I am currently hanging out at UC Berkeley in California for an on-campus StudentUniverse event. It is a fantastic campus and city, and we're having a good time spreading the word about StudentUniverse.
Being a native Norwegian, I always tend to debate the differences between Norway and the U.S. in my head. So, I ran into a couple of FOB (fresh off the boat) Norwegians here at Berkeley, and it is just so funny to me. They must be best in their class at NTNU, because Berkeley is a pretty good school for an exchange program, and yet they seem like yahoos. All they do is compare this country to Norway, and how everything is better at home... The women, the food, the beer, the everything is better at home. So why the heck did you leave in the first place then?
Being somewhat of an entrepreneur, it is scary to think that, and I certainly hope that I don't, have to work side by side with people that have such a narrow multi-cultural understanding and mindset.
Here are a few Norwegian articles for you to reflect over.
1) UN has announced that Norway will be ranked the best country to live in for the fifth year in a row. The official statement will be released on September 7th. This articles is from the government owned and run TV/radio station in Norway and features happy people in front of Norwegian flags:
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/innenriks/5001952.html
2) 1.3 million Norwegians receive some sort of financial support from the government, with the following break out:
625.000 receive pension because they are retired
310.000 "uføretrygdede", a type of welfare for people that are too sick or "too sick" to work
95.000 receive unemployment support
91.000 receive support because they are unable to work because of some sort of disability
96.150 on paid sick leave - an average based on 25 million total registered "sick days" per year
49.000 rehabilitation support
66.800 social welfare
In addition, and not included above, is 42.000 that got support in conjunction with birth of a child, 35.000 early retirees, 14.000 children pension recipients (transfer of pension to a child when one or two of the parents pass away), 17.000 single parents, and 9.900 divorced parents. On top of that 609.000 people receive child support from the government.
This article was in Bergens Tidende, a the local newspaper for Bergen: http://www.bt.no/innenriks/stortingsvalget/article397162
These numbers may not look that significant to you, but please remember that there are only 4.5 million people who live in Norway! That means that at least 35% of the population receives some sort of government support..! How can you have a fair election, when 35% of your country (and remember that we a have a parmalent system) have a financial incentive to vote for the socialist/labor parties?
My bottom line is that this makes it very frustrating to live (and furthermore conduct business) somewhere when you have to pay 45-50% income tax, 80% tax on gas (yeah, it's $6 per gallon), 300% tax on cars, 12% sales tax on food/24% on other goods, and the list goes on and on... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we shouldn't take care of those who need it, but come on guys... 35% of the entire population?! I am also not saying that the U.S. is so much better with its capitalist system that definitely leaves a lot of people behind, but there at least they have a system that attracts the brightest and smartest researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the world. Good luck with that, Norway. In the meantime, I'll hang out here, learning from the smart people I meet here at Berkeley.
