Meanwhile, Norway has 1MM per capita in assets. Their net debt as a percent of GDP is -165% while the US is +88%
Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
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Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#12meh, while there are certain truths in what he says, it only paints a very small picture of Scandinavia. I mean which nation doesn't its faults? Uninteresting.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#13Woha, does this really qualify as journalism? It seems more like the author has been been holding a grudge and urgently needed to spew out all the things he doesn't like about Scandinavia. This coupled with a few backing quotes from natives. The short "description" of Iceland really tells the tale.
This kind of slanted view would present any country in a bad light.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#14This article is deeply flawed.
> Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia?
Is this a satire? Expert of what exactly? According to his profile at the Guardian :
"Michael Booth is a freelance journalist and author of several books including Sushi and Beyond: One Family's Remarkable Journey Through the Greatest Food Nation on Earth."
Oh, well in that case...
On a less cheeky note, it's obvious that any claims of 'Utopia' (anywhere) are misguided - it's just hero worship in another form. That said - it's perfectly rational to examine positive aspects of another society without either deifying or demonizing it.
This article does no one any favors with its weird mixture of opinion and hyperbole.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#15Meanwhile, Norway has 1MM per capita in assets. Their net debt as a percent of GDP is -165% while the US is +88%
The lesson here is... The US should discover a really, really, really large amount of oil?
I mean, I don't take Booth's takedown of the Nordic countries very seriously, but the reason that Norway is in such great shape financially is that they have an enormous amount of oil that they sell. It's not exactly a reproducible strategy for nation-building.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#16Definitely very biased and highly inaccurate in several places. I particularly reacted to these negative statements regarding Norway:
"..in September the rightwing, anti-Islamist Progress party – of which Breivik had been an active member for many years – won 16.3% of the vote in the general election, enough to elevate it into coalition government for the first time in its history."
This is absolute fear-mongering and demonizing of a respected political party (disclaimer: I voted for them about 10 years ago).
It's correct that Fremskrittspartiet has been calling on stricter immigration laws, and it's correct that it's negative towards islamic fundamentalism and extremism (as are most of the other parties).
It's also correct that they've had party members with slightly more extreme opinions than what is considered mainstream. Internal problems can be attributed to almost any political party.
Although the article is right about many other aspects of Scandinavia, I felt that this had to be pointed out.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#17Meanwhile, Norway has 1MM per capita in assets. Their net debt as a percent of GDP is -165% while the US is +88%
The US holds ~$250 trillion in total assets in its economy.
Household wealth alone is now ~$80 trillion per the latest Fed numbers.
That private wealth is what the US Government's liabilities actually rest against. Whether we're talking using inflation to pay the bills, in which case what's actually happening is existing dollar denominated assets are being eaten to pay the bills, or direct taxation is used.
Apple alone is sitting on $142 billion in cash. Norway's sovereign fund, which is the big reference point, is ~$800 billion. I can probably put together a list of 50 US companies that together have that much cash (not total assets, just cash).
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/
http://www.businessinsider.com/america-is-not-drowning-in-de...
http://rutledgecapital.com/2009/05/24/total-assets-of-the-us...
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#18Woha, does this really qualify as journalism? It seems more like the author has been been holding a grudge and urgently needed to spew out all the things he doesn't like about Scandinavia. This coupled with a few backing quotes from natives. The short "description" of Iceland really tells the tale. This kind of slanted view would present any country in a bad light.
This is a cutesy little throw away column, not a precise analysis of the pros and cons of living in Scandinavia. It's silly.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#19This article is deeply flawed. > Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia? Is this a satire? Expert of what exactly? According to his profile at the Guardian : " Michael Booth is a freelance journalist and author of several books including Sushi and Beyond: One Family's Remarkable Journey Through the Greatest Food Nation on Earth. " Oh, well in that case... On a less cheeky note, it's…
There are also other points that are completely wrong:
> in September the rightwing, anti-Islamist Progress party – of which Breivik had been an active member for many years – won 16.3% of the vote in the general election, enough to elevate it into coalition government for the first time in its history.
Although I feel weird as a norwegian and voter of a different party to come to the defense of FRP, the party was founded in 1973 on reducing taxes and reducing the states influence on the economy. And this still seem to be their primary goal and was all they talked about during elections when I still lived in Norway.
I have seen the statement repeated by others more familiar with Swedish and Danish politics that FRP is a racist party, but at least historically that has not been their call-to-action and I have not seen anyone make a convincing argument that this has changed.
Re: Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'
#20He has some good points, but it mostly just sounds like a pointless rant. And nitpicking every flaw with these nations just because he has gotten tired of the positivity surrounding their "success" comes off as just childish.