"Jim" wrote in message
...

"hk" wrote in message
. ..

I have a lot of friends in Norway. One of my closest is an old oil rig
worker who was injured on the job. Seriously injured. Not only did he not
pay a dime to get rehabbed, when it was determined he could no longer
work the rigs, the government of Norway supported he and his family while
he was attending college to obtain a teaching degree.

Tell your Norwegian buddy that he should be ashamed of himself for
"sucking on the government teat".


Harry is quite correct in the respect that Norway, with a population of only
4.5 million, currently enjoys a very high standard of living with social
welfare programs available as a safety net for all. But, he ignores the
fact that much of this is financed with oil revenues, of which Norway has a
vast inventory of stock. It wasn't always this way in Norway.

By comparison, the population of New York City (proper) is over 8 million.
New York state is over 18 million. The total USA population is over 300
million.

The question remains: When the world demand for oil drops dramatically,
which is predicted, where will the money come from to continue paying for
these programs? Norway has evolved a whole population dependent on the
"system" for their welfare. When the system collapses, what then?

I think it is erroneous to try to compare Norway's approach to social
welfare and that possible in the USA.
Two, completely different situations.

Eisboch