So, This Is Heaven: Norway

Los Angeles Times ^ | November 8, 2001 | CAROL J. WILLIAMS

[liberallarry]

It's interesting to compare Norway with other countries that have been the recipients of such unexpected wealth; Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

[Joee]

Ah! Another land of infidels! Osama, attention!

[A Navy Vet]

Norway good; America bad.

[AZFolks]

Very interesting. We have a good friend who emigrated from Norway about twenty years ago. His major problem was the lack of inititative in the Country because of the cradle to grave welfare state. That being said, he visited this spring with a family who lives in Oslo. In talking to them they are having problems now with diversity. Immigrants to Norway are claiming disability, getting a group of unscrupulous physicians to certify the disability and then leaving Norway to their home countries where they receive a check monthly from the Norwegian government.

[A Navy Vet]

"Immigrants to Norway are claiming disability, getting a group of unscrupulous physicians to certify the disability and then leaving Norway to their home countries where they receive a check monthly from the Norwegian government."

We have a similar problem on our southern border. Dual citizenship Mexicans pick up their welfare checks and go back to Mexico.

[BIGZ]

The population of Norway is 4.5 million, all white, and mono-religious. They have vast wealth from North Sea oil. There is no trick to run a socialistic country with this population and this vast wealth. Yes they have a wonderful medical program and all have crib to death benifits, but lets be honest and not start to compare this society with other nations, just ain't right.

[liberallarry]

Nah. That's a minor comment in the article. Norway is a big lottery winner. It's really interesting to see how they handle it. Too compare the behavior of other lottery winners.

[redbaiter]

State assistance to single mothers is so generous that there is no need for a father's income. Half the children here are now born out of wedlock.

Fast-forward twenty years - this will come to haunt them when those kids start getting into trouble.

Does this mean if we started drilling more of our oil, that we might have fewer homeless people? I'm up for giving it a try. And I don't see any mention here of all that oil drilling mucking up their environment, so why is it our environment is so fragile?

[keithtoo]

There are other places where financial worries are non-existant,

where medical care is paid for by the government,

where no one goes hungry,

where nobody is homeless

and where people are watched over and protected all day every day.

We call those places PRISONS!!

[rolling_stone]

I wonder how much they spend on National Defense...

[NovemberCharlie]

So, This Is Heaven: Norway

Oddly enough, there is a town in Norway called Hell.

[beckett]

Xenophobia is rampant in Scandanavia. Norwegians, Swedes and Finns are notoriously closed-off and hostile to foreigners. And forget about it if your skin color is not white. Whatever security the indigenous population enjoys is wholly dependent on its insularity, tribal solidarity, and relative small size. The socialist economic schemes in use in Scandanavia depend upon that solidarity, not the other way around. The system appears to work because of the homogeneity of the people. It is not transportable to other cultures.

I once had a Finnish girlfriend and I lived with her in Helsinki when I was in my 20s. I know what I'm talking about. Scandanavians are not the great paragons of virtue the American press loves to make them out to be.

[Humidston]

Yeah, and the government owns the oil industry!

I bet they have pure socialism. I'd be willing to bet the morals are in the dumper as well, since people don't have to be responsible for their life choices... Like This:

Half the children here are now born out of wedlock.

Bet the druggies get freebies too. Bet the druggies are living high on the hog (pardon the pun, Muslim lurkers!).

No no... Give me the good ol' U.S. of A. any day! WE'RE FREE.

[fourdeuce82d]

"WE'RE FREE"

well, aside from a) no guns and b) 60% tax rate, they seem pretty free too. I suspect w/regard to every day life, the experience fewer regulations/state imposition than we do.

BUT- as others have noted, they are a very homogeneous society, with a substantial "external" source of revenue. Of course they did develop and exploit their windfall themselves- have to give them credit for that.

still, don't think I'd want to live their- kind of like living in disneyland.

[lds23]

I've heard Norway described as "the Switzerland of Europe"

[ScholarWarrior]

But the women are MUCH better looking.

[shaggy eel]

,,, more likely the Switzerland of Scandinavia.

[general_re]

Well, aside from a) no guns

Actually, that's one common misconception about Norway. The private gun-ownership rate there is almost as high as in the US, although the rate of ownership of handguns is lower. The Norwegian military has long had a program of...well, here's a report from an British fellow I ran across a while back:

In Norway the armed forces have consistantly sold off surplus arms to the civilian market. Earlier this year 12,000 Mauser 98's rebarrelled to .30-06 were released from military stores and sold. If you have GBP 100 I can get one for you. Previously various types of pistols, M1 Garands, US Carbines, even Sten Guns and MP 40's (Schmeissers) have been sold on the civilian market. Today the Police are a bit more reluctant about issuing variations for full auto guns. I find it curious that the antis focus on handguns as being the evil gun when there are hundreds of thousands of people who have full auto weapons at home. Apart from civilians with machine guns on their FAC, members of the armed forces are encouraged to have their full kit at home just in case...Full kit naturally includes their service weapon and ammo. Sadly thefts of these guns are about a third of all gun thefts annually. It is only human to look after your own nice rifle bought with your own hard earned money and lock it away, but the army's gun...that can stand in the broom cupboard.

[Aurelius]

I'm glad you posted this, this answers a question that I have been trying to get answered for some time. I had been told years ago that because of their being occupied by the Nazis during WWII the Norwegian government not only permitted but encouraged civilian ownership of firearms I wondered if that had remained true. Apparently it has. In Sweden I believe civilian firearms possession is virtually nonexistent.