I see an economic diasater coming...

[triffid]

Interesting concept here,A country that invests in such a way that everyone is a potential millionare and no homeless people.http://news.yahoo.com/norwegians-become-crown-millionaires-oil-saving-landmark-172511178--sector.html

[triffid]

"The fund is a success in the sense that parliament has managed to put aside money for the future. There are many examples of countries that have not managed that," said Oeystein Doerum, chief economist at DNB Markets.
Norway has sought to avoid the boom and bust cycle by investing the cash abroad, rather than at home. Governments can spend 4 percent of the fund in Norway each year, slightly more than the annual return on investment.
Still, in Norway, oil wealth may have made the state reluctant to make reforms or cut subsidies unthinkable elsewhere. Farm subsidies allow farmers, for instance, to keep dairy cows in heated barns in the Arctic.
It may also have made some Norwegians reluctant to work. "One in five people of working age receives some kind of social insurance instead of working," Doerum said, despite an official unemployment rate of 3.3 percent.

[triffid]

A reader posted this comment that I agree with.
SEE , Its just a mindset, America could be like this but, we have a spend all mentality, for example, if a state gets fed dollars , they lose them if they are not spent. We also feel that if you dont have big debt, your not doing things right. We have two parties fighting to spend the money their way... The right wants to buy bombs and fight wars, the left wants social programs and gifts to the world. We need to run it like a person runs their home budget. You save 10 percent, you pay the bills, use 5 percent for entertainment etc.

[triffid]

Another post by a reader that I agree with.
To say that Norwegians are socialists is a bit naïve or just disingenuous. I've worked with Norwegian police and military over the past few years and while the country is not inhabited by far right wing folks they are certainly not what we would call leftist. I have found them to be quite conservative fiscally and while they are tolerant they do expect everyone to pull their own weight. Only approximately 3000 people are in prison there even though a person found to be driving while intoxicated (.05 breathalyzer) is sent to prison for one year for the first offense. The relatively small population, only about 4 million people, who are, again, FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE coupled with massive oil and gas reserves in the North Sea and you kind of have a recipe for success.

[the_big_m_in_ok]

@triffid
       Concerning your posted Reply #3562,
Yes, I agree with your observations.   We, as individuals, can do the best we can, but the real 'movers-and-shakers', as it were, have the power to do what they want to the country and not necessarily care what happens to them as individuals.   It's lousy, but that's the way the world is now.
       All I can do is the best I can, given the circumstances of my life and the problems I was born with.   I have the hope that I'll make it okay and the dishonest politicians will get their 'just desserts'---again, as it were---in the end.

I'm glad to be here and say all this on this forum, but it looks like I'll be leaving the Internet for some short or long time to do more work for my employer.   I'm very pleased that you're here to provide specific commentary for this thread in an on-topic, ongoing set of posts geared to the subject matter in general.   And I'll look in occasionally to see if the random greedy, stupid or strange interloper doesn't hijack this thread so that Stephen, hartiberlin, doesn't have to go to the trouble of taking time to police it himself.

You're doing a really good job presenting informative posts; and let's both continue to keep up the good work.

--Lee