in the world's richest country we're tearing down social services that were built up when Norway was much poorer?"

Obviously, this is one misconception that won't be put to rest by a measly think-tank study or two.

[snowsislander]

And they drive around in wrecks. In 2003, when my partner and I took his teenage brother to New York - his first trip outside of Europe - he stared boggle-eyed at the cars in the Newark Airport parking lot, as mesmerized as Robin Williams in a New York grocery store in "Moscow on the Hudson."

If they want a real shock, they should visit Tokyo. The average Japanese car on the street in Tokyo is much nicer than anywhere else I have visited.

[ApplegateRanch]

Yah, boot, all da free lutefisk you can eat has to count fer sumptin!

[knuthom]

I can see why the Norwegians bring their lunch from home. I was in Scandinavia last fall and quickly realized that it was much cheaper to hit the grocery store rather than eat out. The only inexpensive places to eat are the kebab shops.

[Malesherbes]

A couple of years ago I was on a transatlantic flight heading home from Europe to the US and my seat-mate was a young Swede. An engineer, he was leaving Sweden to take a job in Atlanta. He was from the country's most northern province (Norrbotten), very dark and cold in the winter. It wasn't the climate that had induced him to leave his homeland. It was stiffling bureaucracy and confiscatory taxation.

[Somewhat Centrist]

This article is based on what? Average wage? Production GDP? Consumption GDP? (way lower) I want to se statistics.

Norwegian data can be found here:
http://www.ssb.no/en/indicators/

I'd appreciate it if someone can come up with comparable data for the US, I'm off to check the bea.

Muslims accound for about 2 percent of the population by the way, the majority of whom live in the capital of Oslo.

[tomjohn77]

I live in wonderland too. I tell you I have been living both places. In Norway and in the states. I say with we have a higher standard of living. Average Norwegian has a better living standard. I would put the american living standard at par with Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland but higher than Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Great Britian and Italy. Why Oslo not look that good in some parts are artificially high prices. Single people that want to live in the middle of the city with low income or moderate income. A lot of foreigners that have not that well paid jobs. I tell you have you been to an average town the size of Oslo in the US you will see the same things. Do you think Washington DC look that much better in average.

[tomjohn77]

Another thing he talks about is the media and their wiev about things. Problem with that statement is that Norwegians have 5-6 weeks vacations. So many people have travel and dont need to listen to the media. We have seen the world with our own eyes