Norway - more or less ego? - UK Opinions Central

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Norway - more or less ego?

Contributed by Livgivare Sweden

When a country finds itself with large amount of oil. Saying no to EU twice and now getting a more and more immigrant critical party to become their biggest one you might wonder.

Norway has got no national debt to pay back money to the World Bank, that makes them in a really unique position. They also have the highest salaries in the world for some sorts of jobs. Not many people are unemployed and so people can live in a fairly good standard. So where is the money coming from that makes this country so rich? The answer is the black gold: OIL. Every year Norway puts away a certain amount of money to a fund that today is about 1/4 of their GNP. This makes up to a huge wealth.

So what are the Norwegians to do with all those money? Well, instead of doing as we do in Sweden, they are putting it aside for pensions. We have to look for funds outside of our border of such to get the pensions we like. You might think that most Norwegians are happy to live with a good dream of money when they are old. That is not the case. More always wants more you know.

So what is bad with Norway then? Well the roads could be better, the hospitals and such could be more modern or more of them. The segregation could be less. People could be less afraid of outcomes in general. Women could easily get more to choose from instead of the child-care system. Every one could get just a bit of money more in their pockets to decide for themselves what to do with their life.

Wait, choice is cool with me. But you see this is not the case, a single party likes Norway to become even more closed to the rest of the world. Let me tell you what I have got in the news when I am in Norway for visit.

Fremskrittspartiet is the name of the largest party in Norway. In three years they can become the governing party. They like to take away some of the money from the fund of pensions and built the most modern hospitals and roads. They also want the regular person to get less bureaucracy, they wants to cut the money and cut the state with many departments. The want to cut the amount of things owned by the state too. So instead of state-owned elderly care they want a company to own it.

The main strategy for this party is to play a role as the peoples voice. They often use "the people wants", "the regular man wants" in their debates. What they want to do is to take the regular Norwegians ideas and make them their own. But instead of demanding anything from the voter. They just wants the voter to call them and they will do as the average voter wants. So if many Norwegians wants to cut back on immigrants they are pro that. Which has been the case with this party for many years.

This party has got a very egoistic way of looking at things. And that is what makes them really dangerous. They want to cut back the aid the Norwegians have become so famous for. They want the single person to take care of everything in their life. What is most striking is that the people that seems to be voting for them the most is those with stable income, no friends among new-comers and who hates bureaucracy. It is so simple that I think that the average Norwegian is becoming more egoistic. That is sad and even a sign of wake up call. What will become of this rich country with only rich problems?

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Egoism?
Written by Guest on 2006-05-07 21:30:04

Hello, good summary of the situation with that party (called FRP for short). But, I would not say that Norwegians as a whole are egoists. We have been nurtured by socialism and oil wealth for so long that we have cured all the major problems a nation can have, and now only the little luxury problems remain. People are fed up with paying high gas prices when we manufacture our own oil and export it and make tons of money. In the first few months of 2006 Norway earned around 12 billion dollars more than budgeted, and none of that made any practical difference for the citizens here. That is one example of why voters are cheering on FRP, a party that wants to spend a little more of the oil fortune to make the day a little easier for Norwegians. They want to increase the spending from, say 4% of the oil earnings to maybe 6%. That does not sound like a lot but it could mean another 8 billion dollars for roads, lower taxes and hospitals to get rid of relative long health queues.

So the image is complex. FRP is riding on a wave of dissatisfaction over small annoyances. FRP will for sure make life easier and better in the short term, but in the long term it is not responsible on behalf of the common man to execute all of FRPs ideas. Combined, FRPs suggestions seem to undermine the safety Norwegians enjoy. Yes, it's expensive to live here but you cannot have your cake and eat it.

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