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OxQQme

(2,550 posts)
Sat Jan 30, 2016, 08:56 PM Jan 2016

After Living in Norway, America Feels Backward. Here’s Why. [View all]

<Some years ago, I faced up to the futility of reporting true things about America’s disastrous wars and so I left Afghanistan for another remote mountainous country far away. It was the polar opposite of Afghanistan: a peaceful, prosperous land where nearly everybody seemed to enjoy a good life, on the job and in the family.

It’s true that they didn’t work much, not by American standards anyway. In the US, full-time salaried workers supposedly laboring 40 hours a week actually average 49, with almost 20 percent clocking more than 60. These people, on the other hand, worked only about 37 hours a week, when they weren’t away on long paid vacations. At the end of the work day, about four in the afternoon (perhaps three in the summer), they had time to enjoy a hike in the forest or a swim with the kids or a beer with friends — which helps explain why, unlike so many Americans, they are pleased with their jobs.>

<So here’s the big difference: in Norway, capitalism serves the people. The government, elected by the people, sees to that. All eight of the parties that won parliamentary seats in the last national election, including the conservative Høyre party now leading the government, are committed to maintaining the welfare state. In the US, however, neoliberal politics put the foxes in charge of the henhouse, and capitalists have used the wealth generated by their enterprises (as well as financial and political manipulations) to capture the state and pluck the chickens. They’ve done a masterful job of chewing up organized labor. Today, only 11 percent of American workers belong to a union. In Norway, that number is 52 percent; in Denmark, 67 percent; in Sweden, 70 percent.

In the US, oligarchs maximize their wealth and keep it, using the “democratically elected” government to shape policies and laws favorable to the interests of their foxy class. They bamboozle the people by insisting, as Hillary Clinton did at that debate, that all of us have the “freedom” to create a business in the “free” marketplace, which implies that being hard up is our own fault.>

http://billmoyers.com/story/after-living-in-norway-america-feels-backward/

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My Goodness! riverbendviewgal Jan 2016 #1
Given the choice of living anywhere in the English-speaking world hifiguy Jan 2016 #8
Well don't expect any replies from the Clinton supporters, elias49 Jan 2016 #9
Norway has a sovereign wealth fund from oil Yavin4 Jan 2016 #2
U.S.A. doesn't have oil and other similar resources? hunter Jan 2016 #10
We don't rely on oil, Norway is heavily dependent on it LittleBlue Jan 2016 #13
Well, then, shouldn't we have a higher standard of living than Norway??? hunter Jan 2016 #22
Which should lead to a better standard of liviung nadinbrzezinski Jan 2016 #25
We do have oil, but until recently we didn't allow it to be exported. Yavin4 Jan 2016 #33
And all this time I thought it was because they weren't afraid of socialism... hunter Jan 2016 #35
they would seem to have some inequality as well hfojvt Jan 2016 #26
The way the economy works right now, absolutely nadinbrzezinski Jan 2016 #27
I sorta read with the official CPI hfojvt Jan 2016 #28
Trust me, poverty is a complex issue nadinbrzezinski Jan 2016 #29
Well America is a paid for plutocracy, only the dullest dullard would not have noticed by now. Rex Jan 2016 #3
Indeed. hifiguy Jan 2016 #4
You probably had a 2-3 year old car because cars were crap back then Travis_0004 Jan 2016 #6
Bingo. hifiguy Jan 2016 #7
The thought of driving 15,000-20,000 miles a year was also unheard of NickB79 Jan 2016 #32
Doesn't feel backwards, *IS* backwards. hunter Jan 2016 #5
Norway, a capitalist country that is very big on free trade, Nye Bevan Jan 2016 #11
A gallon of milk in Norway averages $6.88 LittleBlue Jan 2016 #12
Yep. moondust Jan 2016 #14
"What is it, though, that makes the Scandinavians so different? ... a deep commitment to equality pampango Jan 2016 #15
Excellent Read malaise Jan 2016 #16
A country the size of Montana, with a smaller population than 22 states The2ndWheel Jan 2016 #17
Because, as everyone knows... ret5hd Jan 2016 #19
It can get tougher as the scale increases in size The2ndWheel Jan 2016 #23
You're implying Norway's smaller population ronnie624 Jan 2016 #21
Like China or India The2ndWheel Jan 2016 #24
Norway and the US are rich Western countries ronnie624 Jan 2016 #34
I met a pair of Norwegian women on holiday in Chicago WhaTHellsgoingonhere Jan 2016 #18
Sitting upon a giant lake of oil helps. AngryAmish Jan 2016 #20
I love Norway LeftishBrit Jan 2016 #30
kick . . .n/t annabanana Jan 2016 #31
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