Is Norway a socialist state?

[Lepton87]

I don't know how can anyone consider Norway the best country to live unless he/she likes cold weather. It's really cold out there, I consider Poland to be way to cold for comfort but Norway is in a league of its own when it comes to freezing your ass.

 

[bshole]

I don't know how can anyone consider Norway the best country to live unless he/she likes cold weather. It's really cold out there, I consider Poland to be way to cold for comfort but Norway is in a league of its own when it comes to freezing your ass.

Easy answer........

 

[AViking]

I don't know how can anyone consider Norway the best country to live unless he/she likes cold weather. It's really cold out there, I consider Poland to be way to cold for comfort but Norway is in a league of its own when it comes to freezing your ass.

We get through the winters by wearing clothes and having sex. With gorgeous, non-fat,women.

 

[Lepton87]

We get through the winters by wearing clothes and having sex. With gorgeous, non-fat,women.

Is it true or is it just stereotype that a lot of Swedish woman are gorgeous blue-eyed blondes?

 

[norseamd]

In many ways it is socialist and it's sickening how so many leftists defend Norway and want the US to be like Norway.

jealous?

 

[Fern]

That's actually a detriment. Low population growth plus low immigration rate equal small workforce.

And fewer people to spread the state's oil money to, meaning more for each person.

Fern

 

[Fern]

Norway is the best country in the world to live in according to HDI (human development index). So I read somewhere that Norway is socialist? Is it true?

I don't think they're any more socialist than we are. They're just better at it.

Fern

 

[Fern]

I don't know how can anyone consider Norway the best country to live unless he/she likes cold weather. It's really cold out there, I consider Poland to be way to cold for comfort but Norway is in a league of its own when it comes to freezing your ass.

Yeah, the criteria are subjective and, IMO, a bunch of huey.

I lived and worked there one Winter. Luckily for me it was one of their warmer Winters. But it's still damn cold, and dark most of the time. It was hella expensive. And I'm a fan of Southern food, including Italian and French, not so much things like boiled salmon and boiled potatoes. I mean no disrespect, but it ain't even on my radar screen.

Fern

 

[norseamd]

I don't think they're any more socialist than we are. They're just better at it. Fern

we have a post office yet no state medical care or energy generation?

we need to get our priorities straight

 

[Thebobo]

Finland!

 

[Fern]

we have a post office yet no state medical care or energy generation?

we need to get our priorities straight

Ever heard of Medicare or Medicaid, or Obamacare?

Our power companies are highly regulated. He who controls a thing, owns a thing.

Fern

 

[AViking]

Is it true or is it just stereotype that a lot of Swedish woman are gorgeous blue-eyed blondes?

Or brunettes. Poland has them too though. Just not quite as many.

To answer the OP though, since I have lived in the US and in Scandinavia, the quality of life is like a hundred times better here. That's coming from someone who lived on a Southern CA beach for a while. The weather is cold for 6 months and it's dark for about 3 months of the year. If weather and money were the only parameters for quality of life things would be different. They're not though. When you add in free education, healthcare, cheap daycare, maternity/paternity leave, lots of vacation, sick pay, lots of holidays, awesome mass transit, pension plans, job protection, green and clean cities, amazing nature, and still an average salary that's in the $55,000 range it's really easy for most people to argue that the Nordic countries have it awesome. Get into the private sector, make more money, and enjoy a lifestyle that most Americans cannot even grasp.

 

[Matt1970]

It's parliamentary and democratic, but because they take care of their people, the right wing can't stand that a system like that works, and therefore insult it by calling it socialist, which has negative connotations to them; wouldn't want to assist people!

Norway slaps a 24% tax on all imports coming into their country and total tax revenue is 45% of their GDP. This US currently has around 25% and we still think we are taxed too high.

 

[QuantumPion]

Norway slaps a 24% tax on all imports coming into their country and total tax revenue is 45% of their GDP. This US currently has around 25% and we still think we are taxed too high.

That 25% figure is just the federal government though, doesn't cover state taxes, local taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, double and triple taxed items, tariffs, etc. IIRC the total tax burden in the US is around 45% too.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah, the criteria are subjective and, IMO, a bunch of huey.

I lived and worked there one Winter. Luckily for me it was one of their warmer Winters. But it's still damn cold, and dark most of the time. It was hella expensive. And I'm a fan of Southern food, including Italian and French, not so much things like boiled salmon and boiled potatoes. I mean no disrespect, but it ain't even on my radar screen.

Fern

My sister had an internship in Norway over a summer. She talked about the food over there and how bland it is. They also laughed at her when she asked for butter for her potato. And the night they had "american" food at the university she was interning. The people went crazy for pizza. The school banned "american" good nights after that lol.

 

[AViking]

My sister had an internship in Norway over a summer. She talked about the food over there and how bland it is. They also laughed at her when she asked for butter for her potato. And the night they had "american" food at the university she was interning. The people went crazy for pizza. The school banned "american" good nights after that lol.

Was this in 1940? That story sounds completely made up.

Pizza is pretty common in Europe. Especially considering it came from here. She must have been interning in a mountain village or something with a bunch of people raised by wolves in order for their to be so much commotion over pizza and a subsequent ban. I'm definitely calling shens.

 

[AViking]

Besides we have surströmming and serve that to all the foreigners so they don't complain about fish and potatoes 😛 No bitching after that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-wQhSuf6mM

 

[PingviN]

My sister had an internship in Norway over a summer. She talked about the food over there and how bland it is. They also laughed at her when she asked for butter for her potato. And the night they had "american" food at the university she was interning. The people went crazy for pizza. The school banned "american" good nights after that lol.

Nordic food bland? Well, I guess some people just can't enjoy simple, clear flavors.

 

[AViking]

Or don't know how to use a pepper and salt shaker.

Quite frankly this notion that "It was so hard living without American food" is absurd. What is American food? Hamburgers? We have those here. Thick crust pizza? Got that too. Steak? Yup, that's here too. Sloppy Joes? Easy enough to make.

As an American our food consists of a mixture of food from all over the world. Surely you can figure out how to eat when you're overseas. Don't like Fish and potatoes? Scandinavia and just about any country with a lot of coastline is going to be a bit of a problem for you at dinner parties but at home you should be able to figure out how to buy chicken and rice or something. We have chicken! When you go out for dinner order a salad.

Ok I'm done heckling lol 😛

 

[Genx87]

Was this in 1940? That story sounds completely made up.

Pizza is pretty common in Europe. Especially considering it came from here. She must have been interning in a mountain village or something with a bunch of people raised by wolves in order for their to be so much commotion over pizza and a subsequent ban. I'm definitely calling shens.

Heh so you think she made it up? Why would she bother? She really liked her stay there and didn't have anything bad to say about Norway. Even had a nice warm summer.

 

[AViking]

I was just teasing but I think this might just be a case of culture shock makes a good story. In America I can tell stories about that disgusting surstromming. In Sweden I can make fun of how large our steaks are. A small exaggeration can make a story more interesting but really blow it out of proportion if told second hand or years later when the details are fuzzy. Now with the surstromming I do not need to exaggerate but I can still hype how disgusting it is. With the steak I can describe the steak as 3x the size of what we would eat here or just call it a dinner plate sized steak. If I call it dinner plate sized it invokes visions of pure gluttony and fat people over here. If someone retells that story the next thing you know Americans are eating like pigs and are all fat. Do you see?

One thing is certain though. Your sisters story is silly. People freaking out about butter on a potato? Banning food at a university? Pizza causing a commotion with university students?

 

[TROLLERCAUST]

No reason to argue about taste differences. I for one love fresh potatoes with some butter. Add some fried fish, rye bread and buttermilk and I'm in heaven. The Swedes and Norwegians are in heaven when their fish is rotten which I don't understand. 😛

 

[Genx87]

They didn't freak out. They thought it was funny she wanted to put butter on her potato along with the salt. I can only imagine their reaction if it were me and my cheddar and sour cream 😀

The get together they banned the American food at was for the interns that were working there for the summer. A lot of them were from America and other parts of Europe. She was an intern at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in As Norway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_University_of_Life_Sciences

 

[AViking]

I haven't been to Ås but we're talking about a town with 16,000 people. Banning food is ridiculous. Far more likely is that they wanted different food at their get togethers and your sister tells the story as if it was banned since she didn't get to keep serving pizza and sloppy joes.

I'll let a Norwegian speak up on butter on the potato but in Sweden that's perfectly normal and I can't imagine it being different there. Far, far, far more likely is that your sister tried to put a stick of butter on her potato and they thought she was disgusting.

 

[Genx87]

I haven't been to Ås but we're talking about a town with 16,000 people. Banning food is ridiculous. Far more likely is that they wanted different food at their get togethers and your sister tells the story as if it was banned since she didn't get to keep serving pizza and sloppy joes.

I'll let a Norwegian speak up on butter on the potato but in Sweden that's perfectly normal and I can't imagine it being different there. Far, far, far more likely is that your sister tried to put a stick of butter on her potato and they thought she was disgusting.

They only banned it for their intern functions. Apparently the interns went absolutely crazy over the food when "American" food was served. They got together once a week and had different ethnic food themes. They took American off the rotation after the first instance 😀

She isn't some glutton. Quite the opposite actually. So I can guarantee it wasn't an entire stick of butter. Just a few slabs.