Not just rich, but 'equally' rich.
Weird how in America that simple, fundamental idea is so seemingly fly toxic.
Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
181–190 of 291 posts
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
The biggest obstacles to UBI aren't economic, they're cultural. I'm currently working in manual labor as I brush up on front end, and it's devastating to me that my current job and almost all jobs available to me can and will be automated. What happens then, with the majority of people who aren't suited for STEM?
Why do you think STEM can't be automated?
Do you think AI will think by itself, invent new things, and write software in the next 50 years? I don't.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#183Norway FTW Free public parking to Electric vehicles Govt distributes 1000 copies of every book published to libraries Police officers are trained in Higher Education for 3 years Tuition free education to everybody in the World
Time to move to Norway to finish my degree I can’t afford here? :p
Ontario just cancelled our electric vehicle subsidies. We’re probably in for even further cuts of all kinds... at least my shares in $big_corp will climb.
Seriously. I wonder what a student visa and residence/board would look like for a few years
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#184As the article points out, the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas, just like Spain economic miracle was fueled by cheap industrial labour and construction decades ago. Unlike Spain, they have been wise enough to use their money to diversify their economy, aware that this won't last forever. Sadly there are few lessons we can learn and apply here to other countries, as not everyone has a tiny populati…
"the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas"
It can't be that simple. Plenty of other countries have lots of oil and gas (Russia, Venezuela, the US) and they aren't necessarily having economic miracles.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do European professors and universities avoid grade inflation? Are their incentives very different?
I'm sure many degree programs in the US are inflated, but it wasn't my experience in the US where engineering professors brag about how many students they failed that semester. "You only had 1/3rd your class drop? You must be getting soft." I had AP Calculus in High School (took school seriously) and had to give 110% to pass engineering school. I never partied and basically lived in study hall. Not everyone has to pu…
Grades really seemed arbitrary to me. People who got high grades didn’t mean they’d be more successful in life, it just they got good at gaming the final exams. Indian education has this huge obsession with grades, it’s nuts. Students commit suicides over grades, I believe it’s same with china.
I’m glad my university had more focus on labs and hands on work. I pretty much aced all my labs and did okay on paper exams. Paper exams always felt like an exercise for the professor to put students on an explicit bell curve.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#186as a side note, this made me remember an article i read a couple of years ago: https://www.ft.com/content/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feab... "The Iraqi who saved Norway from oil", the story about the young iraqi oil engineer farouk al-kasim, who helped shape norways oil industry into what it is today.
Thank you very much for sharing! That was very interesting.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#187As the article points out, the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas, just like Spain economic miracle was fueled by cheap industrial labour and construction decades ago. Unlike Spain, they have been wise enough to use their money to diversify their economy, aware that this won't last forever. Sadly there are few lessons we can learn and apply here to other countries, as not everyone has a tiny populati…
"the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas" It can't be that simple. Plenty of other countries have lots of oil and gas (Russia, Venezuela, the US) and they aren't necessarily having economic miracles.
Venezuela has almost totally collapsed under Chavez-Maduro's "socialism".
Russia is a kleptocracy of Putin and his inner circles of billionaires.
The US economy has seen a fairly significant boost from shale gas and fracking.
Better counter-examples than those 3 would be Saudi Arabia and (to a lesser extent) Nigeria. And yes, as those 2 demonstrate it's not that simple, it's easy to fall prey to "the resource curse" aka "Dutch disease": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease
Norway has been wiser in its approach.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's actually better to think of the UK loans as a graduate tax - and in that way it's pretty progressive. You pay 9% extra from when you earn over 25k a year (IIRC). So those who need a degree to go into lower paying, yet skilled, professions (nursing, teaching) can do so easily safe in the knowledge that yes, there's this big sum of money that they "owe" but it'll only be taken once they are earning an OK salary, a…
If you make 50k, have a child, and have a student loan, your marginal tax rate becomes 62%, that's 40% (income) +2% (NI) +9% (Loan) + 11% (child benefit reduction). I don't think that's progressive, I think it's excessive taxation.
Do you get taxed for having a child. I was under the impression that you got tax breaks.
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#189As the article points out, the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas, just like Spain economic miracle was fueled by cheap industrial labour and construction decades ago. Unlike Spain, they have been wise enough to use their money to diversify their economy, aware that this won't last forever. Sadly there are few lessons we can learn and apply here to other countries, as not everyone has a tiny populati…
"the economic miracle of Norway is fueled by oil and gas" It can't be that simple. Plenty of other countries have lots of oil and gas (Russia, Venezuela, the US) and they aren't necessarily having economic miracles.
The lesson of Norway is how to manage a valuable natural resource. I.e. Don't sell it off in a one time auction to the highest bidder who then reaps all the gains. Norway tightly controls access to its oil and the profits have been very well managed.
I agree that other nations like Venezuela and the US have squandered their natural wealth when compared with Norway's careful management.
That being said, I agree with the parent that the aforementioned lesson isn't particularly universal, as a perquisite is having a plentiful and valuable natural resource to manage.
So what lesson can a country like the UK or Germany take from Norway, given their natural resources are, for the most part, already exploited?
Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do European professors and universities avoid grade inflation? Are their incentives very different?
The schools aren’t incentivized to recruit more students. And, unlike American universities, you can start and stop studying as you please. France for example, you get a certification for every level you complete. So it’s common to see job descriptions with Bac+2 or Bac+3. Your baccalaureate and 2 years of university. Unlike the all or nothing BA/BS American degree. American universities run on government and private…
I've never heard of Frances intermediate achievements in University. That's great! I think one of the best things that can happen is someone not finding usefulness and meaning in their studies, deciding to work for a few years and then see how learning more would help and go back to University with a internal motivation that's truly driven by curiosity and a desire to get better. Most systems seem to discourage that. In the US most of the additional salary from studying at University comes from actually getting the degree. It's clearly all about signaling and not learning. This seems like a great step in a better direction.