Posted on 03/16/2008 9:43:39 AM PDT by WesternCulture
Norway's state treasury is set to overflow, local analysts claim. Some think the price of North Sea crude oil will hit USD 130 a barrel, pumping even more "petrokroner" into the state budget and giving politicians few excuses to limit its use. Norway's oil and gas industry is hotter than ever, but many Norwegians complain that government services are nonetheless declining.
Some grades of crude oil hit USD 111 a barrel this week, before easing on Friday. The North Sea Brent crude that's been pumping up Norway's economy for years was being traded at just over USD 107 a barrel Friday morning.
Analysts at Norway's largest bank, DnB NOR, raised their own oil price prospects to USD 130 a barrel by 2015. That forced the bank's economists to radically adjust the amount of money such oil revenues will generate for Norway's state budget.
Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reported that DnB NOR's chief economist then predicted that an extra NOK 1,200 billion would likely flow into state coffers over the next seven years, giving politicians "considerably more money to work with."
Chief economist Øystein Dørum also noted that the state's so-called "oil fund," into which revenues are set aside for future generations and pension obligations, will grow to a staggering NOK 5,700 billion by 2015, well above the NOK 4,351 billion currently estimated by state officials.
That would allow increased current use of oil revenues, he noted, adding that it would be "meaningless" for Norwegian politicians to use less oil money than the country can afford.
Government services in decline Therein lies the irony facing many Norwegians today. While the country already is flush with oil revenues from today's already-high oil prices, criticism runs rampant over what's perceived as a declining level of public services.
Hospital budgets are being cut, schools are rundown and students are testing poorly, few Norwegians believe the police will be there to help them if needed, nor are there any guarantees that nursing home beds will be available when needed. The papers are full of stories every day about various government agencies blaming a lack of funding for their inability to deliver social services.
With more money flowing into the state from oil and taxes than ever before, this raises questions and has sparked political debate in Norway. The current left-centre coalition government is under increasing pressure to deliver on campaign promises before the next round of state elections next fall.
Today, Norway is the second richest nation on Earth (measured in nominal GDP per capita) and also the country boasting the largest number of dollar millionaires per capita throughout the entire world.
A lot of people (and even some Norwegians) would say this is “just because of oil”.
I’ve studied the economy of my beloved neighbor country Norway (I’m Swedish) and the other Nordic countries a little and I’ve realized there are several, highly interesting, causes to the unparallelled wealth of Scandinavia (the richest part of the Earth, in fact).
Many people seem unaware of the fact that Scandinavia, despite its rumor of being a “Socialist” paradise, actually is a breeding ground for Capitalist success stories like few other places. For instance, the Scandinavian countries (Finland included), home to 25 million inhabitants, together has 69 companies on the Forbes Global 2000 List while Germany has a mere 57 - and in this compilation, ABB and IKEA are not even counted as being Scandinavian corporations! Furthermore, the total GDP of the Scandinavian countries is 25% larger than its Russian counterpart. Yes, that is TOTAL GDP!
Scandinavia is rich, mainly because of CAPITALISM, HEAVY INVESTMENTS IN R&D, EDUCATION, LUTHERAN WORK ETHICS and BUSINESS COMPETENCE.
Socialism is a failure. Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden are not!
Regarding the prosperity of Norway:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1864973/posts
bump
Alaska has the same problem. What to do? Give it away to anybody who shows up. You’ll get gypsies camped out in your yard, but that’s not a problem, is it.
Please provide photos of woman's bikini teams to prove your point.
“You’ll get gypsies camped out in your yard, but that’s not a problem, is it.”
- Good one :D
A lot of people (not at least the Scandinavians themselves) think the Nordic countries (with the possible exception of Finland and Iceland) are swamped with Muslim immigrants who have little or no interest in adopting and contributing to traditional Scandinavian society (by the way, there are, naturally, many ties between this sentiment and the Danish Mohammed cartoon controversy).
This Fox News clip is worth watching, even if I’d say it is misleading. All of Malmö, Sweden’s third city, is not like this. The reporters have also managed to confuse the unemployment rate of Malmö with Rosengård, which is only a small part of a city with over 600 000 inhabitants.
IMO, Both journalists and Islamists are idiots.
Anyhow, the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQD8VPhvdM
We have tons of oil but because we have two Socialist parties who have embraced radical and suicidal environmentalism, he are not allowed to drill for it. How can the residents of Florida see the Chinese and Cubans drilling off their coast and not erupt in riots??? We have truly gone insane.
Seems like a no brainer to me. Either I’m a genius, or government is stupid...probably the latter.
There’s a problem with birthrates in europe, right? Take the excess cash from the sale of oil and use it to pay women to have babies. Also, use it to pay ALL THE health care costs of children up to...say...age 5 or something. If there is a problem with muslims not integrating or illegals soaking up benefits, then make a law that the benefits only apply to mothers that are natural born norweigans.
But there is the danger of the state destroying the family unit, like welfare has done to the black community in america. So there should be a claus in the benefits that for a woman to receive the benefits, she must have a husband and he must be the genetic father of the baby. That way, there will still be a demand for fathers. Also, the father must be employed. NO need for dead beat men to use women’s wombs to earn a living. IF they get divorced, then benefits are cut off, or reduced by some amount.
All fertility treatments should be covered by the government. en vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, etc...free.
“Please provide photos of woman’s bikini teams to prove your point.”
- Why not consult Google or Yahoo and share whatever you find there with the rest of us?
Lots of Scandinavian beauty to be found on the Internet.
Some samples (nothing to do with Scandinavian women though..):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3VnwJcPYE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkeQ1sNUOKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTEOV7f-hig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7djVHnP5Nc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khaa3y0i87s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_y6kkDO7Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHJFqwmFnkI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWuLzpufxcM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8HB6n3Tkxs&feature=related
(Concerning the last clip: the deadly accurate XM982 Exalibur - “artillery’s scalpel” - is the result of a British-American-Swedish cooperation. It’s manufactured by Bofors in Karlskoga, Sweden)
Interesting points. Thanks for posting.
Overall, there is a problem with the fertility rate in Europe, but it’s not that bad in the Scandinavian countries (and the Muslims aren’t the only ones reproducing).
Especially the eastern European countries and Italy are nations that perform very poorly in this area.
I like what Norway is doing with its (not-going-to-last-forever) oil royalties and that is, to sock it away for the future, mandated to be invested out-of-country to reduce country-risk.
5 trillion by 2015 sounds like a sound strategy, especially since the country is rich even without the oil royalties.
“I like what Norway is doing with its (not-going-to-last-forever) oil royalties and that is, to sock it away for the future, mandated to be invested out-of-country to reduce country-risk.
5 trillion by 2015 sounds like a sound strategy, especially since the country is rich even without the oil royalties.”
- By all means, the Norwegians have proved to be very intelligent investors. If you ask me, they deserve a lot of respect for this.
One thing I’ve learned about the economy of Norway is that many Norwegian dollar millionaires have become rich through investments in fields like stock and real estate, so it’s not all about the oil business and the financial skills of Norway isn’t just an issue of funds run by the government.
“..the country is rich even without the oil royalties”
- This is indeed true and many people fail to understand that oil isn’t the sole explanation behind Norway’s wealth, like pointed out above.
Especially the other EU countries ought to study Scandinavia more - and several politicians, economists and others throughout the union are beginning to do so.
All of Europe needs to awake from the Socialist slumber that has haunted our continent for so long. If Britain, Scandinavia and Ireland could do it, so could Italy, France and Germany. There are lots of intelligent people in these countries, so I dare to be an optimist.
Scandinavia has successfully done away with the worst aspects of the Socialist ideas which, among other things, held Scandinavia’s (and especially Sweden’s) massive industrial potential back during the 1970s and 1980s, even though the Nordic countries still have a very collectivistic culture and high taxes.
Scandinavia owes nothing to Socialism.
Nice links.
I just emailed that list to friends and relatives and titled it “scandinavian objects of beauty and desire”
LOL
“I just emailed that list to friends and relatives and titled it “scandinavian objects of beauty and desire””
- Wonderful!!!
Greetings from Gothenburg/Göteborg, West Coast of Sweden, to the Land of the free and the Home of the brave!!!
I thought...Really I am NOT kidding...that it would be about California
What with the increase in the price of gas, and all the experts saying more and more gas is being purchased at the exorbitant prices, the Calif General Fund must be bursting at the seams with millions (if not billions) of dollars.
The state tax rate here in Calif is 7.25%, and at that rate (with gas around $3.50 now, and close to or above 3$ per gal for well over a year) the money rolling into the State Treasury is astounding.
Oh but wait.
The General fund is the Governor's pocket change, to do with as he wishes.
Oh well.
Ten thousand teachers are losing their jobs, while the politicians steal the lottery and Indian gambling funds that are supposed to go to schools.
Sorry for the tangent...
The image of California we receive over here in Europe, through our media, is that of a prosperous state with a mismanaged economy.
“Ten thousand teachers are losing their jobs, while the politicians steal the lottery and Indian gambling funds that are supposed to go to schools.”
- Sickening, to say the least.
One thing I can agree to pay high Scandinavian taxes for is free public education. I'm not saying other countries ought to adopt our system, but it works fine in Scandinavia whether one calls this a Socialist trait of our culture or not. Personally, I definitely do NOT feel like a Socialist:D
Like pointed out above, natural resources per se don't produce wealth. In order to build real prosperity, intellectual skills are of vital importance.
To a large extent, both Scandinavia and California are rich because of the intelligence and ambitions of their respective populations.
In my part of the world, a lot of tax money are wasted on meaningless bureaucracy, but at least some of it is also invested in fruitful R&D projects and educational efforts. Furthermore, the cooperation between Scandinavian governments, universities and our business sector is a very, very well functioning one (two “small” examples of companies that have benefited a lot from this favorable climate are Ericsson and Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, but there are many others).
See my tagline
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