Is Norway Rich or in "Denial?"
Bruce Bawer wrote in Sunday's NY Times about Norway's perception that is it the world's richest country.
"In Oslo, library collections are woefully outdated, and public swimming pools are in desperate need of maintenance. News reports describe serious shortages of police officers and school supplies. When my mother-in-law went to an emergency room recently, the hospital was out of cough medicine. Drug addicts crowd downtown Oslo streets, as participants for methadone programs are put on a months-long waiting list.
In Norway, the standard line is that there must be some mistake, that such things simply should not happen in "the world's richest country." Why do Norwegians have such a wealthy self-image? Partly because, compared with their grandparents (who lived before the discovery of North Sea oil), they are rich. Few, however, question whether it really is the world's richest country.
It is not simply a matter of tradition, or a preference for a basic, nonmaterialistic life. Dining out is just too pricey in a country where teachers, for example, make about $50,000 a year before taxes. Even the humblest of meals - a large pizza delivered from Oslo's most popular pizza joint - will run from $34 to $48, including delivery fee and a 25 percent value added tax. Not that groceries are cheap, either. Every weekend, armies of Norwegians drive to Sweden to stock up at supermarkets that are a bargain only by Norwegian standards. And this isn't a great solution, either, since gasoline (in this oil-exporting nation) costs more than $6 a gallon
"In Oslo, library collections are woefully outdated, and public swimming pools are in desperate need of maintenance. News reports describe serious shortages of police officers and school supplies. When my mother-in-law went to an emergency room recently, the hospital was out of cough medicine. Drug addicts crowd downtown Oslo streets, as participants for methadone programs are put on a months-long waiting list.
In Norway, the standard line is that there must be some mistake, that such things simply should not happen in "the world's richest country." Why do Norwegians have such a wealthy self-image? Partly because, compared with their grandparents (who lived before the discovery of North Sea oil), they are rich. Few, however, question whether it really is the world's richest country.
It is not simply a matter of tradition, or a preference for a basic, nonmaterialistic life. Dining out is just too pricey in a country where teachers, for example, make about $50,000 a year before taxes. Even the humblest of meals - a large pizza delivered from Oslo's most popular pizza joint - will run from $34 to $48, including delivery fee and a 25 percent value added tax. Not that groceries are cheap, either. Every weekend, armies of Norwegians drive to Sweden to stock up at supermarkets that are a bargain only by Norwegian standards. And this isn't a great solution, either, since gasoline (in this oil-exporting nation) costs more than $6 a gallon
posted by Max Hartshorne at 8:20 AM
5 Comments:
Right on the spike!
As a 33 year old norwegian I must admit that almost everything you claim about Norway is true.
Instead of fixing our problems at home, Bondevik tries to buy himself a good concscious and respected image by pouring our wealth on ill-controlled projects and bad regimes all over the world.
God bless Carl I. Hagen who finally kicked this creep out of office!
I'm also a Norwegian. Of course Norway also has some shortcomings, but there is no society on earth without blemishes. Norway is the richest country in the world per capita, and we have managed to distribute this wealth better than any other nation. You will not find people in Bill Gates' league as to wealth, but you will also not see poverty. The US has large sections of its population living in poverty, while some are rich beyond comprehension. I believe that Norway is unmatched worldwide when it comes to quality of life. The UN also recently put Norway up as the best place in the world to live. 5th year in a row. Next year Norway's trade surplus will break a world record, at about USD 70 billion USD for a population of 4,6 million people.
In 2005 (last year for which there are reliable figures), Luxembourg had a GDP/person of US$78561, while Norway was US$63998. Iceland is third.
Foreigners as well as a good part of the Norwegian population are often missled by the perception that having a wealthy state generates a high volume of Gucci wearing, Porche driving citizens. A stamp which says "the riches country in the world" creates an image that leads to belive that any problems can be trown money at and be solved. The choise to put the oilincome in a fund and not investing in the norwegian economy is a sane and rational one. Im no economist but even I understand that the income made from the oilindustry is so wast in comparisment to the other norwegian idustries that spending the money inside our own economy would lead to a dependancy that would take decades to recover from. Most adults tell their children save their money for a buffer so that it can be used on a rainy day. Why doesnt this apply in this scenario? Its beyond comprehension to see the righwinged parties gaining more and more grounds in Norway. The postwargenerations are starting to look like spoiled brat.
What Joakim says is true. I'm from Venezuela, where our oil wealth was used domestically. Oil now accounts for over half-almost two-thirds- of government income. Only part of it is invested in a fund- the reserves. The rest is invested in social and economic projects. The result is that we have become incredibly dependent on oil prices: if oil goes down our economy suffers tremendously; if they go up, there's a huge boom. Government budgets are calculated according to the projected price of oil. We should have done what Norway did and diversify the economy the hard way: through more work and a private sector made competitive by need. We also had social democracy and it worked pretty well from the redistributive standpoint, but government programs were all dependent on oil wealth. Subsidies to businesses, including subsidies to gas (our gas prices are amongst the lowest in the world; cheaper than water; it lowers all transportation costs), helped keep them inefficient and uncompetitive, and the facility of oil wealth (and the subsidies it financed) kept imports growing exponentially, acting against the economy while making us more dependent.
By the way, we've also had the impression that 'we're the richest country in the world'. Coincidence?
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