The Myth of Norway

[GHook93]

Liberals always point to Norway to promote their happy socialist dreams. Their "tax the rich to death" mentality is just what the liberal doctor ordered. But take a closer look and it's another liberal illusion or dear I say LIE!!!

• Norway got rich off of oil - FACT: Norway is the 5th largest export of oil in the world. FACT: They export more barrels per person than Saudi Arabia. FACT: They drill in every and any place they can find oil, including offshore and deep sea. FACT: Having a tiny population and HUGE oil supplies that you utilize (much like Qatar does), leads to a surplus in cash. FACT: It's not the tax the rich that makes Norway rich it, their exporting of oil ways.
  
• They have Regressive TAXATION- FACT: Norway's top 10% make 28.9% of the income but pay only 27.4% of taxes! FACT: The U.S. has the most progressive tax structure of advanced economies. FACT: in the US the top 10% make 33.5% of the income but pay 45.1% of the taxes. FACT: The middle class of Norway pay FAR MORE share of the tax burden than the US middle class.
  
• Cutting the Government you say - FACT: Norway spent 39.8% of GDP. FACT: U.S. was spending 39.2%, almost exactly the same. FACT: France was spending 53.3% then. FACT: Norway has been cutting the size of its government from 51.6% of GDP in 1992 to a low of 39.8% in 2008. FACT: Roughly equivalent to the US federal government of the U.S. cutting its spending in half!

Articles: The Norwegian 'Miracle'
It just so happens that Norway's success over recent decades coincided rather nicely with two explosions: North Sea oil production and oil prices.

To call Norway the Saudi Arabia of Europe would be an insult. Saudi Arabia has been producing about 125 barrels of oil per year per person. Norway produced between 135 and 250 barrels per year per person from 2001 through 2011.

Even on an absolute scale, Norway is a huge exporter of oil. In fact, it is the 5th-biggest oil exporter in the world. Bigger than Iraq. Bigger than Kuwait. And Canada. And the U.S. And Venezuela. It is behind only Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and the UAE. And remember, its total population is about the same as Saudi Arabia's second-largest city, Jeddah.

Multiply those recent production rates by the price of oil, and you get about $6,250 per person per year in 2001, and $13,500 in 2011. Oil has been very, very good to Norway.

And where does good little liberal Norway get that oil? From drilling in the ocean. Most of its oil was drilled in the North Sea. You know, offshore, like the U.S. used to do in the Gulf of Mexico, but won't do on either the Pacific or Atlantic coasts.

Here's another one: CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. From 1990 to 2009, the U.S.'s emissions went up 6.7%. Norway's went up 31.9%.

I think of Norway as the Bono of countries. It likes to preach to the rest of us how to be good citizens of the world. In the meantime, it makes money hand-over-fist by being one of the biggest of the Big Oil gorillas. It drills for it. It drills for it in the ocean. It sells it. It owns a major oil company. It increases its carbon footprint while the rest of Europe shrinks its own.

And here's another little secret about Norway. Relatively speaking, it's not all that socialist. In 2008, all government in Norway spent 39.8% of GDP. At the same time, the "free market" U.S. was spending 39.2%, almost exactly the same. (France was spending 53.3% then.)

In fact, Norway has been cutting the size of its government: from a high of 51.6% of GDP in 1992 to a low of 39.8% in 2008. That is a huge drop, roughly equivalent to the federal government of the U.S. cutting its spending in half.

One more little tidbit: Norway's tax system is regressive, not progressive. The top 10% make 28.9% of the income but pay only 27.4% of taxes! The U.S. has the most progressive tax structure of advanced economies, in which the top 10% make 33.5% of the income but pay 45.1% of the taxes.

Liberal Norway-lovers don't like to advertise these parts of Norway's policies: slimming down its government, regressive taxes (not even flat), being part of Big Oil.

So the simple-minded story is that Norway is some great socialist state yet its economy is humming along just nicely.

Let me summarize its real keys to prosperity.

• A tiny, non-diverse, predominantly white and Christian population.
• Drilling in its ocean for oil to become one of the biggest oil exporters on the planet, and the biggest by far on a per capita basis, all during a time when oil prices quintupled.
• Letting its carbon footprint grow at one of the fastest paces in Europe, a pace almost five times faster than the U.S.'s.
• Shrinking its government spending, the equivalent to the U.S. federal government cutting its spending in half over 16 years. Shrinking its government spending to about the level of the U.S.'s, and smaller than most of Europe's.
• A tax system that is flatter than flat; it is regressive -- the rich pay less than the non-rich.

And while the U.S. government is "investing" in high-speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, etc., look at this Statoil website to see where Norway put its money. (Norway owns 67% of Statoil's stock.)

 

[Lakhota]

Well, Shithook, if American Thinker says it - it must be true. Could you please confirm that with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, World Nut Daily, Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News?

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Liberals always point to Norway to promote their happy socialist dreams.

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

.....need to GO!!!!!!

 

[Charles_Main]

Well, Shithook, if American Thinker says it - it must be true. Could you please confirm that with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, World Nut Daily, Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News?

You can always tell when Liberals got Nothing.

It's all 100% true and easily Verified.

Norway is Often used by Liberals as an Example of Socialism Working, and they NEVER admit that Norway is a Bad example because of their wealth from Oil Exports, and their Tiny Population it helps support.

The US does have one of the Most progressive Tax Structures on earth.

Norway has been cutting back on Spending as a % of GDP for years.

But you got nothing, so you attack the source and imply it's not true.

Weak.

 

[Charles_Main]

Liberals always point to Norway to promote their happy socialist dreams.

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

.....need to GO!!!!!!

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

 

[Oddball]

Well, Shithook, if American Thinker says it - it must be true. Could you please confirm that with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, World Nut Daily, Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News?

Knee-slappingly hilarious, coming from the whacky hackadoodle who sources nothing but Alternut, HuffyPuffyPo, TPM, ThinkRegress, MediaMutters, DailyKooks....

Yer killin' me!

 

[Lakhota]

Well, Shithook, if American Thinker says it - it must be true. Could you please confirm that with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, World Nut Daily, Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News?

Knee-slappingly hilarious, coming from the whacky hackadoodle who sources nothing but Alternut, HuffyPuffyPo, TPM, ThinkRegress, MediaMutters, DailyKooks....

Yer killin' me!

Apparently I haven't succeeded yet...

 

[hortysir]

Liberals always point to Norway to promote their happy socialist dreams.

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

.....need to GO!!!!!!

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Why the hell do you NOT have Shitman on Ignore?

 

[Oddball]

Well, Shithook, if American Thinker says it - it must be true. Could you please confirm that with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, World Nut Daily, Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News?

Knee-slappingly hilarious, coming from the whacky hackadoodle who sources nothing but Alternut, HuffyPuffyPo, TPM, ThinkRegress, MediaMutters, DailyKooks....

Yer killin' me!

Apparently I haven't succeeded yet...

From what I've seen, failure is a way of life for you.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Why the hell do you NOT have Shitman on Ignore?

Because.....he's.....not.....a......pussy.

 

[Charles_Main]

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Why the hell do you NOT have Shitman on Ignore?

Because I think Ignoring what people say is stupid. Think of all the chances to make him look silly I would miss if I ignored him

 

[koshergrl]

Norway...a racist country that can afford to fund liberal policies, so is touted as a "liberal success" by the idiots who don't read!

Yay!

 

[GoneBezerk]

Norway, an ultra whiter than white country with no Mexico filling it up with low skilled, low educated, illegals invading their cities can afford to play utopian games with their economy and politics.

Maybe the piece of shit Grandpa can chime in here.....

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Liberals always point to Norway to promote their happy socialist dreams.

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

.....need to GO!!!!!!

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Tell me you've never heard o' the Norwegian Fund, Skippy.

Stupid Fuckin' Teabaggers​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Ah, yes.....how absurd.....suggesting that CEOs (who've fucked-up).....

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Why the hell do you NOT have Shitman on Ignore?

Typical Teabaggin' masochistic-tendencies would be my first guess.......

I don't mind......

....it helps keep me in-shape!!!​

 

[hortysir]

What the hell does this have to do with this thread?

Why the hell do you NOT have Shitman on Ignore?

Because I think Ignoring what people say is stupid. Think of all the chances to make him look silly I would miss if I ignored him

I only have a few, but he is one.
The other 2 or 3 are the hyper-racist trolls

 

[GoneBezerk]

Denmark is another country liberals like to compare to the USA.

I was watching a show about addiction the other day and how Denmark is #1 for teens addicted to alcohol.....so much for those utopian societies of Euro trash.

 

[koshergrl]

Denmark is likewise hailed as a liberal "success". Yeah, cuz they are addicted and kill off babies and old people.

That's success, alright!

 

[francoHFW]

So what about every other modern country that has hugely popular and cost saving universal health care, better rich/poor gap, upward mobility, happier, better educated people than we do- AND better infrastructure than we do after 30 years of Reaganist pandering to the greedy rich?

etc etc see sig. Pub dupes! Fighting to the death for their freedom to be screwed by the greedy rich.

 

[hortysir]

So what about every other modern country that has hugely popular and cost saving universal health care, better rich/poor gap, upward mobility, happier, better educated people than we do- AND better infrastructure than we do after 30 years of Reaganist pandering to the greedy rich?

etc etc see sig. Pub dupes! Fighting to the death for their freedom to be screwed by the greedy rich.

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