Dark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 28, 2014, 6:32 PM UTC

mcantelon wrote: post #9

CmonDev wrote: post #3

"Ask the Danes, and they will tell you that the Norwegians are the most insular and xenophobic of all the Scandinavians, and it is true that since they came into a bit of money in the 1970s the Norwegians have become increasingly Scrooge-like, hoarding their gold, fearful of outsiders." I wish UK had a story of successful multiculturalism to tell. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994

True. And Norway's a sovereign country, free to introduce immigrants at a rate that works for them. The New York Times just featured an article about how Norway's immigration is creating ethnic ghettos. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/anti-immigran...

Post by doktrin » Tue, Jan 28, 2014, 6:43 PM UTC

asabjorn wrote: post #19

doktrin wrote: post #14

This 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 fo…

Post by MatthiasP » Tue, Jan 28, 2014, 8:07 PM UTC

Post by qw » Tue, Jan 28, 2014, 9:59 PM UTC

doktrin wrote: post #23

asabjorn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 fo…

> I have seen the statement repeated by others more familiar with Swedish and Danish politics that FRP is a racist party To put it in context of American politics, FRP is no more "racist" than the Republican party - which also regularly runs on an anti-immigration platform. There are certainly protectionist, and xenophobic, elements in both - but it's dismissive, and simplistic, to claim that either is "racist". The…

Post by squigs25 » Tue, Jan 28, 2014, 10:29 PM UTC

aetherson wrote: post #15

squigs25 wrote: post #11

Meanwhile, 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.