Comments by "Mosern1977" (@Mosern1977) on "PolyMatter" channel.

As a Norwegian - this video is pretty good and accurate actually. Culturally saving for harder times (the winter) is deeply ingrained in the Norwegian psyche, and overt display of wealth is frowned upon. And thanks to the latest development in our local politics, our economic future is safe for at least 4 more years - status quo will be kept.
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@ursafan40 - that's an interesting question. I'd say it is because Norway doesn't produce cars, and it is a great way to tax people/men. Historically cars have been extremely heavily taxed, as it was "luxury" goods with no car industry to keep the government in check. So could you afford the car, you could afford the gas. (This was turned on its head with electric cars - which is a fun story).
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@alexpotts6520 - good question. It would take some extreme outside change I think (like major wars/conflicts) for that to happen. And a lot of other countries would crack long before Norway. All parties in parlament are Social Democratic and just have a bit different versions of the details. The extremely powerful Norwegian bureaucracy is running the country, and the politicians argue about details. The entire political system is very conservative and not prone to massive changes - this works great when a country is on a right track, and just gradual course corrections are needed.
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@ursafan40 - so Norway never had a car industry (and therefore all cars are imports and have very high taxes on them). But in the late 90s some Norwegian guys started making a shitty electric car (Think). Government though - that's a great idea, we can support electric cars and pretend to be green and maybe it can generate some local jobs and exports. Now the Think car was really shitty, so no-one would really buy it. So the government said - no taxes, no vat, can use bus/taxi lane, no road toll, free parking... And they knew that wouldn't cost them much, as the car still wouldn't sell in any real numbers. But every time the press asked about "green" policies, the politicians would point to all the things they did for the electric car. They repeated this for years. Then suddenly comes Tesla with Model S. As an electric car, it got all the benefits that was orginially intended for Think. It was the same price as a VW Passat or Audi A4 in Norway, and sold like hot cakes. Since so much green political capital was already invested into "electric vehicles" the politicians couldn't back down. But every year it would cost them more and more billions of lost tax revenue. So now they try to wiggle themselves out of the "free" mess they made for themselves. They have reduced the "can use buss-lane (it got congested)", free road tolls are gone (it has reduced fee only now), free parking is gone, and now they want to tax electric cars over 600k NOK.
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And Norway of course won't stop, until it isn't any money in it anymore - as that would be stupid.
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Sweden is already preoccupied with destroying itself. At some point Norway might have to build a wall towards Sweden, and have them pay for it. But we're not there just yet.
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@ursafan40 - yes, they will, and people celebrate it :) But it was fun for 10 years seeing them reach for straws as billions after billions of tax revenue was lost, and the richest people getting the biggest tax breaks by buying the most expensive electric cars. (Very un-norwegian policy).
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Norway has been bed with the United States since 1945 as a fellow founding member of NATO. USA only needs a country to buy loads of American weapons to leave it alone with its oil - Norway and Saudi Arabia are two nice examples of this reasonable policy. Norway is not a member of the EU (Norway voted against it twice).
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Now also opening up a fat power cable to the UK to export out some Hydro Power. High gas prices are great for Norway, as gas is the main export now, not oil.
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I'd say increasing the population by 25-30% on immigration alone since the 1980s makes it pretty open society - not closed. Also the Nobel Peace Price is awarded by Norway.
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An Iraqi immigrant was actually key in setting things up, so that Norway didn't get screwed over. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_Al-Kasim
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Men fornuftige nordmenn ga dem sperregrensa...
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@ursafan40 - to be fair, this doesn't really happen in Norway. Tax records are public info and you can betcha the press would be all over the politicians if they start having too high income. (They are actually ripping some politicians now a new one, as they have misused the intentions of free apartment you can use when voted into parlament). Oh, btw - Norway did sponsor the Clinton foundation with loads of millions. That stopped when Trump won the election. Pay to play...
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More likely that Youtube recommends those for you, because you watch them?
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There is none of course, but it sounds good. Unfortunately the Barents sea is as inhospitable as it has always been.
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Very interesting how different laws and regulations, combined with population outlook and culture all play a major part explaining a given country's housing market. That said, I think the Japanese cities look like crap.
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Sure does. And having harsh winters, so 'saving for harsh' times is engrained in the country's culture, also helps.
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@olfmombach260 - this is the minority (green) view of Norwegian politics. All the major parties (4 of them) supports continued extraction of oil and gas, and they will not stop. The hard-core environmentalists are a vocal, but small part of the population. The major parties just pays them lip service :)
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@Luredreier - oil is a minor part of Norwegian exports currently. Its all about gas now. And Norway is a much nicer supplier to deal with than Russia. As long as Germany thinks they can phase out fossil fuel, then I think Norway is there to help Germany pay for its mistake.
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Well, it would have been even higher, hadn't Norway had a massive immigration campaign going for the last 40 years. This has increased the 'Norwegian' population by 25-30%.
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Because Norway buys American weapons. Latest procurement is the F-35 fighter jets. You don't invade your customers.
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@markusklyver6277 - not unless they stop buying.
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Remember this when you pay your next electricity bill.
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Remember that Norway was extremely pro-US before it found oil. So it was seen as a friendly country, and had no need for 'democrazy'.
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@ursafan40 - yeah, this time it really bit them hard in the ass. And Norway went from having one of the highest taxes on new cars, to having one of the lowest.
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The true power of Democracy is to be able to remove bad people from the government. Otherwise it is a pretty inefficient way of governing. So, if Singapore is able to keep things going well without the government being corrupted, why not keep it up? I'm sure they know best themselves.
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