The relationship with the government and companies is different. I moved to Norway a few years back, and married a Norwegian man. He has trust in government th

The relationship with the government and companies is different. I moved to Norway a few years back, and married a Norwegian man. He has trust in government that me, as an American, simply doesn't have. But to be fair, nearly every time I've contacted government - even being searched at customs and going through immigration - has been a decently pleasant experience. Things just get done. It isn't perfect or anything, but it seems to work. Whereas in the states, it seemed like every effort was made to screw me over - from the government. Companies, on the other hand, didn't want the bad publicity, so tended to treat folks slightly better. Another aspect to this is things like health care and infrastructure and things like that. Part of the company relationship - jobs, anyway - is healthcare and decent pay. There isn't much of a safety net, so folks rely on companies' and churches' charities to keep them afloat. Americans see companies bring them the things for life where here, a lot of that stuff is simply provided by the government.