In Norway 3.75% is stellar, in the US it's HOOVERTIME!
The thing with the Norway is that there really are damned few people there. It's absolutely gorgeous. Socialism can work because of the low population and the oil revenues. It works despite itself. The entire population of Norway as of July 2003 was 4,546,123. Smaller than some American cities. They export 3.3 million barrels of oil per day. Third behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. Next year will be even better. They are now getting $65 for the oil. If they say average 60 a barrel for the year that is 72 billion in oil sales almost $16,000 per every man, woman, and child in the country, per year in gross oil revenue. There economy would be in recession if the oil dried up. But they are on the gravy train right now.