Fact Check: Is Norway Really a (Socialist?) Paradise?

[@Stigsens1]

Scandinavia is neither socialist or kommunist, all american who condem them as such, have NEVER been here. We are all in Scandinavia decades ahead of US, believe me, I lived in both US and a couple of Scandinavian countries.....I get 🤢🤮to listen to americans who dont own a passport trying to teach me how bad we are doing here....haha

[@joelopez40oz23]

Even Scandinavia Emoji's are better than American Emoji's :(

[@john-danielmunoz3469]

I am an American, but most people in the U.S. don't realize that Scandinavian countries are not socialist. thy are social democracies, which is still a form of capitalism. It is just a well regulated form of capitalism. They prize collective bargaining to ensure workers' rights, and they enforce regulations to protect consumers. They have high top marginal tax rates, but the get so much more out of it than we do in the U.S. They have universal healthcare, free public education through college, and excellent public transportation.However, they still have private ownership and investment.

[@clairesucks]

Stig Petersen don’t worry. No one thinks anything other than good things about Scandinavia. Except the weather in Finland. That seems a bit intense for me personally :)

[@codasm]

@@therussiantrollnetwork7464 LMAO keep trying moron

[@christinacope562]

@@therussiantrollnetwork7464 but we really haven't done anything in a long time, resting on our past achievements. Many do want to immigrate to the US because of the myth. Mexicans seem happy for the most part where they are(except in areas with cartel violence)I would enjoy living in Mexico.

[@mikeyb8040]

Americans in general just need to stop using the terms socialism, communism, fascism, capitalism and so on because from the outside looking in it seems most of you don't even remotely understand what they actually mean. Just look at policies and see if you think you would be better or worse off. Attacking labels will get you nowhere.

[@nicholasruff8354]

But you fail to realize why these terms are being misused. They are buzzwords used by corporate media to scare ignorant voters into voting against their interests, hence why they persist. Anything to avoid discussion of actual policy benefits the status quo.

[@karhu96]

@@nicholasruff8354 Like Sanders and AOC?

[@robertjenkins6132]

Such is the nature of nebulous labels. The word "socialism" was also misused in Germany by the Nazi party.

[@fheedpexx9267]

Don't forget left, right and liberalism.

[@kebman]

@@robertjenkins6132 Actually it wasn't. If you look at the program, it is pretty evident that the Nazi party was pretty far to the Left. ;) It was the need for the Left Wing Social Democrats and the Labour Movement to distance themselves from it that put it on the Far Right in the 60's.

[@thedondeluxe6941]

Live report from Norway: Not socialist and not a paradise either. It's pretty nice here, though. I rather like it.

[@oblivious8868]

I'd like to visit at some point. Got a few friends in the area, though I'd have to ask them where exactly they live. All I know so far is "in Norway."

[@thedondeluxe6941]

Good directions are important in Norway. Very long and bumby country, and hardly any people! Mostly just brutal, but very beautiful nature. And loads of fjords, of course :-)

[@oblivious8868]

@@thedondeluxe6941 I'll definitely bring a GPS and a map. I get lost enough on my own even with those things.

[@thedondeluxe6941]

@Oblivious Same here!

[@trombonespill9441]

Well, our government is not socialist. It is clearly right of the center. And Jens Stoltenberg was prime minister in Norway for maaany years before that and he is now the leader of NATO. He was center/left in Norways politics. Before him we had his role model as prime minister. She was prime minister for a very long time, and is called "Countrys mother". She was maybe a bit more left, but socialist is not the right word in my head. I thought Trump liked our Prime minister now (Solberg) and before her Stoltenberg.

[@stevestop10]

The Nordic Model is the most effective socioeconomic model that exists today. The USA should attempt to emulate these nations in any way they can because they are objectively superior in comparison. But no. There is no socialist country in the whole continent of Europe, let alone Scandinavia. Are the Nordic nations paradises? Closest thing to the word that exists...

[@TheUnseenRapper]

Well said.

[@utah133]

I agree, but it's a big job. We have entrenched kleptocratic capitalism and extreme income inequality. Unions have lost their power, thanks to collusion between Congressional members and big business. Hopefully, Trump is the festering boil and final wakeup call to convince The People have to take back control from the plutocrats and their congressional lapdogs.

[@ataho2000]

Steven McAfee We cannot do that. The American corporates want to keep the Americans hungry tired and broke.

[@henrivanchayala1039]

@@ataho2000 it works for these Nordic countries because they homogeneous, we are culturally diverse...and far greater in number.

[@ataho2000]

Henrivanch Ayala It could be because of the roots of their society!

[@turbopumped6490]

Im from Norway, and the similarities in personal taxes really surprised me. I always thought the US had like half the taxes that we paid. And no paid vacation - thats harsh! Of course people always have something to complain about here to, but I always felt that being born in Norway is like winning the world lottery...

[@povelvieregg165]

Turbo Pumped, other Norwegian here. Just looking at income tax is deceptive. We pay 25% sales tax which is among the highest in the world. Americans pay very little sales tax. Sales tax is in fact the biggest tax income of our government. We also pay 200-300% taxes on cars. Americans pay nothing. Almost 90% of the gasoline price in Norway is taxes. Americans pay almost nothing. Also "arbeidsgiveravgift" is essentially an income tax, but does not count like it. So a more accurate picture is to look at taxes as percentage of GDP. If you do, you'll see we pay quite a lot more in taxes. Of course we also get WAY more tax funded services. Few Norwegians are aware of how much the government actually pay for us. We complain about the cost of childcare, but don't realize most of it is paid by the government. I was shocked the first time an American told me how much the paid for child care. That was staggering. Regular families cannot afford it. The mother has to stay home and look after the kids.

[@povelvieregg165]

@@monki_sudo I am not complaining about the sales tax. I am okay with the tax regime we have in Norway. I am just mentioning it, because if you don't Americans easily think we have the same overall tax rate as them. And we don't. We have a much higher tax rate, and that is how we manage to pay for all our social services. If American want our kind of free health care services, higher education etc, they will not to get in more money in taxes in some fashion. Higher income tax is one way, sales tax is another. Sales tax is a regressive tax, but it has the benefit that e.g. the rich cannot easily avoid it. Having high income tax on the rich is difficult, so I think one of the best ways of taxing the rich is likely to tax various luxury products high. E.g. high taxes on luxury cars, gold jewelry, designer clothes etc. Taxing large properties is also a good option. The benefits of that approach is that it discourages frivolous consumption but not investments by the rich.

[@richardfeynman2960]

@@povelvieregg165 . Well, I don't disagree that much overall. But I want to underscore that the combined tax rate, that DO differ substantially from US to Norway, is NOT the reason Norway can pay for it's social services. I think it's a lot more about the lobbying in the US, creating huge voids where insurance companies, farmaceutical companies, gun- alcohol- and tobacco companies, and other oligopolies can thrive. B.ex. the gun laws are allowing a lot of people who shouldn't have a gun, to still buy one, while leaving the associated social costs, like higher crime, more cops and correctional facilities, to be paid by the government. The nordic model bans or regulates all of these, while most of politics in the US is funded by them, without politicians even having to let you know. This is why b.ex. prescription drugs and hospitals in the US can be many times more expensive than in the nordic countries even when disregarding the government funding. Just my two cents.

[@povelvieregg165]

@@richardfeynman2960 I agree with a lot of what you say. The medicare costs alone in the US per capita is about the same as other industrialized nations pay to cover ALL citizens. Private health insurance in the US has grossly inflated prices, but even medicare is more expensive than it needs to. That is because republicans have by law prevented Medicare from using its enormous bargaining power against pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. The US suffers from being corrupted by the influence of the rich at pretty much every level. It makes even public services work bad. It is not use Medicare. Look at NASA. It is being mocked as an example of how terrible government is. Yet in reality the inefficiency stems from NASA being pushed to make decisions favoring the economic well being of subcontractors in various states. Had private corporations not been able to buy off politicians to the extent they do in the US, they politicians would not have run NASA in a way that just makes it a milking cow for the private sector. > The nordic model bans or regulates all of these, while most of politics in the US is funded by them, The key think you may not be aware of that we have banned for many years in Nordic countries is political ads. Political ads in TV and on radio has for most of our history been illegal. Hence there has never been much opportunity for better funded politicians to get an advantage the same way they do in the US. Generally political battles in Norway has been fought with party members going door to door, meeting people on the streets, writing op-ed columns, participating on debates on TV etc. This tended to give a stronger edge to grass root movements. Perhaps the most important difference in our history happened in 1860, when we were deciding on the future of our political system. There was a fight over adopting an American style system or a British Parliamentary system. The left won and we adopted parliamentarism. This paved the way for social democrats in the early 1900s. The American presidential system did not really have a mechanism to allow third parties. Presidential systems tend to get stuck as a two-party system. Hence the whole political system will start to rot eventually as these parties become more and more entrenched and only looking after retaining their grip on power. There was a paper writing about this studying political system around the world. It remarked that presidential system tend to create political polarization and populism. You can see it engulfing the US today, but it has plagues South America for decades already. Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany etc which are quite stable politically, have parliamentary systems with proportional representation. This allows a multitude of parties. Americans talks about the virtues of the free market, yet has no free market in political parties, but an entrenched duopoly. The current system does not allow you to vote yourself out of it, because any vote on a third party, that does not win, is a wasted vote. I keep harping on this with people, because I see ZERO discussion in the US about this problem. People think the fault is voters for not voting on other parties. It is not their fault, it is a the voting system that wastes all votes on a third party.

[@stian56]

I'm earning below the poverty line and I tax 31% so the tax numbers in the comparison is a lie. My friend earning 450-500k nok a year taxes above 45% and if you add on all the "secret" taxes (sales, car, employmentfee, tax on alcohol, tobacco, wealth tax if you are above 1 m nok) you get well above 60-70%.

[@mikey.180]

No comparison.... the US is an oligarchy.

[@harrickvharrick3957]

I hear stories tho it's an oilygarchy

[@danihomes7697]

America is a plutocracy

[@Wolfspaule]

Plutocracy You guys are doomed to be battle-slaves for the 0.01%.

[@mopedhufsa8251]

@@Wolfspaule 😂

[@thecannaviking]

@Leo Yohansen there ur wrong. There isnt any country in Europe that has a two class system where it is the rich that run things. "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence." In 2014, a Princeton University study concluded that the United States lapsed into oligarchy at some point in the 20th century. Oligarchy can best be understood as a form of government that enacts policies that overwhelmingly benefit a small and privileged elite. Using a data set from the years 1981-2002, researchers from Princeton University and Northwestern University made the following observations about U.S. democracy. 1. Economic elites and organized groups representing businesses have substantial effect on U.S. policy while, "mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. 2. An average citizens' policy preferences have a "near zero-level" impact on the U.S. policy debate. The estimated impact of average citizens’ preferences drops precipitously, to a non-significant, near-zero level [when compared to economic elites and organized groups representing business interests]. Not only do ordinary citizens not have uniquely substantial power over policy decisions; they have little or no independent influence on policy at all. By contrast, economic elites are estimated to have a quite substantial, highly significant, independent impact on policy. 3. Even if a majority of Americans are in favor or against a particular policy, they will lose the debate against a wealthy and organized interest. "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose." Similarly, organized interest groups (all taken together, for now) are found to have substantial independent influence on policy.What do our findings say about democracy in America? They certainly constitute troubling news for advocates of “populistic” democracy, who want governments to respond primarily or exclusively to the policy preferences of their citizens. In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule-at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose. 4. While Americans do enjoy many freedoms associated with being a constitutional republic, the country's claims to being "a democratic society are seriously threatened. There is the basis for what a modern olligarchys is. To say just Switzerland is the only country that arent a olligarchy. That is to make fun of this study and another thing I am a norwegian and if you read about the Nordic model we use here in Scandinavia, the olligarchy badge fall off and just crumbles away.

[@TheGreatRakatan]

More like "Well regulated capitalism with social programs vs poorly regulated capitalism with terrible social programs"

[@richardfeynman2960]

Exactly. Although some systems don't work well within free markets, like health care and education. But no problem, just remove them from it, regulate the sht outta them, and leave all the rest to the people. Like most countries.

[@GarrettFruge]

One of the things I really like about Pakman's reportage is that he doesn't shy away from criticizing certain problematic forces on the left or correcting either false information or sincere ignorance. Despite a few disagreements I have with him, I do appreciate the intellectual honesty and rigor that Pakman has shown on pushing back on the “anything government does is socialism” fallacy that has befallen much of the left in recent years.

[@KeatrithAmakiir]

Yeah, he really is fantastic at cutting through the BS, left or right. The only time he ever has issues is when it comes to Israel (he has issues separating the Jewish people as a whole, from Israel's government policy & actions). But otherwise he is easily one of the best on the web!

[@GarrettFruge]

Oh, yes, I agree. he definitely has a major "blind spot" when it comes to criticizing Israel.

[@sensur1]

You're correct. Thats why i follow Pakman but detest The Young Turks which basically is the same as Fox News but on the left. Pakman has that rare quality: integrity.

[@KeatrithAmakiir]

@@sensur1 TYT have their issues, but they are far from the FOX News of the left (That is MSNBC without question). Though TYT has definitely gotten a bit more partisan in the last few years, but Trump has been directly attacking the media and objective reality as "enemies of the people", so anyone calling that out is going to end up shifting more left (since the right is currently, objectively, insane).

[@utah133]

No place is perfect, but I'm pragmatic. Why not just ask people who likes their countries best? Oh, wait. It's been done. The Nordic countries are self-admittedly the happiest.

[@AlianCass]

Well. Its pritty nice over here😁

[@johan.ohgren]

@@AlianCass It's pretty expensive though..

[@HomoAesteticus]

@@johan.ohgren Not a problem when everyone is guaranteed a living wage ;) (minimum income, not wage as such really)

[@erapvp]

@@johan.ohgren it's expensive because it's nice, it's nice because it's expensive

[@assmatronix]

@@joo2891 yah, you got the throne last year. We'll get it back next this year. 😊

[@Jorsk3n]

I like how prisons in norway are safer than american schools

[@jlupus8804]

Are they safe because of armed security?

[@aircombat9357]

Police here in Norway do not bring guns, Even inside the prison.

[@andreasmadsen882]

J Lupus no, there are not armed police officers

[@leto.o5759]

@@banger2998 that doesn't really sound, well smart

[@leto.o5759]

@@banger2998 Statistics mean nothing without context. Also, its illogical. Dangerous individuals need fear to be controlled

[@helltanner3722]

without watching Norway is neither socialist or paradise...but the average person is better off in Norway.

[@MrSamiGigi]

Compared to Us its a paradise

[@esaedvik]

It's a paradise for most of the world though.

[@altergreenhorn]

Scandinavia and most of europe have a lot from socialist philosophy! In fact it's semi socialist country with non restricted private ownership If you like that or not maybe you have no clue from were that stuff come but ain't my problem. Here are some socialistic beneficios stuff in scandinavia in most of europe to open some minds: free healtcare free education payed maternity unemployed social security (state) pensions 7 hour work day 25-35 days of paid vacation etc

[@esaedvik]

@@altergreenhorn Are you saying someone doesn't like these or you don't?

[@emperorshievpalpatine]

In Germany there is “Social Market Economy”: ideally it is a (capitalist) market economy combined with strong government oversight and a social security system. The most distinct feature is perhaps the emphasis on unions regularly bargaining wages with employers as well as giving workers half the seats on the boards of big corporations.

[@Kraisedion]

Don't ignore the fact that the economy is based on codetermination with (up to) 50% worker representation on boards.

[@Horny_Fruit_Flies]

@@Kraisedion That's what OP said.

[@AntiFurryJihad]

Capitalism - free Market (Not fair, anyone can manipulate the prices) Socialism - Free Market with regulatory bodies to make it fair, with social welfare. Communism - No free Market, Everything is state owned no private property In a nutshell in democratic socialist economy the tax money is for the people who pay taxes and not spend to clear loans of private companies who are bankrupt and had Expiolted workers and now begging for their tax money to clear the companies debt (Like what we see in America)

[@22jacktheripper22]

no paid vacation wtf is wrong with you guys? xD how do you even tolerate that???

[@AntiFaGoat]

We work.

[@bunnerkins4165]

Yeah that seems crazy to me. Canada doesn't have great vacation but we do have a legislated minimum of 2-3 weeks depending on how long you've worked.

[@SaraphDarklaw]

What’s weird is the our military has all the programs progressives want. I had an 30 days of paid vacation a year. I also once broke my hand and I got 30 days off work to recover, completely separate from the 30 days off I would normally get anyway. It’s why we have old ass generals and sergeants, who wants to leave all those benefits behind?

[@22jacktheripper22]

@@AntiFaGoat the rest of the world works too. but with paid vacations. its even documented in studies that ppl who are happier are more productive. some countries have 4 day work weeks and its working great.

[@christinacope562]

💀 We work until we cannot then die so we can get the #1Unhappy🏆* * that's why Muricans are always bitching.

[@KesselRunner606]

I wish people would stop trying to define the "Perfect System." There is no such thing as the perfect system. I'm quite sure Scandanavians could chew your ear out about their government's problems. But they sure are a "Better System."

[@wvideoyahoodk]

I don't think any of us Scandinavians thinks our countries are perfect. We just have some fundamental things that works great because of our tax systems. Most important - health. Then education and social welfare for the people who have a difficult life. If we help them they probably won't use the health system as much - or less. We have stupid politicians like everybody else but they almost all agree about the 3 things mentioned above - no matter if they are left or rightwing. So perfect - no. Just quite good :-)

[@joppekim]

Yeah our system is about to collapse, Norwegians are waking up but most of them are not, the mainstream media is not reporting on this.

[@kasperknutsen8283]

It's all about our people not being corrupt. We are really nice people. Look at all african countries, corrupt. Scandinavia is the safrst place, people is just nice and don't bother

[@johnny_eth]

I live in Norway. The whole of Europe, Norway and Scandinavia, are liberal capitalist societies, with welfare states, which is (depending on the county) some flavor of modern social democracy. I would not in my wildest dreams want to live in a socialist country (e.g Cuba).

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

@James Asper LOL you need to learn liberalism kid. You are CLUELESS. Libertarianism and liberal progressive are two different tendencies of liberalism. They AGREE more than they disagree. To a socialist, liberalism is SHIT no matter how you slice it

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

@James Asper Exactly, which further demonstrates you have no freaking clue as to what liberalism is. Open a book kid

[@falsebeliever8079]

@James Asper We are socially liberal in scandinavia. Not economically.

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

@@falsebeliever8079 Wrong. Nordic countries are also economically liberal. That is the WHOLE purpose of the welfare state is to keep the market free. Just because it is NOT as free as the US does NOT mean that it is not liberal.

[@Norralin]

@@PoliticalEconomy101 In Norway the government will go in and actively break up large conglomerates if it's seen that they will gain unfair business advantages, if they may develop into monopolies (bi?duo?-opolies). They also monitor mergers between companies to make sure that competition still exists in a market. This happened as recently as a year back when two of the largest grocery-store chains were about to merger. It seems to me that there is a very solid devotion to freedom in a country like Norway. You're supposed to keep your freedom no matter what - individual freedom. They try, so far as they can, to give people the opportunity to have fairly uninhibited lives; for instance - if you are unable to work; money is given to allow freedom, vacations are highly regulated to allow people freedom from the predations of companies (and the state), corporations are kept in check so as to not inhibit the freedom of the individual. Social mobility is pretty high, a result of highly homogenous, fairly well funded public, free, schools (where public schooling is by far the norm). Higher education is also fairly unexpensive (about a 100$ per semester) - and student loans have the lowest interest rate imaginable. Freedom to do and be what you like. It's a well rounded system, balanced system that seems to work and provide the best opportunity for people to live their lives as they see fit. It's worth noting that tax in Norway is slightly lower than its neighbours due to the wealth provided by its strong, oil funded economy. www.nbim.no shows, in real time, the status of the norwegian oil fund - money set aside by the state for the future.

[@TerryTurner]

Comparing the US to Norway is like comparing the Browns to the Patriots. We're not doing well. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 #Bernie2020 👍

[@ryanx9372]

Hey now. After hearing people inconvincingly say, "the Browns have a shot next season" for the past 18 years, I actually agree with them this time. Browns fan since '88...hoping for the best and actually expecting something decent!!

[@raquelalhaqab5994]

Amen, I lived in both countries and as an American, honestly Norway is much better. That’s all. Sorry die hard Americans you’re not the best.

[@erickreyes8774]

The browns are low key gonna be good this upcoming season. Just you watch Baker to Odell 👌🏾

[@oblivious8868]

I don't even give a damn about sports and even I understand that analogy.

[@TerryTurner]

@@oblivious8868 lmao 😂😂😂😂😂

[@mikesmith2905]

Having spent some time in Norway when working for a Norwegian company the phrase I find I use a lot is 'It's like going to where the grown ups live'. It's a place and it is inhabited by humans so 'perfect' is meaningless, however it has a small scale democracy because of its comparatively small population and (crucially) the people feel they can pretty much trust the government. That changes a lot of things, for one thing 'hand outs' become 'investments' (the cornerstone of Capitalism after all). There is a closer coupling between the people in government and the people in the communities in which they live. The Scandinavians (very broadly speaking and not including the Normans or the Rus) have a different approach to law and incorporate the concept of 'fair' in ways many cultures do not. They seem less prone to grandiosity and that allows them to make (what I would consider) more sensible decisions. They set up a separate fund for pensions and when North Sea Oil came along they set up a state entity to handle licensing and put the revenue into that fund. Their population is about the same as a large city but their pension fund is now the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, which gives them potentially as much clout as Saudi Arabia or China, it also means people there don't have to worry about their pension. I would class that as 'sensible' and I would suggest that is the key word here.

[@Anirossa]

Mike Smith i Norwegians don't have full trust in the government, we Norwegians often make fun of all the stupid thing our government does and we are critical to many of the things we do.

[@OddRagnarDengLerstl]

Norway is not socialistic or paradise. Although it is quite nice to live here, except for the weather ❄️☔🙂

[@kasperknutsen8283]

Defiently not socialist.

[@altergreenhorn]

Scandinavia and most of europe have a lot from socialist philosophy! In fact it's semi socialist country with non restricted private ownership If you like that or not maybe you have no clue from were that stuff come but ain't my problem. Here are some socialistic beneficios stuff in scandinavia in most of europe to open some minds: free healtcare free education payed maternity unemployed social security (state) pensions 7 hour work day 25-35 days of paid vacation etc

[@OddRagnarDengLerstl]

I'm always amazed by by Americans thinking that taking care of each other is a socialistic idea. The idea is so much older than that. You as a mostly Christian nation should know that.

[@Stevewatson3]

@@altergreenhorn I've no agenda here and thanks for posting that! My only question is how good is the health care compared to private with lower tax? Is smaller government involvement in schools better? Peace x

[@jaxthewolf4572]

@@OddRagnarDengLerstl I'm american but it's funny to think that the idea of helping each other out rubs many americans the wrong way. Also too many american christians don't even follow Jesus and his disciples but constantly go "I'm a child of God!". No wonder we got issues. 🤣

[@wartem]

Sadly right wingers are getting stronger in the Nordic countries. In Sweden we are loosing key components of social democracy. Still far ahead of the US of course.

[@wartem]

@@sebastianplaum4667 Fredrik Reinfeldt used to be the leader of Moderaterna, the most right wing party in Sweden. (The "new" party Sverigedemokraterna might be even more to the right and they are rightly considered racist). He's to be blamed for the recent massive intake of refugees. Why? Because there's no working integration going on. We are creating two societies in one and that will lead to disaster. Alienation and bad treatment leading to serious violence and crimes. We should "open our hearts" as he said but not without thinking. We need assimilation. The real left now is Vänsterpartiet/The Leftparty. Socialdemokraterna, which has built the modern society and created a healthy middle-class is not longer what it used to be. To get into power they had to compromise ALOT in discussions with right wing parties.

[@wartem]

@@sebastianplaum4667 Vänstern bygger på humanism. Vänsterpartiet hade säkert gjort ett bättre jobb än detta. Socialdemokraterna har täppt till inflödet som högern ordnade men det räcker inte. Folk är inte insatta. De förstår inte vad de röstar på. Precis som amerikanska väljare när de röstar på Trump. Sen finns det naturligtvis riktiga rasister i partiet också och det kommer upp till ytan ibland med järnrörsskandalen t.ex. Många har blivit utestängda från partiet pga. rasism. SD kan inte öppet se på när sådant sker utan att göra något. De behöver se fläckfria ut. Åtminstone för tillfället. Många bildar sin egna uppfattning och i förlängningen förvrängda realitet med hjälp av fake news (nya tider etc) och lögner på sociala media. De litar till slut inte på vanlig media alls. Det bildas en djup och överdriven misstro till etablissemanget. Det blir som en kult (Tänker på Trump i detta sista avseendet. Där har det gått längre och där gör de rätt i att inte lyssna på mainstream media).

[@sensur1]

Jeg er ganske langt til venstre i Norsk politikk og jeg syns Sverige gjør mange ting bra, men jeg er ikke enig i hvordan landet ditt takler innvandring og feminisme. Det virker bare for ekstremt. Innvandringskrisen som skapte boligkrise i 2016, Malmø og voldsepisodene, IS-krigere som får lov til å bare flytte hjem uten straff, Metoo-forfølgelse av Benny Fredriksson. Fredrik Virtanen. Det er mye som foregår der som ikke er bra. Og før du sier at jeg er crazy alt right sverigedemokraterna-tulling så vil jeg si at jeg vil fortsatt ha innvandring og feminisme. Men det bør være moderat, rasjonelt og voksent.

[@wartem]

@@hoar2340 You apparently know nothing about Sweden. It was the right wingers who allowed the massive intake and the social democrats who stopped it. Reinfeldt said that we should open our hearts for the refugees. No plan for integration.

[@zwojack7285]

"Socialism doesn't work!" "It works in Norway, Sweden, Denmark.." "THAT'S NOT SOCIALISM, THAT IS A SOCIAL DEMOCRACY!" "Okay, then let's try that instead?" "....NO! THAT'S SOCIALISM!"

[@footballhdclips5824]

Social democracy would never work in USA. Norway is so homogenic

[@zwojack7285]

@@footballhdclips5824 lol nazi

[@xav1uz]

@@zwojack7285 soy

[@Tasmanilieva]

@@zwojack7285 lmao no. its just how it is.

[@Aquelnumero23]

Lets try it then by lowering corporate tax and abolishing minimum wage just like them

[@ChrisDouglass2141]

David Pakman, keep up the great work!!

[@antoleo2]

Norway is a social democrat country is not socialist or capitalist, but a mix of both. Cuba, North Korea and even China can be considered socialist, but not Norway.

[@shawna7813]

How do you define poverty? 40 percent of U.S workers make less than 15 dollars an hour...

[@Repz98]

Pretty sure they use UN’s poverty line what is an international poverty line. UN’s poverty line says there is no poor in Norway, so we had to make our own poverty line what says there is 90K poor people in Norway. 1.7% poverty rate

[@ZerqPS]

haha people that dont even work in norway gets more money than that for free no work. haha noobs, norway rules

[@jia2001]

Correction we don't get 8 weeks paid vacation only 5 weeks. And paid parental leave can be up to 52 weeks for the mother and 12 weeks for the father.

[@TheLinConcepts]

Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is a more accurate statistic as countries tax in different ways. When looking at tax revenue as a percentage of GDP then according to OECD the taxation in the US is 27,14% andd in Norway it is 38,23% in 2017.

[@hansstromberg5330]

The Scandinavian countries ALL rank number one to seven among the happiest countries in the world, with my contry, Sweden ranking seven and Finland leading the league. The health care systems are similar. I as a Swede pay some USD 300 PER ANNUM for doctors' consultations, tests and hospital care (plus some USD 10 per hospital night). My bills for prescrition drugs amount to a maximum of USD 250 (approx) also PER ANNUM. After paying that sum, medication is free for me, I.E. paid for by taxes. The principle being SOLIDARITY, which seems to be an unknown principle in the U.S. The same priciple applies to schools, from junior to university. Though kindergartens are NOT free, fees depending on the family income. As far as maternity leave (rather parental, as fathers are included) more than a year off (paid) is not too bad, is it? And vacation is five weeks a year or more. Taxes?? Most people pay approx 30 %. The absolute maximum marginal rate for top salaries being 55 %. Prices? Gasoline is expensive, USD 1,60 per litre - one US gallon equals 3,8 litres, so gas guzzlers are not very popular, the number of hybrid and electric vehicles increasing steadily. After all, the scandinavian countries arent too bad to live in, not even to a senior citizen, since there are various forms of state-financed pension systems. Not sufficient to live a good life, but they help. And after death? We pay a very low "funeral fee" of a few percent of our income. The money covers more or less all costs related to funerals. Basically, the Leitmotif is solidarity, from cradle to grave. Hans Stromberg

[@burzheru]

Finland is not a scandinavian country. its a nordic country, but not scandinavian :)

[@haokao9480]

@@burzheru Scandinavia is a multilayered term. Culturally, Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Geographically, it is Norway, Sweden and Finland.

[@Norwaynumber1]

@@haokao9480 No its not, its only Norway, Denmark and Sweden. A part of Finland is in the scandinavian peninsula, but it`s not a part of Scandinavia.

[@_Viking]

No wonder people are happy when they live on generous welfare programs.

[@bohemianwriter1]

Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system whose economic system is social democracy with room for capitalism to exist.. USA is a plutocrasy with pounds of nepotism on top... Take it from a Norwegian who has taken a class in pol. sci or two..

[@thomasr7129]

Also: We regulate the markets, not always successfully, but at least we try. :P

[@bohemianwriter1]

@@thomasr7129 As added bonus: We are a multicultural society. So much so that frozen pizza has become our national dish...Our official lord and savior is a Jew who hated rich people.... ...Immigrant taxi drivers to drive us home after a Saturday stupor as vomit & kebab drips down our red cheeks :-) P.S. Monarchy is just another version of nepotism.

[@themetricsystem7967]

are you living in the new millennium with me? "global economy" - ever heard of it? global stock markets? that thing which effects every country depending their unique economic system. and that every country on the planet is engaged with in various degrees. too many people talk about a country´s economy as something that exists isolated, completely out of touch with the global economy, and that alone presents a wrong image (jeg er norsk)

[@bohemianwriter1]

@@themetricsystem7967 Are we even on the same page as to what kind of government one has? A government is based on ideology, A government chooses its economic policies based on what the voters wants.. At least on paper. What this Globalism speak has to do with anything, I have no idea..Except that USA has tried through violence, terrorism and oppression to impose this fake notion of "the free and open global market"...I've seen what this American Globalism project has lead to. Nothing good.. Except for your own, tax evading oligarchs. So I think you should clean up your own act and knowledge of "global economy" as long as you have an idiot and failed reality TV star for president, and a bunch of economic illiterate sycophants protecting him, running on old, failed economic fantasies from the 80s sold by a Hollywood B actor before putting yourself in a position to lecture anyone on "global economics".. That is if you are an American and voted the last election.

[@themetricsystem7967]

@@bohemianwriter1 roe reka!!! det var ikke ment som motsvar til deg. mitt budskap var at det ikke er riktig å snakke om "sosialisme" definert på amerikansk vis - ikke norsk - som noe som er veldig dominerende i norge, og som spiller sterkt over i norsk økonomi, slik en del amerikanere i dette kommentarfeltet synes å tro. jeg snakket primært om økonomi, ikke politisk styresett. og du er ikke den eneste som har studert statsvitenskap (jeg holdt på mens det fortsatt var noe som het hovedfag). i det store og hele sier vi vel omtrent det samme. så chill! de jeg prøvde å kommentere mot er de amerikanerne her som synes å tro at norges økonomi eksisterer isolert, i en boble for seg selv, og dømmer den nord og ned. de som ikke vet at vi har oljefondet, og at vi investerer i store globale selskaper som google, facebook, etc. og som heller ikke aner hvor stor både innenlands- og utenlandsgjeld usa har, men tror deres økonomiske system er overlegent vårt fordi de tror de har kapitalisme, mens vi har sosialisme. og som ikke forstår at de to landenes økon. systemer befinner seg på ulik plass på samme skala, men tror de befinner seg på to separate skalaer.

[@arenakisen]

Truly beautiful analysis. This is the work of a real economist, looking objectively at plain facts and simply avoiding unnecessary talking points. Been searching for ages after a video/writing without any flawed statements. They always end up explaining too large chunks of material at once, without adequate information. A video simply for true learning and no other intentions. Thank U :)

[@vegavega5344]

Is everything in Norway perfect and paradise? No, but it's pretty damn fucking close once you know ''what else is out there'', gives you a little perspective of how good we actually have it-- I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

[@janjensen7661]

I rather live in iceland than norway tho

[@DillaryHuff]

I'm Norwegian, and I honestly had no clue we had any poverty, at all. I also find the 83% home ownership statistic interesting. I suppose there's often a reasonably good explanation for why some people don't have home ownership (they might live where their work takes them, for one), and not simply because they're poor, but 17% is still a surprisingly high amount.

[@AnthonyBerkshire]

Capitalism & the free market are not the same. That would be a good start for Republican education.

[@awuuwa]

5:28 No. It is the community that pays for all these things. Which means it is free for the individual.

[@mopedhufsa8251]

Norway is just the second happiest country in the world. I dont care about anything else. As a Norwegian Thats all that matters to me.

[@jippy33]

Norway does not have a minimum wage, It is all done through collective bargaining agreements with the unions. Of course a lot of workers do not have such agreements where they work and are thus susceptible to abuse from predatory businesses. Migrant workers are especially easy to exploit as they come from countries where the rights given by Norwegian workplace laws are a huge step up.

[@neuromatiker]

Norway have lot of nationalized oil, which help keep the raxrate low, compaired to Denmark/Sweeden/Finland

[@lexizzaz]

Im from Norway and whilst this is true my dear old neighbours arent exactly complaining either

[@Agarwaen]

Oil in norway isn't nationalised. However there's a hefty tax on oil extracted, which should be a fucking obvious thing. Why should it just be handed out to corporations benefits (though oil companies still make a ton of cash on it). And the norwegian state also created an oil company run as for profit company to further make sure the wealth of the country would benefit those living there. And all of this was set up by an iraqi immigrant and very much againts what the most right wing parties at the time wanted "because capitalism", which haven't stopped them from using all that money when they got into power of course. And the model of taxation and healthcare and education was established long before any exploitable oil was discovered.

[@Luredreier]

Thank you for that point about ethnic diversity even among white people here. A friend of mine is mostly Sami and she told me about how one of her parents who runs a store in a town up north told her that she probably should try to avoid being too outspoken about being Sami as it might lose them customers. Down south where I live there's barely any such tension between the Sami population and the ethnic Norwegian one. But there's still some bad blood between the two ethnic groups up there and in certain other areas of the country. (That's also part of why the song representing Norway in the Eurovision song contest was as important as it really was, there's a lot more to the song then most people listening to it in the anglophone world might think)

[@Kraisedion]

Hi David, Norwegian here. While I appreciate that you are trying to clarify that we are not Democratic Socialist, and draw a distinction between Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy in the name of accuracy, you are not presenting Social Democracy, or my country accurately. For the same reason that it is incorrect to call Norway a Socialist country, it is incorrect to call Norway a Capitalist country. Social Democracy is a mixed model, it is not merely "Capitalism with different priorities". To start with one interesting fact, right away, which I will get back to later, the majority of wealth in Norway is actually collectively owned. While Norway has been moving further right, and in some ways even opened to compromise on the Social Democratic model, it is first important to know what Social Democracy refers to, namely an economy where the "Basic" industries are collectively owned and managed. Until recently "Basic" would refer to the entirety of the welfare sector, including retirement homes, kindergartens, etc. as well as rails, natural resources, electricity, water, phonelines, internet, etc. Outside of this social democracy also believes in general collective ownership, for instance the majority of land is collective property, and there are publicly owned businesses outside of what people would consider "basic" (and the state also has a general monopoly on hard liquor and gambling). The current status of the above industries is currently somewhat diminished, as even the state oil company has been partially sold - though the public is still the primary shareholder. However, it has to be understood that 31-38% of the workforce actually work for the public sector, or by extention companies that are primarily owned by the state. Sadly there are no statistics on how many workers work in capitalist companies. You may think, if we are considering this a dichotomy, that it would be 60%, but this is incorrect. Some of the biggest brands in Norway are actually co-operatives, such as Gilde and Tine (worker co-operatives) and Coop (User co-operatives), there are also organizations, associations, unions, and other types of employment that would not fall under the capitalist sector (including people who work for themselves - capitalism requires an owner with employees). To return to the fact above, that the majority of wealth is collectively owned, this is in large thanks to the collectivization of oil, and saving the majority of the surplus in a collectively owned oil fund that now tallies 8 850 000 000 000 NOK. In other words, and this is the important point, value is not merely created from the capitalist sector, taxed and redistributed, it is also created by the public sector and re-invested (or kept for a rainy day). Social Democracy is often understood to be a mix of Capitalism and "State Socialism", as the state is the primary force in the majority of the collective ownership (some is however held by fylker and communes), but there is also Libertarian Socialist structures, such as the Syndicate Congress (this is a non-state congress made up of unions). It is important to understand that the reason why the state actually makes no claim on the majority of labor demands, including policy on the minimum wage, is because this is settled between LO (the union of labor unions) and NHO (the union of capitalists). Additionally we have partial workplace democracy. This is through codetermination laws ensuring that up to 30% of all board members are elected by the workers (percentage depends on the size of the company - worth noting, in Germany it is up to 50%). Now, it is absolutely accurate that Norway is a country that is largely capitalist, no doubt about it, but if you don't note some of the key points above it is entirely unclear what a Social Democracy is, and if you read this I hope you realize that Norway is not merely a Capitalist country with different priorities. (Also, Democratic Socialism, as the term is used in Norway, is not advocating (full) Collective/Worker Ownership, it is advocating an increased level of Economic Democracy. This has been a very influential ideology in our country, though our last Democratic Socialist PM was Trygve Bratteli -'71-'72 and '73-'76).

[@lasksi]

Some in Denmark are still salty about the drunk foreign minister who gave all the oil fields to Norway in 1963. I think Norway monopolized booze because of that guy, seeing how expensive getting wasted on the job can be.

[@kylequest]

When I clicked on the "read more" and saw the text, I figured it was from someone trying to sell us on Democratic Socialism. The most glaring flaw is the simple fact that government programs that are paid out of a general fund, is not Socialism at all.

[@Kraisedion]

​@@kylequest I did not make the claim that government programs paid out of a general fund was socialist, nor was I trying to sell democratic socialism. I was explaining the degree of collective ownership, and collective + worker control within the economy of Norway, and exactly how the social democratic model works. (I did this, if anything, for accuracy, as Social Democracy is greatly misunderstood and misrepresented in the US). I do apologies for the wall of text. In terms of what is and is not Socialism we need to be careful when defining our terms, as Socialism has many and often contradictory usages. It is however generally considered an umbrella term for all ideologies and economic models advocating collective, worker or user control/ownership. When I use the term it is in reference to this wide diversity of economic and political ideas, and I will get more specific (such as references to state socialism, co-ops, traces of syndicalism, etc.) when needed.

[@Kraisedion]

@@lasksi Valid theory!

[@JT-hm1rf]

​@@lasksi Gave all the oil fields away? The equidistance principle was used when claim of borders on the continental shelf in the North Sea became relevant in the 60's.

[@TheStigma]

Good video. I'm a Norwegian, born and raised, and yes the problem here is mostly in the language and perception Americans have (or in a lot of cases don't have) about Norway and what socialism even means. The word itself has become propagandized poison, starting as far back as the red scare days, so it will always bring up laughable misconceptions and bad connotations. Secondly, Norway isn't some pure "socialist" society. I don't even know what that would look like to be honest... A purely state-run country with no private economy aspect? We are obviously very far from communism, so that's clearly not right. The economy is based on capitalistic base-principles but the main difference is just that there is a strong underlying socialistic stance to governing the country - a "we are all on the same team" creed more or less. So that means things like a strong social safety-net with lots of good help for available for getting out of a bad life-situation. Healthcare, education ect. These things cost lots of money, yes, but I think they pay for themselves in the grand scheme of things. Sick or depressed people who get the help they need can go back to work and generate taxes, and when people don't need to become criminals to meet their basic needs then that won't happen as much. If prisoners get high quality rehabilitation rather than focusing on locking them up for as long as possible for as cheaply as possible then recidivism lowers and you don't have to keep paying again and again for both the cost of incarcerating them + the cost to society for the higher crime rate. The added benefit of feeling like a decent human being for not leaving the less fortunate to fend for themselves is really just a free bonus side-effect (albeit an important one in terms of overall societal health). In fact Norway really isn't all that different from the US in principle - especially as the US was earlier in it's history I feel. You don't actually have to go that far back in US history to see high taxes and strong regulations, at least in some areas. As someone else said an another comment here - it's really much the same basics but just much more well-regulated (or more stickily regulated if you prefer that word).

[@TheLinConcepts]

Republicans when talking about healthcare: Norway is a homogenous country thats why it works!! Republicans when talking about immigration: Norway is getting overrun by muslim and african immigrants the ethical norwegians will be gone in one generation!! Smh

[@toxendon]

​@@sebastianplaum4667 Oh look, a fascist talking point (not calling you that, just the point you are making). The population of Norway will consist of 22 percent immigrants in 2076 - at the current rate, almost half of those being Poles/Swedes/Germans, so I do not think there is any immediate problem with "other races" taking over our country anytime soon. www.ssb.no/befolkning/artikler-og-publikasjoner/14-prosent-av-befolkningen-er-innvandrere www.ssb.no/befolkning/artikler-og-publikasjoner/_attachment/116002?_ts=13eefcbd4a8 (page 4) The notion that a nation's population can continue to be completely homogenous in a super connected world where trade and work become increasingly globalized is very unrealistic, especially when global warming and proxy wars fought by the powers that be will force us to take in a lot more refugees in the future. Homogeneity is not the key to Scandinavia's success, it is the idea of solidarity and working towards equality while maintaining low unemployment rates by having a good social security net and programs for reeducation, employment opportunities etc. The idea that "ethnic groups" always "look after themselves first" is the ground premise for the great replacement hypothesis. And I do not see evidence that this is correct. Doesn't mean there aren't problems with immigration - there are - but diversity itself is not a causal factor for breaking down the success of Scandinavian countries.

[@toxendon]

​@@sebastianplaum4667 "but you're not taking into account that "immigrants" are people born outside the country, and does not denote people who are not ethnically Norwegian - that group is bound to be much larger by 2076." One of the two sources did account for that. I think it's the first link. The greens are immigrants, the purple are Norwegians born by immigrant parents. "Globalization is of course inevitable, and has been ongoing for something like 500 years, but globalism as a political ideology is around 100 years old and both can and should be opposed" Cool, how do you sift the effects of globalization from the effects of this "political ideology"? The immigration numbers here in Norway hasn't been lower in 20 years, by the way. I'm not saying it's immoral for a nation to have national sovereignty, I'm saying the idea of some impending ethnic replacement about to destroy Western countries is a fascist talking point. And the idea that diversity in itself is harmful to a society is wrong. Xenophobia, oppression, fascism, lack of integration and culture clashes are reasons behind social disorder, not ethnic diversity. And the remedy for these points are solidarity, focus on equality and the common good, knowledge of intersectional power structures, strong secular education opportunities for all regardless of class position, good integration - and not falling for fascist talking points about globalists wanting to eradicate the ethnic population of Europe, because nothing creates social disorder and chaos like a middle class under the illusion it is under siege by a kabal of minorities and the elite.

[@povelvieregg165]

@@sebastianplaum4667 > It's true that it is relatively homogenous, I get what you are trying to say, but let me challenge you a bit on this. I think there is an underlying assumption that a country of different white ethnicities is by definition not as diverse as a country with people of different skin tones. I have issues with this belief. Black Americans have lived in America for generations, speak the language, know the culture and have the same religion. Yet somehow we are supposed to believe that if a white Kosovo Albanian moves to Norway, he is supposed to add less diversity to the country, than a black person adds diversity to the US. Despite the fact that this person has an entirely different religion, culture and language. I have Polish and Pakistani neighbors. The poles look almost the same as me. Yet I am estranged to them. They speak very little Norwegian, and have a very different culture and way of being. My second generation Pakistani neighbors OTOH may look on totally different from my in terms of skin color, but they speak the same language as me, have a similar upbringing, childhood and culture. We are on the same wavelength, support similar kinds of politics and values. Surely when people speak of the challenges of diversity it must mean people pulling in different directions, and not merely looking different on the exterior?

[@povelvieregg165]

@@toxendon > so I do not think there is any immediate problem with "other races" taking over our country anytime soon. Depends on what one perceives as the problem. Should our main concern be that we get more people with a different skin color? I am a leftist Norwegian, so my concern is not about what people look like but rather about preservation of Norwegian values and culture. In this regard we face far more profound challenges than the US does. Ironically it is not muslims which is the problem, but rather Americanization. English is increasingly displacing our native language. Companies are increasingly becoming subsidiaries of American multinationals. Almost every company I've worked at has eventually been bought by an American multinational. Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, youtube is taking over youth culture. My children e.g. watch mostly stuff on Netflix and KZbin in english. I grew up watching mostly childrens shows in Swedish and Norwegian. Company culture is shifting increasingly towards and American company culture. The hyper capitalist American sales culture is spreading like wildfire. Society is increasingly becoming a consumer oriented society like America, where everything is about consumption. I think this goes a lot against deep seated Norwegian values. We now celebrate Halloween, Valentines day, mothers day, fathers day, black friday etc all stuff with no Norwegian cultural tradition. All pushed by companies wanting to sell more stuff. Even our Christmas, which has long traditions is getting less recognizable as a Norwegian tradition and increasingly looks American. The dutch have the same problem. Their Christmas used to be about making one personalized gift to people you cared about. Naturally business did not like this tradition. They want a hyper commercial American Christmas where they can sell lots of stuff to consumers we don't need. This is what pisses me of about Neo-nazis and alt-righters talking about protecting "white-culture". There is no "white-culture|". It is a bullshit concept invented in America. Having white skin does not give people the same culture. White people have a myriad of different cultures. And the culture of one group of white people may very well threaten the culture of another group of white people. Also pisses me off about the American concept of white-privelege. Not every white person is of a privileged ethnicity. Kosvo-albanians are not held in particular high regard despite being white. Norwegian-sami people have struggled with prejudice and racism for many generations. Americans probably could not tell them apart from regular Norwegians. Jews and the holocaust is an obvious counterpoint to the whole idea of white privilege. The idea is that merely looking white will on average give you an advantage over not looking white. Yet Jews had a lower status in Nazi Germany than e.g. blacks. Being black did not cause you to end up in a concentration camp.

[@BrandonHanson]

I love having my ancestors come from Norway. But I wish they stayed back so I could be a citizen of Norway. Beautiful Country and super friendly people. I recommend it to anyone who wants to travel the world.

[@Edzter]

i used to live in denmark, the place is great tbh.

[@kristianstave3904]

Norway dosen't have a minimum wage! The left in Norway opposes it so strongly that you wouldn't belive. We have a system where the workerunions (LO) negotiate with the union for employers (NHO), and that deal becomes a national standard. But is only required by the companies that has this deal. The companies outside can choose to follow this national deal, but doesn't have to. Also the wages of the deal depends on your field of work, your time in this field, weather you have a degree, and lots of other factors. That is what made a general waiter get a salary of 20 dollars an hour

[@Agarwaen]

There's no actual law, but there are laws against exploitative jobs, and with a far higher baseline due to unions work there's just never been a reason to introduce one by law, though in effect there's minimum wages. It's not comparable to the situation in the US.

[@Bjorn2055]

The taxation is similar if you sum up income tax + social security + health care plan. On US household median, 2017 $61,372, ca. 36% in taxes

[@jrgengunderengen9130]

Firstly, Norway is fairly expensive due to other taxations on the market, not only the income tax. You're right in saying Norway don't use a pure socialist system, but a lot of ideals build on socialist ideology. Another point is that Norway have traditional values from collectivism in contrast to the american individualism, so taxations help fund the public welfare system instead of a neo-liberalist tax-evasion heaven. These traditional values comes from a time when Norway was less wealthy than we are today; our wealth mainly due to our massive oil reserves, so our current model emulates the need to help others back in a time when we had to. Personally I could never move to a country that celebrates pure individualism and relishes in accumulating wealth, these are values I can't identify with, but our political system is also more nuanced than the U.S (which, sadly, has devolved into a two-party system) where coalitions of parties make up our government to represent the actual values of our people - and our right wing (with marginal exceptions) are still further left than the democratic party in the U.S

[@nil981]

NORWAY IS (repeat after me) NOT SOCIALIST!!!! dont piss them off more than you already have!

[@Repz98]

Patrick Milewski Tusen takk fra Norge, sarpsborg.

[@wvideoyahoodk]

I’m danish (Denmark) and as you say - we’re not socialists. We are social and take care of each other like in the rest of scandinavia. Thank you for explaning this somehow. When Trump asks for more money for military it could be interresting to see if we spend more of our taxes on social welfare and education than on military and therefore don’t pay what he asks for. Enjoy your channel a lot 😊👍 Regards from a well educated, social human being, hunter, gunowner, tv cameraman (enemy of the people 😂😂😂 NO) danish guy who pay my taxes with joy. Not getting all the benefits right now but you never know when you will need it. Until then - I pay for others who need it. And that’s fine.

[@GhostNight666]

Very well put in the end there, you never know when you are going to need it and of someone else needs it right now it is great. I think the keyword here in Scandinavia is Solidarity which seems to be lacking in the American vocabulary. //Greetings from Sweden.

[@wvideoyahoodk]

Thanks. Yes Solidarity is the keyword. So happy that I live in Denmark. Being able to visit beatiful countries like Sweden and Norway is another great thing :-)@@GhostNight666

[@doreenachtymichuk7909]

don't forget CANADA !!!! We follow the Scandinavian way. and …. BOY, ARE WE HAPPY !!!!

[@since78]

Canada is more in between the model Scandinavian countries follow and that of the United States.

[@doreenachtymichuk7909]

@Jimbus Rift cant ! everyday, as I look and feel soooo sorry for US citizens, I just thank a higher power i'm Canadian . I really do feel for you. we just got rid of a conservative gov't. we are a very liberal country. so it was hell.

[@worklife21c]

@Jimbus Rift And why should Doreen "calm down"?? It seems we're "damned if we do, and damned if we don't". The flip side of such snide remarks is to accuse we Canadians of being too timid, apologetic, or criticisms like that! I think you're probably jealous that she IS happy, and not afraid to say she is!

[@worklife21c]

@@since78 I think your estimation is a bit more accurate, than Doreen's, but I think we have similar attitudes to the Scandinavians on this type of societal organization. And the idea of no health care coverage is hard to fathom!

[@christinacope562]

@Jimbus Rift 🤣 She's calm and happy

[@povelvieregg165]

David, as a Norwegian I got to give you thumbs up for trying to give a balance portrayal of what our country is like. It is true that Norway is not socialist, but simply saying that kind of leaves out a lot of important details and history, in particular in the American context of discussion democratic socialists such as AOC and Bernie Sanders. Here are some really important points about Norway and our history with respect to democratic socialism. 1) We may be have a primarily capitalist economy, BUT people who openly subscribed to democratic socialism as an ideology has been running the country for most of the years since the 1930s. Social democracy and democratic socialism are two concepts easily confused. The present day labour party will usually refer to themselves as social democrats. But their party programs all the way up to the 80s, clearly states on the FIRST line, that they are democratic socialists. The word "social democrat" is actually seldom if ever used. However in Norwegian public debate, the word democratic socialism is virtually unknown. E.g. I did not know about it until I head Bernie Sanders call himself that. So I was surprised when reading through numerous historical party programs of the Norwegian labour party to learn, that that was how they had viewed themselves for almost 70s years. 2) Social democrats are not historically quite the moderates you may believe them to be David. The Norwegian labour party's programs for most of their existence clearly state that their goal is to abolish capitalism and replace it with a socialist economy. So all the nice welfare programs people enjoy in Norway today were pushed through by people with quite a radical agenda. However it is important to keep in mind that they were moderate in means. They respected democracy and were willing to take their time building a socialist economy one step at a time. They considered getting things like free education, health care, sick leave, unemployment benefits, strong unions etc as important first steps. By the time they had achieved all this stuff socialism was no longer particularly popular in Norway. Socialism was a victim of its own success. Thus starting in the 80s, they started branding themselves more like social democrats. 3) Socialism in Norway was never JUST welfare services. There was actually quite a lot of activity in making the economy more socialist as well. That meant things like 1/3rd of corporate boards elected by workers. Remember a central tenet of socialism is workers democratic control of the means of production. Important parts of the economy was put under national control such as hydro electric and oil companies. In fact most Norwegian hydro electric power plants were built by the government. Part of the banking sector is owned by the government. 4) Capitalism in Norway is more about treating capitalism as a tool rather than an ideology. The government makes a lot or rules to foster competition, where in the US I see a lot of duopolies and monopolies. In the US there seems to be more of an understanding that capitalism means "freedom" for companies. In Norway the emphasis is on competition. The government regulates to foster competition, not to foster freedom. We see no value in companies having the freedom to create monopolies and overcharge customers. You can see examples of this in the energy, telecoms and broadband market. We tend to have rules forcing companies who own infrastructure to share that infrastructure with other companies offering services on that infrastructure. 5) Socialism is not just about politics but also about mindset. Having lived in the US, I would say that a socialist thinking is more common in Norway. It shows up in how neighborhoods are built or how sports are organized. Neither has much to do with government. Neighborhoods in the US e.g. are built in a more individualistic fashion, while they are built in a more communal fashion in Norway. It is more like car free units with footpaths and public spaces for kids to play in. Parking spots for cars tend to be put outside the community to create a sort of little village. It is a random example, but it just underscores how differences go much deeper than what the tax rate is or how much the government owns or runs.

[@Starcrash6984]

This is why we shouldn't make arguments by meme. It might work if there's a "Source:" citation somewhere on it, but if not, why even bother to engage with it? Maybe they have different numbers because their information is from a different year, but because there's no citation, take it with a grain of salt.

[@Casualyoutubee]

Just moved to Norway from alaska! Woohoo, let’s give this a try.

[@0Chujo0]

Norway is not democratic sociaist Norway is social democrat

[@realaudioreviews]

0Chujo0 US is better

[@Nilguiri]

@@realaudioreviews Yeah, but it's not, is it? Nice try.

[@realaudioreviews]

Nilguiri where u from? Us has the best laws it’s quite obvious, unless you live under a fucking rock 😂

[@Nilguiri]

@@realaudioreviews Hilarious! hahaha. Again... nice try.

[@fezzy7693]

We dont get 8 weeks paid vacation in Norway. It is 4 weeks + 1 week if you work with a business who has signed agreement with a work-union. And it is not really paid vacation. You get 10,2% deducted on your salary per month (12% if with a work union to pay for the extra 1 week vacation) which you get back when you take out your vacation.

[@MMAoracle]

Norway is a capitalist country, with some government participation in the economy (primarily healthcare and higher education). In fact Norway ranks higher than the US in many studies for ease of doing business and market freedom. It’s absurd to call it socialist.

[@stephmaccormick3195]

Those number are absolutely correct. And yes, Police ins't "free", firefighters aren't "free"... there's nothing confusing about that. And I don't really care how you call our country. You can call it "totalitarian" if you want.

[@lpdude2005]

What's wrong with you and some Americans. You don't know what you're talking about at all. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are super-capitalist countries. The only thing we have is a network of security - so no one should lack food or a place to live if a personal crisis comes. Your country lets people fall to buns - hence they never come back. We do not let people sink into the bottom - but take action so that they have time to plan their next move - about a new workplace or whatever it may be. It is actually the only difference between Scandinavia and the United States. But we know a little about what you are talking about - a time that is 50 years back in time. You can never stop whining - It is quite possible to come here - the systems here are completely transparent - there are no hidden agendas. Moreover, Norway where I live is ruled by the Conservative Rightwing parties without the hint of socialism.

[@ozwunder69]

So nats socials? Andre's Brek

[@eloyomedallas4802]

nice!. I heard the same on a video by The Andredal.

[@Nilguiri]

@@ozwunder69 What?

[@sh0werp0wer]

Super-capitalist? If Norway, Sweden and Denmark are "super-capitalist" I wonder what countries that are decidedly more capitalist are called? The only think we have isn't just social security. I'm Norwegian, and our entire oil industry is socialised, for one. That's something you don't see in most countries, and one of the reasons why the Norwegian people has benefitted far more from their oil revenues than other countries. In the US the American oil reserves goes to line the pocket of billionaire oil tycoons, and in the Gulf states it goes to the royal monarchs. We have a free market economy - that should be more than sufficient to debunk any erroneous claims of socialism. That being said, we are high up on the list of socialised services/industries, so to brand Norway/Denmark/Sweden as "super-capitalist" would be an exaggeration, to say the least. But I believe the Nordic countries has a more open and pragmatic view on politics and governing. It's not based on some unfettered principle about "the government and the people should own *everything* or "the government is useless and should keep their hands off everything", it is based on facts and science. What works and what doesn't work. The oil industry is undoubtedly better off socialised. Healthcare industry is undoubtedly better off socialised (although we do have a private healthcare industry, as well, so it's not like it's outlawed), public transportation is better off socialised, and the list goes on. There are many services that are socialised/public in Scandinavia that are not in e.g. the US that one doesn't even think of. But from a business perpective, unless you're in oil, healthcare or some specific niche that's socialised/public, it's the same as doing business in any country. It's a completely normal, free-market economy.

[@mrgaudy1954]

The problem is that many Americans have absolutely no idea with regards to terminology and no grasp of nuance in general.

[@christinacope562]

Because we don't have paid vacay😉* * it's a joke before you get your panties in a bunch.

[@mrgaudy1954]

Christina Cope good thing I’m a naturist

[@christinacope562]

@@mrgaudy1954 😅

[@noodlemaker8700]

Your show is by far the most substantive; this is why you're better than TYT and Kyle.

[@savenetneutralityanti-repu7029]

I stopped watching TYT when they started defending Islam and pissing on Israel all the time. I don't watch Muslim propaganda.

[@Nilguiri]

@@savenetneutralityanti-repu7029 They have never defended Islam; they defend Muslims from lying, Islamophobic, Zionist pissants like you.

[@frchriswrexham]

Thank you for broadcasting that David - I've been shouting at my FB friends for ages about fact checking their memes and reposts/retweets and it constantly falls on deaf ears! I mean come off it - in this day and age it's never been easier to fact check... But people see something that correlates with their world view and they just send to all their friends :( I don't have an easy answer for how to correct this... But guys like you speaking out helps! xxx

[@kasperknutsen8283]

Norway is not socialist. It's just that USA is so shit. Chronic capitalism, goverenment controlls you

[@TobMiner97]

No minimum wage in Norway, but the majority of jobs follow the pay suggested by the unions

[@toadwine7654]

Tobias brekke christiansen exept that i could not hire anyone who wanted. For any pay i was willing to give them...

[@Akegata42]

Social democracy is a form of socialism though. It's a mix of socialism and capitalism. The logical reason why this works so well is probably simply because it's not extreme (although that is exactly what right wing people tend to say it is). Extreme socialism leads to communism, which obviously doesn't work. Extreme capitalism leads to the US, which obviously doesn't work either. Moderation and compromise is always the better option. You're allowed to have guns in the Nordic countries as well, just not the extreme kinds of weapons, which leads to basically no mass shootings (with the only exceptions being a small number of right wing terrorists). Moderation works. Extremes don't. They never have and never will.

[@HelgeKS]

Norway is social democracy /welfare state, fueled by capitalism.

[@akselst]

When I hear Americans say that we are communist, it baffles me. It's so wrong. You're right that calling us a sosialist country/paradise is wrong. "Social democracy" doesn't mean socialism, it means a capitalist system regulated by socialist ideals. The economy is called a ballance economy, and it isn't remotely close to a plan economy.

[@MdVaDc]

So pretty much in Norway your money is taxed to hell and they take care of you for it by social services because the government can make better decisions for you than you can.

[@albinjohnsson2511]

As a swede I always find it incredibly amusing when an american calls Sweden a socialist country. Ever heard of IKEA, Spotify, H&M, Skype, Minecraft, Volvo, or Saab? Pretty good exports for a socialist country...

[@joppekim]

As a Norwegian i would love to see America adopt the system as Norway but i don't see that ever going happen. Your country is a lot bigger than ours with more diverse living standards and people in general. Our political system works not only because of the system itself but also treating each other with respect, dignity and never to act as we are better than anyone else, it is deeply rooted in our culture, it is like an unwritten law that every Norwegian subconsciously follow almost from birth. If this were to work in America you need to find a way to put your differences behind you and make amends, but that is more difficult for you, not only because of your size but also the history you have with African-American slaves, you have a lot more challenge to address these issues. Norway doesn't have that kind of history, so we are more like a united family than anything else. I believe you guys need to find a better solution, i really don't think our solution will have any good effects because people will just take advantage of the whole system. You also have the obesity epidemic which is a huge deal if you are going to have free healthcare and such. Even our healthcare is starting to reach maximum capacity and our politicians are too stuck up to do anything about it. Norway is not safe, our golden age is about to end soon, And Norwegians is starting to realize this.

[@sensur1]

As a Norwegian, I had to laugh at Ben Shapiro, that's supposed to be this competent right wing conservative, talk about Norway as a socialist country an then he just went completely off the mark with crazy assumptions against my country. The most shining example of the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. When I, as a Norwegian who know ALOT about my own country see this doofus trying to explaing to americans about my country... What else is he completely wrong in?

[@chrishydahl4580]

I find this kind of disingenuous. It's good you acknowledge when the picture is correct (and when it isn't). But why wait "to make an analysis between which system works better" till after we figure out "if America has unfettered capitalism, and Norway is a socialist country"? Makes no sense. We already KNOW that neither of those descriptions are accurate, so why not jump straight into it? It is still clear that America is relatively speaking very capitalist, and that Norway has a lot of strong socialist welfare policies. We have enough information to make the analysis atleast on a basic level.

[@kennet7837]

We don't have a minimum wage law in Norway, but because of strong unionization we don't need that.

[@povelvieregg165]

Kennet, which is a result of our union rules. It is something I wish American liberals would talk more about, because it is the unions which really are the key in Norway. They have pushed up the lowest salaries for years, which is why everybody makes a pretty decent salary. This happens because of a traditionally very union friendly policies. In particular that we allow sectorwise bargaining. In the US that is illegal. It was outlawed in 1935 by the supreme court which was virulently anti-socialist. Without sector wise bargaining, each union basically just bargain separately with each company. Like you just got local unions. In Norway all unions could unite behind LO, which gave them tremendous power.

[@elementalgolem5498]

Norway is unique in the way that 1.5% of the GLOBAL market (private) is owned by the state, including Apple, facebook etc and the money fron these investments are saved for Pension, katastrophies education etc

[@timcollins1131]

The USA does have unfettered socialism, it is especially available for the monopolistic corporation's drug and defence industries.

[@svettnabb]

We, like much of the rest of the world, also don't have to do our taxes by spending weeks filling in papers. I "Did my taxes" this week. Took me one hour. That's because the government pre-fills it.

[@chatrinekvinge813]

Thank you David for making this program😊

[@Le7emeChat]

If we should not call Norway socialist, then neither should we call Venezuela socialist. Venezuela is as much a real socialist country as is Norway, yet it does not bother the Right from using Venezuela as a punchline all the time.

[@davidsmith464]

The first thing everyone needs to do when you see an image like that on the internet is remember, "Memes aren't facts!"

[@basicallyateddybear7860]

Some of your numbers were wrong. We have 5 weeks paid leave for those under 60 and 6 weeks for the people over 60... which we call “senility week”. And for paid paternity leave it’s actually 48 weeks with some flexibility between mother and father to decide how long each takes their leave. We are all in all satisfied with our lifestyle here in Norway. I think our government is working more for the people here compared to US where it seems to be all about the lobbies and getting reelection. We also have a broader representation with more parties to vote for. In our “Storting” or congress as you call it there are currently 9 parties with 169 representatives. Thank you for your video David, it’s always interesting to here other countries perspective of how we live here up north.

[@logic9436]

You can't compare Norway to the US. I've lived in booth countries and it's not even close to similar. Different cultures all together. In Norway you feel safe and never stressed about it will go wrong. There's safety nets and the goverment work for the PPL! In the US. I don't even need to say it

[@FarsightAE]

There's a reason why Nordic countries top the charts in pretty much everything.

[@Repz98]

Yes, only Norway, Danmark, Finland goes up while sweden goes down. I’m Norwegian btw

[@iyaramonk]

We don't have 8 weeks paid vacation. We have either 4 or 5, depending on where you work.

[@TheLassenman]

I think 5 weeks is common, but as you say some only have 4 weeks. But seniors above 60, have 6 weeks of vacation. Well atleast that is what we have where i work :)

[@stigrynning]

We don't have 8 weeks vacation, it's 4, 5 for seniors.

[@amandaw9958]

Thanks for the analysis David. I think people understand what we mean by a service is "free" but maybe we should use "free at delivery" to be more precise.

[@Nilguiri]

Everybody knows that "free" means "free at the point of delivery" in the context of education, healthcare, etc. Well, everybody except most Americans who think it's communism.

[@apdorafa-rafaelalmeida7159]

I spent some time in Norway and from what I could see things seem to work pretty well there. Public transportation is REALLY good, you don't need a car. Hospitals are amazing and "free", and education seems pretty good, once EVERYONE I talked to there speaks English really well. I live in Brazil now and I lived for a while in the U.S. I think even Brazil is better than the U.S when it comes to health and higher education. There are many PUBLIC hospitals in Brazil, they are paid for through taxation and usually the best doctors work at theses hospitals..so, if you don't have health insurance you won't die. Another point is higher education, there are many Federal and State Universities where you study for free.,..and they are the best ones in the country, better than the private ones...You just have to take a test that includes all high school subjects, and the ones with the higher score are in, that's how the students are selected. I believe our system is Social Democracy...people pay taxes according to their income, being the highest rate 28.5%. Problem here is racial and social differences, as in the U.S mostly white people get the best jobs.

[@SusanDianeHowell]

Norway's export revenues from oil and gas have risen to almost 50% of total exports and constitute more than 20% of the GDP. Norway is the fifth-largest oil exporter and third-largest gas exporter in the world, but it is not a member of OPEC. Between 1966 and 2013, Norwegian companies drilled 5085 oil wells, mostly in the North Sea.

[@MasterKnutA]

Norway got Capitalistic Corporatism. The labour party which is the "more socialist" party isn't leading the government anymore. It has been for the majority of the last decades. Good episode ✨

[@leifwatson8097]

Higher Education is indeed free at public universities! The student loans are primally for housing in big cities.. tuition fees at public school mount to Max 4000kr

[@WizPigTactics]

Hi Wizpig here! I feel a failure of the education system is the fact that this needs to be explained in the first place by David. Flying off!

[@WestOfEarth]

Two observations: It is my understanding that mineral and oil rights are nationally owned, and a generous portion of profits goes to funding the government. Alaska does something similar, but the oil royalties are paid directly to residents of Alaska. Secondly, everyone plays loose with the definition of socialism. Conservatives classify things like universal health care, social safety net, public education as socialism. Right or wrong, those who counter this argument point to Scandinavian countries as successful models of socialism as defined by the Right.

[@falsebeliever8079]

Well, yes. Things like universal health care, social safety net, public education are socialism. A state funded army, police force and fire brigade are also socialism. All functioning societies have a degree of socialism. The question is just how much.

[@gustav4539]

The US actually had unfettered capitalism from 1870-1920. Weak state and oligopolies. Insanely high inequality and frequent crashes and "panics".

[@bard6184]

Having a sovereign wealth fund worth 1,71 trillion dollars helps, especially since that fund has almost doubled in size since this video was made. $1,71 trillion equals around 320,000 dollars per Norwegian. Norway is ridiculously wealthy.

[@MetalGamer666]

For the Scandinavian model to work, people have to accept a lot of state interference. One example is that alcohol above a certain limit (you can get beer in normal stores, except in the afternoon) is only sold by Vinmonopolet (literally: the wine monopoly) in Norway (Systembolaget in Sweden). This is a state sanctioned store that is only selling alcoholic beverages, and are also closed in the afternoon. Because if the state is funding the healthcare system (with tax money, but they could be using them for something else), they will control how much unhealthy stuff you have access to. This is also why I don't think cannabis will be legalized in Norway and Sweden. Maybe in Denmark, as they are traditionally less conservative when it comes to stuff like this. This makes alcohol really expensive in Norway, as most of the price goes straight to the state through an alcohol tax/fee. Same with tobacco. I'm okay with this, even if it's annoying sometimes, but I think it will be difficult for Americans to accept.

[@Agarwaen]

Those state monopolies weren't created for generating tax income though. It's far more similar to the reasons for abolition in the US. Ie, religious morality. Same reason there's limits on sale of alcohol in the weekend, and rules for how most stores can't be open on sundays. Though tax on tobacco is literally to pay for the cost of the illnesses it causes.

[@MetalGamer666]

@@Agarwaen It's not about religious morality these days. And religious morality was often used as an excuse to make sure people couldn't do unhealthy stuff to themselves to begin with. The taxes of alcoholic beverages are the same whether they are sold in a monopoly store or in a normal store. The state gets the same amount of money. And they would get even more money if you could buy it in every store, at all times. It's a health concern mostly, so you can't access it as easily in weekends and evenings, which is when people are drinking. Taxes on alcohol is to cover health costs that it brings, as well as all the extra costs it brings to the weekends when people are out getting drunk. Especially law enforcement costs are higher because of this.

[@Agarwaen]

@@MetalGamer666 Well, the religious morality generated the norms of keeping weekends more off limits for pursuing strictly business as usual. And sure.. in theory part of the taxes are for covering costs. As for health effects of not selling alcohol after saturday evening, quite frankly the amount of sales reduced is neglible. People can easily stock up before, or just buy it in a bar. It only really limits spur of the moment purchases. But ye still, it's a mix of reasons and traditions.

[@MetalGamer666]

@@Agarwaen That's why people originally didn't work on the sabbath, true, but in modern societies that's more or less secular, people have found other reasons for why it is beneficial to continue like that to some extent. Or it would have ended long ago.

[@Agarwaen]

@@MetalGamer666 Probably for the same reason it was invented. People need predictable breaks from the toil of daily work. However there's also quite a few old habits and oddities staying around in scandinavian countries with less reasonable excuses, both xtian and pre-xtian.

[@langmart3]

I began this video with the mindset "here is an other American who will make inaccurate statements of Norway beeing communist and so on...". I was delighted to find a video who does the research, looks at the data from different sides. You Sir, gets a like! I would like to mention one thing: without any data to back up my argument, I belive that the big businesses in Norway are havely taxed compared to the U.S. This does not include, start ups, and small businesses. Which again alow us to have more money for the velfaresystem without a massevly higher tax rate. Just a thought, discuss 😊

[@majarimennamazerinth5753]

Let's take a stand for critical thinking, peeps. Using valid methods to reach conclusions is much more important than being correct about a few of them.

[@alejandrovallecillo4248]

Appreciate the analysis here.. very productive, but there is no discussion of the role of oil/gas revenues comprising 20 -50% of the Norway government revenues, thereby supporting massive social programs and/or keeping tax rates below there true levels. Love to hear more about this.

[@_Viking]

UNEMPLOYMENT in Norway is 10%! You didn't mentioned that.

[@coopsnz1]

In Australia it's 5% , we elected conservative party 7 yrs

[@Seekarr]

The democratic socialist model is the proletariat control over the means of production via collective bargaining with business entities, and social democracy is the public democratic regulation of social welfare systems. The Nordic model does use a bit of both: democratic socialism because worker unions do indeed have a high degree of authority over businesses relative to all other nations (including Venezuela) - particularly on the wage front, which in the Nordic model is more of a socialist model rather than a social democratic government mandated minimum wage. While it is definitely not fair to call the Nordic Model democratic socialism, to ignore that a degree of it is not a part of the formula is not correct either.

[@Twinrehz]

To correct a few points on the Norwegian side of the claims in that viral image: We don't have 8 weeks of vacation, we have either 5, or 4 weeks and 1 day (depending on if you're under union law or not). Healthcare and higher education isn't completely free, there's a small surcharge that we have to pay (that is VERY small compared to the actual cost, maybe like 10% or something). So most of it is still paid through taxes. I don't know what the "average personal tax rate" means, but if it refers to taxes paid on your total income, then that should be about right. On food, there's a 15% VAT, on other goods there's a 25% VAT, and on alcohol and tobacco, it's somewhere in the range of 50-70% (it's getting to the point where it's kinda ridiculous). In addition to that, we have a fairly broad spectrum of smaller taxes that we pay on different things, like toll booths, a luxury tax for owning a television, and a whole bunch of others. Overall tax pressure is a hotly contended topic, some claims put it as high as 90%, but I'm actually not sure how that number is calculated. Paid vacation is a bit of a weird one; we do have it, but a) it's based on the amount of work you did last year (if you're paid by the hour), so b) if you didn't have any work last year, you don't get any, and c) it's saved up by your employer over the preceding year, so it's technically part of your pay already (it's 12,5% or 10% of your salary last year, depending on if you're under union law or not).

[@Halli50]

David is correct, health care and education in the Nordic countries is NOT FREE - it is paid for by taxes. These taxes ALSO pay for a pretty good safety net!

[@bolshevikY2K]

It's definitely not considering normal circumstances. Although compared to the US, that's not such a stretch to say it is.

[@heno02]

Norway has one socialist political party, and it got 2,4% of the votes in the last election. All the other political parties are for a capitalist run economy and strong private property rights. To say that Norway is socialist is ignorant on so many levels.

[@Repz98]

You talk about SV (sosialist venstre) = socalist left. They also have Rødt who are self claimed communist. Both Sv and Rødt made an congratulation to Venezuela celebrating there «victory with socalism» what is still up on there officel website til today.

[@heno02]

@@Repz98 Nope, rødt is the only party who wants to abolish capitalism altogether and actually convert the society to socialism. SV removed this from their official program decades ago.

[@hellwain]

I'm Norwegian, we call ourselves social democratic. Also good on you for realizing polaks and sapmi's as none Norwegian i applaud this.