Norwegians Are All Poor Says NYT

[Odin]

Thanks for giving me a chuckle, as the resident Norseman I can only laugh at all this. Come on, hospitals not having cough medisine? jesus..

First off, true our Medical system isn't the best but then again we have all our medical expenses payed by the goverment (ok not 100% all, but most of it).

Sure our restaurants cost more money than an american restaurant or anyother place in the world, but in turn we make more money a year then the average american.

We also have 6 weeks payed vacations, which AFAIK is rare in the states.

These are just some things that this article completely ignores.

Geez..

 

[Nocturne]

Don't forget that we have a primeminister who is supported by about 4% of the people....
But yeah, we got it pretty good actually.
School is cheap, and the state lends money to everybody who wants to study, givin everybody a real shot at an education.
BTW Odin where are you from ? Oslo ?

 

[Roshambo]

Ohshit...who knew that I was secretly a traitor to the Almighty US Economy while serving in the US military, stretching my measly paycheck a bit further by preparing my own meals, denying the economy my hard-earned money on the syrup water only worth 1/100 the price they charge and poorly-served bilge that has less nutritional value than the logo'd wrapping paper it is served in?

If I had played it smart, I could have eaten junk food every day and become a fatass, then sued to earn money the lazy way as in the New American Dream.

Let me guess...hunting for your own food is considered a "capital offense" to these supermarket hunters that pass for "journalists". In some places in Alaska, milk can go for up to $5 a gallon, gas about the same or more, and forget anything resembling fast food. That only exists in a few places. Yet Alaska is high up on the list for the US. I know precisely why, too, and it's unrelated to their lifestyle.

In other words, the journalist makes fantastic leaps of logic that do not really take into account the lifestyles nor cultures of others, and instead put their own New York Trash interpretation upon it. Yes, a study by numbers doesn't really have much context without that, but without educated context of culture (which the fellow misses entirely), such waffling is useless and at best, ignorant bullshit used for print filler.

$50k before taxes for a teacher's salary in Norway? Damn...I know plenty of US teachers who DREAM of having such a salary, and they are teaching high school programming and computer engineering courses, earning the same amount as a 2nd grade teacher.

 

[Loxley]

Then again they have to pay somewhere like 50% of that into taxes.
Also as a extreme bookreader i must say that there is only once in my bookreading career that the norwegians librearys have not been able to get my books.

 

[TheWesDude]

1) the average teacher in the US after 10? years makes over 45k a year. they start at 23k a year and get 1-3k a year increases dependant upon district.

2) your average teacher makes more than your average civilian in a govt job unless the civilian is a specialty educated person.

3) if the us govt switched over to federalized healthcare, doctor salaries would be cut by about 30%, the total cost of services would drop by about 23% going as high as 35% for some services.

4) the average purchasing power in norway is remarkably lower than the US. anyone who tries to tell you different isnt speaking the truth. i knew a guy who born and raised in norway, moved to the US, and went back to visit family every 2-3 years and his friends/family were always asking for money because "he made more than them" while he only made 28k a year.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

We also have 6 weeks payed vacations, which AFAIK is rare in the states.

You guys could at least have the decency to assemble all that stuff from IKEA for us.

 

[Sander]

Ikea is based in Sweden.

Of course, it's easy to say that purchasing power is less, but this has a lot more to do with culture than anything else. The culture in the USA is vastly different from most European cultures, whereas in the USA money is seen as the goal (as is quite evident from this study) Europeans generally see money as a means to an end. The end usually being happiness, and that often means making less money or giving more to the government to get more people to live decent lives.

Also, TheWesDude, I'd like to see some sources on those statistics you're naming. They seem to be pulled out of a hat like a rabbit.

 

[Odin]

Then again they have to pay somewhere like 50% of that into taxes.

That's not true, it's usually around 30-35% unless you make more then a fixed top pay which is around $50K a year. And if you have a loan on top of that, then you get even lower tax, even if you have +$50K a year.

4) the average purchasing power in norway is remarkably lower than the US. anyone who tries to tell you different isnt speaking the truth. i knew a guy who born and raised in norway, moved to the US, and went back to visit family every 2-3 years and his friends/family were always asking for money because "he made more than them" while he only made 28k a year.

So you're basing this upon a hearsay, rather then listen to me, who actually lives in Norway.

Oh and this is all bull btw, we have a really high purchasing power. Our interest is at an all time low, and it has been like this for the last 3 years now. we're actually lower then the EU interest rate, but our aim is to have the EU interest rate.

Which is really kind of funny, seeing as we are the only county in the world that has said no to join the EU twice (or was it 3 times?).

BTW Odin where are you from ? Oslo ?

The oil capital of Norway..

 

[Brother None]

1) the average teacher in the US after 10? years makes over 45k a year. they start at 23k a year and get 1-3k a year increases dependant upon district.

Before or after taxes? Plus the paper didn't specify WHEN a teacher makes this amount. For all you know it's their starting amounts.

Teachers go on up-hill scales in most Western countries, y'know.

2) your average teacher makes more than your average civilian in a govt job unless the civilian is a specialty educated person.

Where? And so what?

3) if the us govt switched over to federalized healthcare, doctor salaries would be cut by about 30%, the total cost of services would drop by about 23% going as high as 35% for some services.

*gasp* No! Imagine that! The US would drop its current healthcare system! Let's forget for a moment here that the American healthcare system is the most expensive one in the world state-budget-wise! Let's also forget the fact that some odd 40 million people go uninsured! Foo on you for suggesting you could switch away from such a great system!

4) the average purchasing power in norway is remarkably lower than the US. anyone who tries to tell you different isnt speaking the truth. i knew a guy who born and raised in norway, moved to the US, and went back to visit family every 2-3 years and his friends/family were always asking for money because "he made more than them" while he only made 28k a year.

Oh, you knew a guy! Well hallelujah! I guess this solves all our problems! You once knew a guy who went back to Sweden and then is sure to note to you how much better he has it than the poor family he left behind!

The ironic thing here is that Uskglass' "article" (I have some trouble actually calling it that, it's a slap in the face of journalism) is based on exactly the same kind of evidence as the Wes Guy has above. Random, uncompaired and incorrect figures coupled with one guy's personal experience.

This thread is so full of bullshit, it's mind-boggling

Which is really kind of funny, seeing as we are the only county in the world that has said no to join the EU twice (or was it 3 times?).

It's funny when you realise that everyone was predicting Norway's doom when it failed to join the EU alongside its other Scandinavian brothers. And now it's the most prosperous country in the world. Huh, go figure.

And dude, you guys are like the number one country of the EFTA! You people rock!

 

[Odin]

It's funny when you realise that everyone was predicting Norway's doom when it failed to join the EU alongside its other Scandinavian brothers. And now it's the most prosperous country in the world. Huh, go figure.

And dude, you guys are like the number one country of the EFTA! You people rock!

Yeah, that was actually really funny to listen to and see how things have turned out. Hehe, I was actually for the EU and now I've turned around. Still a united Europe is a good plan.

 

[Roshambo]

The article also neglects to take into account the differences in accepted commercial products. In the US, just about everything has been made into "cheap but disposable". These products were intended to be cheap and originally intended to be for "convenience"; American laziness took it one step further. Now just about everything is disposable and quality products are rare to find.

Instead of paying $50 for something that will last well over ten years and be passed down in the family, people in the US are happy to buy something for $5 every 3-6 months (or much less than that if you take a shaving kit vs. disposable razors). Actually, I lie. That is how the economy has been tailored to the US consumer, for a regular cash flow from cheap, worthless goods, priced in a position to compete with real products yet produced by the lowest Chinese/Taiwanese bidder, for the maximum profit margin.

"The customer is always right" has been replaced with "The customer can take a number or call the automated help line, to speak with some Indian grub who can't speak English worth a damn." Purchasing power is also directly tied in with intelligent consumers. Sorry to say, Americans on the whole have jack shit for intelligence in consumerism, and purchasing power means jack shit when the same poorly-crafted garbage is bought over and over on a regular basis.

Compare this to a culture that believes that one should buy something and have it last for a few years, it points out that the US economy is little more than an inflation of blind consumerism (it was fairly obvious for the 70's since THX-1138 used the new attitude of the US industry, but just made it into a parody based on the future). This will not last for long, especially when the landfills in the US could easily cover many Euro countries in garbage, and are growing much worse. Or some other problem could cause that to crash lending real meaning to "The Disposable States of America".

What is truly ironic, is that the "culture" in the US, for the most part, IS cheap and easy to replace. Just like the products. Hence the other issue, fads controlling entire production industries, in the same disposable design. Capitalism is one thing; stupid, suicidal capitalism that has only merit on disposable production is another.

Kharn, an interesting note or three here on starting amounts.

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.

Again, most US teachers could only DREAM of earning that much, BEFORE taxes. Average, as in some make above, many earn around the average, and some make less.If they were starting out, they don't even begin anywhere near $50k. Then there's the issue of turnover rate. Texas is losing millions to billions of dollars with teacher turnover, alone, 11-19% within their first year. That is high for any "industry", unless you worship disposable razors.