Norway: Stinking Rich and other items from my wee country

[misscam]

Ever wondered how rich Norway is?

The Saudi Arabia of the north is struggling to work out what to do with the $1billion it earns each week. Should new reserves be left untapped or its citizens made even richer?

It's an interesting article on Norway's oil wealth. Worth a read, if you're curious. Got a nice bit on our welfarestate and of course, moaning about our prices.

With oil at more than $70 a barrel, Norway is earning $1 billion a week. At this rate the government’s pension fund, the world’s second-biggest investment pool, will be worth $410 billion by the end of the decade.

And we're four and half million people. That makes for a lot of money per person. I was going to do the maths, but it is hot and there were a lot of zeros.

If this is tricky to manage, Stoltenberg has an even bigger question: how much richer should he let his country become? Recent new oil and gas discoveries in the Arctic, suggesting Norway has only just started to tap its hidden wealth, have provoked an unusually fierce debate among Norwegians. The environmentalists don’t want the oil touched. The right-wing opposition wants it pumped. (...) Geologists say Norway has dipped into only a third of its potential liquid gold and a tenth of its gas deposits.

I must admit, I didn't know our oil reserves were speculated to be that much. What the hell are we going to do with all that money? We're quite wealthy without oil, with it we're so rich we can't actually use it all, as it would cause inflation. Cripes. And to think, a hundred years ago, we were pretty much the poorest country of Europe. How times do change.

Probably wise to keep in mind for the future, that.

Meanwhile, rare whale gets spotted at Svalbard

Monster jellyfish is about

Ack!

Also, hello new people on my flist. Say hey, why don't you?

Comments

[vixenmage.livejournal.com]

*waves* Hey!

...oh, wait. You said new. Ah well.

And EWEWEW. I -never- want to see anything that slimy and that big at the same time, especially if it has really big stingers too.

And... that's pretty nice. *boggles* Maybe it's not suuch a bad thing we don't have a new energy source yet. >.>

[misscam.livejournal.com]

At least it ain't leathal, unlike the Australian box jellyfish.

[me2you.livejournal.com]

I think you should give it to me. I'm needy.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I was waiting for a reply like that. :P

[me2you.livejournal.com]

I never disappoint :P

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Question: if Norway took advantage of the current oil prices, could it make enough money to buy the next US election and a significant chunk of the administration's policies?

misscam for US President - who's with me?!

[puredeadthingy.livejournal.com]

If they let non-US citizens in, Stephen Fry and Neil Gaiman would have to rule with her.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I'm strangely comfortable with it.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

count me in!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

if Norway took advantage of the current oil prices, could it make enough money to buy the next US election and a significant chunk of the administration's policies?

... Yes? But would the US want to become a social democracy?

[siraj.livejournal.com]

At this point Cam, anything is preferable to Bush. And who knows? it might actually work.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Sure, might work. But people will whine and whine and whine. For one thing, I'd tax you all to kingdom come to get a proper welfare state going, and the things I'd do to your military would make any gunlovers just whimper.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

They could whine all they want. They already do, after all, if things don't go just as their own moral standards (or lack thereof) dictate.

Taxes? Fine by me, personally, if it'd get our economy back in decent shape. Will you really stick it to the rich, make them spread their wealth around a bit? *hopeful look*

Military... heh... that's okay. Maybe we could get away from paying 60 thousand for tank armor that gets shredded by the first mortar that strikes it, and have our soldiers packing less than three guns because the two decent ones have a tendency to either jam horribly, or break.


In short, I'm still all for it! ^_^

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'd do it Norway style - the richer you are, the more tax you pay. Not the other way around.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

... ... Please, for the love of all that is black and unholy, run our country! Or at least beat Bush with a lutefisk. Even if it doesn't change his mind, it'd be worth it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tallian_/]

The largest specimen spotted was approximately a meter (39.3 inches) in diameter.

Holy crap. Good thing I've never seen such a thing; I'd have a phobia. Eeek.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Stick it in a huge aquarium, backlight it, and freak visitors out.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I've seen one that was at very least half a metre in diameter. Pretty freaky.

[pirated-sanity.livejournal.com]

Hello. :D

Damn, times do change, don't they? I'm American (le sigh), and just little things change so much. I got an iPod two years ago, and already it's considered old school, just because it's one of the originals.

Sheesh.

But what do you think Norway should do with the money? I can think of about a million things the U.S. could be doing right about now, but...well, sometimes a democracy can suck. Like, say, when you can't get everyone to agree. XD

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Well... I think we could take a little more of it and invest in infrastructure for the future, really. If need be, buy stuff from abroad to keep inflation low. And we could give more in foreign aid even if we are a top donor already.

Aside from that, I don't see what much we can do but save it. We can't use it all if we wanted. As long as we invest it in companies that aren't questionable ethics-wise, I think it's good.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Norway... so rich (and miss Norway was cute in the Miss Universe contest last night. Damn I love your country)... I'm rather jealous.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh, totally understandable.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

*blush* just reinforces my desire to see the pretty, pretty fjords someday. I'm thinking a nice three-week vacation... perhaps in the dead of winter, to really take advantage of the snow...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Well, if you can handle the cold, winter can be pretty spectacular here. Fjords are better seen in summer, though. Depends what you wanna see the most, I guess.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Depends on how cold... I can handle about -25 C cold, if I've had time to acclimate to it (otherwise I'll just bundle up). Hmm... decisions, decisions...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Well, it doesn't really get below that here south. Only once in a freak winter.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Then I'll be perfectly fine. Over here in Oregon, in the west coast of the USA, average winter temperature is about -5 C, at worst.

[fangirl101.livejournal.com]

Hey.


Oh wait, you want more then that, don't you? Today it was so hot (in America, Oregon to be exact) that I just lounged in my friend's pool. Which was nice, as all I did was rave about Stargate, David Hewlett and how he should be the next doctor. We (my friend and I) then decided that the 9th doctor should have worn one of those Mr. Fantastic t-shirts, and maybe Rose should have given it to him.

You?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Hello.

It was hot, and I was at work. Then I went home and had dinner, checked up on e-mail, chatted to people, had a shower and promptly fell asleep. Not actually my most productive day ever, no.

*isn't ready to let the Tenth Doctor go yet*

[fangirl101.livejournal.com]

*me neither*
He is rather dashing, isn't he?

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Fellow Oregonian! Awesome! Where are you?

[fangirl101.livejournal.com]

In my basement, to be exact. Portland, on a much larger scale. What about you?

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're three hours south of me. I'm in Sutherlin, about 15 minutes from Roseburg.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

er, I meant north.

[fangirl101.livejournal.com]

That's ok. I really have no sense of direction and would've thought you right either way.

[siraj.livejournal.com]

hehe... I get mixed up at least once a day.

[fantasyprone.livejournal.com]

Er...Hey. I'm not exactly new, a few weeks old or so... (I'm not actually sure if I've posted this before, that's a worry.)
I am not fond of huge jellyfish. I was on a trip to the beach once, years ago, and I was scared to go near the water because the sand was just coated in dead jellyfish. *shudders*

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Not sure myself - I have a horrid memory and my flist is sizable. But we can pretend this is first comment, so.... Hello!

Not too fond of jellyfish myself after living in Australia where they are lethal. Ugh.

[lowc.livejournal.com]

Hello. I've been lurking for the wonderful Who-fic, but was so amused by your passionate defense of the Norwegian fjords (among other things) that I simply had to friend you. I hope you don't mind.

Though I'm not too jealous of Norway after this post. I thought American gas prices were bad. And giant jellyfish? No thanks!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh. No, I don't mind at all. I get friended by various people all the time, and I run this LJ fairly open, so it's quite all right.

On the gas price - have to remember we make a lot more, though. I suppose I can't defend the jellyfish - don't like them myself. They were worse in Australia, though. There, they kill.