Comments by "Luredreier" (@Luredreier) on "What's it like living in Norway 🇳🇴?" video.

Dr. Drip Try to actually come here and see what it is instead of claiming that we're just all just one ethnic group. Because trust me, we're not. Urban Norway these days can compete with the US in diversity even if rural Norway can't compete with rural USA in that regard. We offer free education also to non-citizens, meaning that there's a lot of people that come here to study from all over the world. including the US (yes Americans can study here for free if they're able to learn the language and prove their competency, or if they're lucky to get into one of the few English language subjects, that does have included mandatory Norwegian classes). As a result we get a lot of young intellectuals from all over the world here. As for the idea that people aren't honorable, honestly that's caused by US policies, not the cultural diversity. There was still black Americans held as slaves in America during WW2, with the race relation implications that entails. And American society is still designed to quit frankly be unfair. The laws and the societal designs might technically be "equal" but the outcomes are most definitely unequal. With access to housing, jobs, transport, food, education, justice and healthcare all being limited for those that's "less fortunate", in other words, usually ethnic minorities, although some white people do get caught up in that too. The whole system is designed to give the US upper classes (white rich and upper middle class Americans) a unfair advantage at every turn.
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@peterwysoczanski9391 Socialism isn't stupid, about 2/3rd of our cabinets since the war has been lead by the labour party here in Norway. And they've done a good job. The USSR being corrupt and nonfunctional doesn't reflect bad on socialism, it reflects bad on Stalinism etc. Poland and the rest of eastern Europe just hasn't experienced what socialism actually can do because of the mess left by the communists...
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@DruidHark If you can learn the language and save up for living expenses you can actually study in Trondheim for free, if you're able to get enrolled. There's stiff competition for the spots. But they're available for non-citizens for free.
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@Stinoco No international say isn't true. Sure, we have little hard power. But quite frankly our soft power is close to that of the US. Despite having a population 66 x bigger then Norway the US only gives 7 x more developmental aid then Norway as a example. We also contribute 1/5th of all the natural gas used by the EU. And we're buying more electric cars then the UK or France does, making us a important market for those industries. Our government also own about 1,3% of all the worlds stocks. More then China, a country with a population about 290 x bigger than Norway. We have the power and influence of a nation far bigger then our own. Indeed some of the changes in policies by social media giants in the US regarding banning fake news and hate speech etc happened in part because of Norwegian ownership. In order words, yes, we have a big impact in the US too. And if needed we absolutely can set the agenda anywhere in the world. Sure, we can't force our will through, at least not alone. But no one can outright ignore us, and by working together with partners in other countries...
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@bredemathisen92 I live in Norway and love our healthcare system, but it's just unrealistic for the US. The general principle of healthcare being a right should be possible. But I think a variation of the German, Dutch or perhaps Singaporean system might be better suited for the US. You need a broad consensus when you want to make major changes. And the fewer new principles that you need people to agree on the more likely it is to happen. Individual states might try out paying for health care. But at a federal level just proper regulation is more important. Make it a law that healthcare has to be provided regardless. Regulate the prices (at least the maximum ones, let individual states set lower prices if viable locally or permit them to set higher ones if they pay for that difference themselves, if for instance wages are higher in a particular state increasing the costs for a hospital) Transfer the responsibility of the bureaucracy to the states instead of the hospitals and insurance companies (as that's a huge money sink in the current system and should be simplified.) And make healthcare a right, that the states are required to provide in some way. Set a debt ceiling that can be incurred for health care, when uninsured. That kind of things. You could perhaps have a tiered system. Basic services covered by the federal government, but shared rooms etc pretty much guaranteed, a no frills experience, wait times etc. A middle of the road service offered by the states. Then a top tier private service.
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@jonas7483 Actually, the US already pays about 2 x what Norway does pr capita for health care if you add public and private spending together. Your average American would easily get both better and cheaper healthcare by making it public and universal. But there's just no political will for that. A German model is more realistic.
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@tcskips Honestly, our taxes aren't that much higher. If you include the costs of things like health insurance it's about the same in the US as nordic countries like Denmark. And if you factor in that a American family might take a loan to cover copay etc and then pay rent on that down the road you might actually end up with higher costs then in Norway. Also, while the US has a higher mean income then Norway, we actually have a higher median income. And like I mentioned, we end up keeping more of it too, then the average US family.
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@sebgro If you're talking about health care queues that's a cost saving measure that's intentional in countries where the government pays the bills (and honestly also in a number of countries with private insurance too), it ensures that doctors always are doing something instead of having doctors waiting with nothing to do you have a bit fewer doctors then needed then you get more when the queue gets too high, possibly assigned from other areas with short or no queues. Still, nothing important will have a queue. Indeed for things like emergency services Norway has way shorter wait times then the US does despite actually being pretty bad in this regard. Many countries with universal health care have way better wait times for urgent care then both Norway and the US. Also, there's of course regional differences in this regard, with my region of Trøndelag having wait times competitive with the rest of Europe, and far better then the US for urgent care, while certain other regions (including the capital) are approaching US levels of wait times...) It's only for care that's not urgent where the US is actually competitive...
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@ld7990 The US is better for large parts of the intelligentsia because of better carer prospects. And that's part of why my sister moved there. And like you mentioned the already wealthy is doing better there too. It's actually easier to become wealthy in Norway though if you start out poor. But yeah, for the rest of us it's b
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@Muslimcel You're not alone in paying them money. If I'm not much mistaken it'll be a short term expense for the US while we Europeans are going to pay for this with our tax money for many years to come, because we just tend to have a more long term view of the world then Americans do...
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Dr. Drip Americans seem to think that there's a bigger difference between a Norwegian and someone from say Iran or India then there are between two white Europeans. That really isn't the case. You greatly underestimate the diversity in cultures, languages, ethnicities and even religion here. An American has more in common with a Mexican then two white Europeans do with each other. People in India speak local languages closer related to English then what Finnish, Sami or Basque is to Norwegian, as a example. There's three countries within the borders of Europe with more than 90% Muslims, 4 (including the previously mentioned with over 70%, 6 with over 50%. If you go down to just 10% or more Muslims you get up to 25, Norway included. And that's just one of the minority religions here. I mean, just look at all the religious wars we've had in Europe. Americans might think that the Crusades, Reconquista and the Troubles are the only religious conflicts involving Europeans. But pretty much every European country has had multiple religious wars through our history. And some of those wars where recent. Only a few of them where against Muslims. But even just ignoring all of that. You'll find a more international community in the big Norwegian cities then in most of the US. About 1/8th of the population of the city I lived in last year was students. And a significant percentage of those where African or Asian, simply because our universities are free of charge as long as you can pay for your living expenses and qualify for the study in question (they might require you to pass Norwegian language tests for some of them)
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@Pining_for_the_fjords Yeah, I totally get that. Considered trying Denmark or Southern Sweden? Alternatively while Germany and the Netherlands have a different approach to health care there's still a lot of similarities culturally with a better work life balance then in the anglophone world, so that might also be worth exploring. Indeed Germany is also a lot closer to Poland so that might also be a appeal. And while I'm not thrilled by their mixed member proportional system it's still way, way better than the first past the post system used in most of the anglophone world, keeping German parliamentarism far healthier then UK parliamentarism. Alternatively the Netherlands is even more proportional then Norway. Both Germany and the Netherlands are within the EU so buying Polish products should be easier. So yeah, look into it, please. :-)
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@mana20 Norwegian downsides compared to the US? Well, the weather to start with. Our immigration system can be a bit rough. To get jobs here you often have to have qualifications that's approved here, sometimes that just requires you applying to have said education approved, sometimes it's partially approved and you'll have to retake parts of your education, for instance in the case of medicine you need to know all the Norwegian terminologies, likewise with anything else involving a risk of people dying. Sometimes education from superior foreign universities is turned down in favour of local education for that reason, leading to situations like surgeons working on washing schools and stores here, in some cases still earning more then they would at home (although probably not in the case of the US) That's part of why studying here is probably the best way to get a foot in the door. The culture can be difficult with social rules that makes it difficult to integrate. We really need to reform those areas... Norway isn't perfect. But if you can overcome the challenges it's most likely going to be worth it.
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@Mippy_Pancakes ™ Americans don't know what Communism is anymore and use the word in ways it never was intended for. Here in Europe we do have communists. Here in Norway 8 of the 169 seats of our parliament is held by the communists. (Well, technically by a alliance of the communists and a few other far left parties that merged in order to become viable in the elections). Most of what Bernie is arguing for is actually the policies of our labour party here in Norway, our biggest party with 48 out of 169 seats (there's 10 parties in our parliament this term) But honestly, some of what Bernie wants is even conservative policy here, although he's definitely left of our conservatives, unlike the democratic party in the US. The Democrats in the us is a so called "big tent party". It's left wing is is roughly on par with the right wing within the labour party of Norway, and definitely left of center even by Norwegian standards, while its right wing is firmly within our conservative party in some cases, and in our christian peoples party in others. Their bulk seems to be slightly right of our center though, perhaps around where our liberal party is. As for the US Republican party... They feel like our "Progress party", mixed with the christian peoples party and our liberal party, with a little bit of the far right of our conservative party mixed in. There's also a hint of politics even further right then anything we got in our parliament, perhaps like our democrats (far right political party in Norway, right wing even by US standards). It feels like the bulk of the US Republican party is somewhere in the Progress party, although probably in the more reasonable part of the party, with people like trump representing the out there far right nut jobs of our progress party, with a touch of that far right out of our scale that I mentioned.
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@peterwysoczanski9391 Our economy is mixed with both capitalistic and socialistic traits. However the labour party is socialist and have been for a long time, look up their history. Yet despite leading 2/3rd of all cabinets in Norway after the war we've turned out better then countries with mainly right wing goverments. It's possible that the socialist movement in Poland has been tarnished by your legacy under Soviet rule. But that doesn't make the fundamental philosophy wrong. The difference with Norway is that everyone works together to make the country better. With the left and right finding solutions together being pragmatic.
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@Neverenough2 Then why does Sweden, Denmark and the UK essentially have the same health care system, all performing fairly well.
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@bluedog562 Yet Sweden, Denmark and Finland is doing just fine with the same model but without the oil, and Norway only use the the dividends (the interest if you want) on our oil money in our budgets.
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 @ld7990 Even so the difference isn't nearly as big as that difference in population would suggest.
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 @unoriginalclips9923 What do you mean?
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Dr. Drip What's a mouthful if I may ask? Also I'm sorry about any spelling errors etc. I'm not used to typing on my phone. But since I still don't have a internet subscription in my new home (just moved), and I still don't have my computer up and running, so I'm left with my phone. Also, I'm not a native English speaker I'm afraid, so that might also lead to some issues.
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@DCLayclerk No, it's not. And hospitals are not the ones paying out money in the case of malpractice most of the time. Instead if you suffer due to something happening, for instance a mistake during a surgery you'll apply to the state for damages. The penalty for hospitals isn't so much money as just inquiries. By the health authorities to start with, and if the case is severe then the police. Do a bad job and you probably won't have one long term. But at the same time they're being evaluated by peers and like when a plane crashes the goal is to come to the bottom of the problem and learn from it rather than actual punishing people. Remember that if someone gets hurt in a surgery or gets bad healthcare for whatever reason there's a welfare state to fall back on, so you don't need to be awarded huge damages to live comfortably afterwards. At least if the issue isn't too severe. Another source of coats is just red tape with regards to the insurances. Everyone here just have one single one, and everyone is assumed covered, so that simplifies things a lot. So hospitals needs less staff to deal with paperwork, lawyers, etc, etc.
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@HowlingWo1f It depends on the cancer type. Some types are treated better in other countries.
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@TheMoonManBGk It depends on what metric you're looking at. In overall outcome we are good. But in terms of outcome pr dollar... There's other countries doing better there.
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@jw2862 Well, there this little thing called love. You might have heard about it? Anyway, while the US as a country has some serious problems there's still a lot of people living in the US that are amazing.
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@bloxyman22 The average family pays the electricity bill just fine. It's just that they can't afford luxuries while doing so anymore.
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@firstpitch05 Well, in Norway the money spent on healthcare is a part of the regular tax system, and that's progressive. Meaning that if your income is low you pay less for health care and everything else them someone that's rich. Our taxes for the middle class is higher then in the US. But when you deduct health care costs etc from what Americans earn and the median salary etc you actually end up with the Norwegian middle class taking home more money in the end. Now our high income earners takes home less then in the states.
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@mrtopcat2 Yet unlike Saudi Arabia Norway doesn't use the oil income to found the budget directly. Norway uses the dividends of the sovereign wealth fund only. Keeping taxes etc high. The US has had surplus wealth in the past and could have done the same thing instead of going into debt. Also, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland essentially have the same models and make them work just fine without any oil income. So comparing us with Saudi Arabia isn't really that relevant.
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@firstpitch05 Not really. People in the US that either choose not to pay for a insurance or that have poor coverage often ends up avoiding seeking out health care early on when it would be cheaper to treat the issues involved leading to higher costs both in health care and in terms of work performance then if it was fully covered by the state.
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@tiestokygoericprydz3963 Norway is best with certain caviats applied. We certainly outperform what's expected for our population size, number of athletes, etc in winter sports. But we're still beaten in total number of medals there.
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@joe5923 It's about market size. American media automatically has a bigger shot at getting traction in the rest of the world, so for a musician it's easier to get traction in the US then in small countries like Norway. At the same time Europe has a bigger market for many other products, in part because products that's legal in the EU generally is legal everywhere else too.
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@tgrimes175 The majority of said Norwegian debt is in house loans, not consumer loans like in the US. And our taxes are progressive, if you have a low income you'll easily pay less here then in the US. Our median income is higher then the US median income and you end up with more money taken home from said median compared to the US after services like health care insurance is factored in. Quite a bit more actually. Our cost of living does compensate a bit, but our quality of life still ends up being better. And young people seems to do plenty of work, both my nieces and my nephew here in Norway are hard working and have been for years. The issue seems to be more a shortage of unskilled jobs. There's plenty of skilled ones though and our education system is constantly pumping people into the skilled labour market.
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@sebgro Norwegian health care is better in outcome then most other systems out there, although not best, and being outperformed by på a couple of nations using less money then us. Comparing us with the Soviet Union just isn't fair. Saying that there's room for improvement is definitely true however.
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@timx9661 The situation is... Complicated... Especially when it comes to natural gas. If Norway doesn't export our natural gas to for instance Germany they'll have to buy it from Russia or spin up their coal power plants... Those options are worse, both environmentaly and geopolitically. It's certainly not ideal though. But Norway is doing its best to make up for those sins... For what it's worth. And our production is going down. The question is just at what speed. My preferred political party wants that to happen sooner rather than later. But either way the situation is complex.
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@DCLayclerk You don't need Norwegian proficiency to immigrate, but not knowing the language complicates matters. Yes, they're required to provide documents in languages other than Norwegian. They're not necessarily available in every language though. You can get by with English proficiency. But I recommend taking Norwegian classes.
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@HowlingWo1f You're making the assumption that we can't pick the doctor and treatment we like, something that's clearly false. Indeed we have more choice in the matter as there's no in network or out of network issues here. Picking a different doctor or treatment isn't going to bankrupt me.
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@HowlingWo1f Also, we can go abroad for treatment and still apply to be covered, or in the case of Europe be covered even without applying.
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@nunyadambusiness3530 Wages does impact prices. But I agree with you that American companies could easily absorb a wage increase without that necessarily impacting prices if competition is high enough.
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