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> noticed about Norway when we were in Oslo A lot can be achieved when your country floats on oil. The Government Pension Fund Global, aka the Oil Fund, was wo
by keanzu 7y ago
> noticed about Norway when we were in Oslo
A lot can be achieved when your country floats on oil. The Government Pension Fund Global, aka the Oil Fund, was worth about $195,000 per Norwegian citizen in 2018.
If others had this kind of safety net they might behave in a similar manner.
Petrostates can afford a lot of leisure time for their citizens.
- socialdemocrat 7y agoThe stupidity of people these days. This was literally an article about Finland and paternal leave. A country which has no oil. Literally EVERY single Nordic country has this kind of system. Not just Norway. And Norway had this BEFORE we had any oil. Never mind the whole inconsistency in your rant. Why do you think the oil fund is so F...ing huge? Because we DON'T spend a lot of oil money. We save it.
- dang 7y agoPlease don't respond to a bad comment with a worse one. It helps nothing—it only makes the thread worse yet. The last thing we need here is nationalistic flamewar, and when it comes to flamewar, the second escalation is often the turning point and therefore the thing most to be avoided. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- socialdemocrat 7y agoSorry, but unless it was clear I was not attacking any country. I was trying to stand up for fellow Finland, not attacking it . But I should not have suggested there are stupid people. One should stick to arguing the case.
- Pfhreak 7y agoIs there evidence this isn't true for other states? I think we just prioritize differently.
- vertex-four 7y agoTime spent raising children is not leisure time.
- firepoet 7y agoWhat about when your country (like mine) is a technological superpower and allows the super rich to keep all of the wealth generated by our greatest minds locked up? We could do the same if we had the courage.
- rconti 7y agoThe US can afford it, too. We choose not to.
- _jal 7y ago> Petrostates can afford a lot of leisure time for their citizens So what's the United State's excuse? (A lot of US citizens are somehow unaware of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_produ...)
- rileymat2 7y agoI think for this sort of discussion you need to look at per capita production in the linked chart.
- relaxing 7y agoUS per capita production is 1/10th that of Norway. I would gladly take 1/10th the paid leave given in the article (164 days), which GP failed to notice was for oil-less Finland anyway.
- keanzu 7y agoProduction only tells half the story. To figure out how much surplus you have for social engineering you need: surplus = production - consumption The US was a net importer of oil up until September 2019. There's almost no surplus.
- robocat 7y agoThat’s equivalent of someone saying they can’t afford time off for kids because they already spend all their money... when it turns out they just don’t want to give up some luxuries: it’s just setting priorities. Here’s some economic comparisons: https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/finland/usa https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/finland/usa GDP per capita Finland 49,738$ US 65,462$ Average Wage Finland 52,890$ US 54,951$ Debt Per Capita Finland 29,624$ US 65,545$ Annual Vehicles / 1,000 p. Finland 23.68 US 53.85 CO2 Tons per capita Finland 8.80 US 16.14 Also Finland has a similar population to Oregon - although it would be more fun to compare it against say Texas for purposes of oil production and the point being made!
- 7y ago
- dang 7y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247305 and marked it off-topic.