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Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

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Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#251

Post by undersuit »

CPLX wrote: post #121
franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

> If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! If everyone has access to a shovel, or a computer, does having that thing become pointless?

If a number of companies are using it as a single or major metric for hiring, yes. These companies are looking for anyone with a shovel to fill a seat, because historically having a shovel is better than not.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#252

Post by skookumchuck »

ethelward wrote: post #135
skookumchuck wrote: post #88

"Norway’s huge oil and gas sector is the clear driving factor behind the nation’s economic boom over the last three decades" And there it is - a nation sitting on black gold is wealthy.

Like Venezuela, for instance? You can't deny that Norway adopted a peculiar way of managing its good fortune, IMHO far better that what you can find in Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc. It's the only “oil” state I know to be so good at it.

It's still the black gold that makes Norway's peculiar style of socialism work.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#253

Post by mockingbirdy »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #250
mockingbirdy wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Society can't expect the value of labor to remain the same if you double the supply by adding women to it. This sounds funny if you think about it. Women fought a long time for emancipation which also means they have the same obligations w.r.t work and other activities. Now they work and the market corrected itself to account for the new labor supply. In the end: No one won except companies. Sounds like a bad deal…

Women who now finally have freedom due to the financial security afforded to them by being able to work certainly "won".

This certainly wasn't my cleverest moment, but I still find it very interesting that we had to pay a certain price to get this privilege. It seems like there's no free lunch in many types of social progress.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#254

Post by gluelogic »

Latty wrote: post #26
franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

> If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! Only if the value of a degree is having an edge over others, not if it's value is learning - primary school isn't pointless even though most people master it. This feels like it links back to the same problem as everything else - as time goes on automation removes less skilled jobs, and more and more people will need to do more ski…

> primary school isn't pointless even though most people master it.

That's because the knowledge taught in primary school is way more essential to day-to-day life. If people don't know those skills then our society fails.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#255

Post by bmer »

massysett wrote: post #184
angarg12 wrote: post #110

As 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.

Interestingly, an Iraqi immigrant was responsible for setting up Norway's wealth management system: https://www.ft.com/content/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feab...

I always think about this when I read comments on HN declaring that immigration implies a breakdown/dilution in the value of the host nation's "superior culture".

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#256

Post by pnutjam »

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #226
dragonwriter wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's true, but it feels like the HS curriculum has gotten easier, too, and that might be part of the reason that a high school diploma isn't valued by employers. Since the early 1990s, what was then a fairly advanced college prep track for math seems to have become the baseline standard, and graduation requirements have increased in other ways. Compared to comparably-named classes, grading or presentation may hav…

I'd have to disagree. My niece attends one of the top-rated high schools in the country. I recently perused her summer reading list and was astonished that the vast majority of them were books for children. Reading comprehension and writing proficiency are much, much lower than they were just a few decades ago, across all levels of schooling.

Memory can be tricky. You need some data, not anecdotes.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#257

Post by franciscop »

psergeant wrote: post #87
franciscop wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! Seems like a step between the US system and the Spanish system. What happens if you lose your job for example for a couple of months? Do you have to pay as a normal loan or is it more like taxes where you only pay relative to your earnings?

If you believe university rankings (a big if) then the UK’s universities are — on average — dramatically better than those in the rest of Europe.

I always felt funny about that topic. A couple of Spanish technology universities are always near the top rank in Europe lists.

But what lists? There are so many, Universities choose to showcase the convenient ones of course.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#258

Post by franciscop »

cimmanom wrote: post #140
franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

But if the government isn't going to subsidize learning, in a way you have to give a degree to everyone who "buys" one. Having someone go 6 figures in debt and walk away with nothing is just too destructive.

There you go, the only logical conclusion is that going 6 figures in debt is crazy so the government should subsidize it.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#259

Post by T2_t2 »

tor0viking wrote: post #175
franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

Europe is able to keep its colleges and Universities free or mostly free because the European collegiate experience is a much simpler and stripped down version of what you find at US Universities. In the US, living on campus is the norm, a vast array of amenities and services are offered to students, and University bureaucracies are huge and growing by the year. Contrast this with Europe, where many Universities are…

Yes in part, but the mechanism is important, and what is being solved more so.

The USA is like the EU, where the various states vary as much if not more than the countries in the EU. The USA is far more racially varied than individual EU countries. The USA has used two big main policy tools to right wrongs of the past: home ownership and education. This has led to terrible policies, like the crazy mortgage crisis and student loan act, that means you can never get out of the debt through bankruptcy, which is morally extremely questionable.

When you have debt that can never liquidate, things get a little crazy, and a lot of the US college craziness is as a result of too much guaranteed money.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#260

Post by bradlys »

rsync wrote: post #235
eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Colorado has a population of about 5.6mil and a GDP of ~300bil. Norway is 370bil. Although better than most other U.S. states, I don't have access to the services that Norwegians do. But my taxes are also very low here. We could have the same kind of services as Norway if we want to pay for it, but taxes would have to go up. Until Americans stop thinking of the word "tax" as evil, we'll always value it wrong.

"Although better than most other U.S. states, I don't have access to the services that Norwegians do. But my taxes are also very low here." CO State taxes are (roughly) 5% which puts it right in the middle of US states (between 0% in places like Florida and 10-ish percent at the (non CA/NY) high end). Then factor in (roughly) 35% federal + local taxes ... let's call it 40%, give or take. Let's just forget property ta…

Unless you're $300k+, your tax burden is under 40%.

Even at $100k, you're around 31% total. That's for CA.

https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-paycheck-calculator#...

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