UN Again Ranks Norway as Country with Highest Standard of Living

woohoo, have fun checking commas and toadying for geeky bankers and getting bossed around by frustrated junior analysts like TJ.

 

It seems that the Norwegian government retains more of the income from hydrocarbon production than the State of Texas because so much is offshore and in public hands.

Texas has more of a mix of land and offshore production with private citizens retaining a good bit of the royalty income.

Even then, there is a wide spread in Texas among private citizens in regards to income from hydrocarbon production. My parents average about $160 each month in royalty income while people a few miles away from them are averaging $5,000 - $6,000 a month.

 

Too true. My grandparents get several hundred dollars a month, or at least they used to... don't know exactly how much now, and their neighbor, with a higher percentage of mineral rights, has raked it in for years.

I guess I was thinking that Texas could have banked some of their income during the boom years, but they would have had to have higher taxes in order to do it. Looking back, perhaps that would have been wise, but it sure as heck would have been political suicide for a Texas politician.

 

Isn't the Texas university system endowed (PUF i think its called) primarily from oil and gas royalties earned by the state?

 

This is rated on Health care, life expectancy, standard of living, education etc.

The top countries all have nationalized healthcare. I'm not saying that means that everyone who opposes nationalized healthcare should change their minds, but I do think that we can remove the argument that the best doctor's won't have an incentive to practice in that type of system, since it is evident that the socialized medicine routine is working well for a number of other nations.

 

It has nothing to do with personal and economic liberty, that's the problem. In that case, the US is the clear victor.

 

I was over in Oslo on a business trip in December. It was cold beyond belief and everything was expensive. The chicks were hot though.

 

Number one criteria!

 

I'm already doing that now, and i've not even started my first year yet.

 

no kidding. i have some very discouraging antecdotes about that recently. very discouraging.

 

Spill it!

 

Everybody does, always!

 

judges who tell you to add in parties that have no relationship to a case simply so they can get diversity jurisdiction and move it out of their court...

judges who weeks before trial call you in to chambers to discuss the case...and though you've been before them twice on summary judgment motions, they have no clue of what the case is about...

juries who say, "eh...we got bored. we were tired of looking at all those documents, so we just didn't and decided to go home." this after your client spends in excess of $100K on representation prosecuting a claim...

and on and on...makes me look at the courts and say, "what good are you?" and thus, in my role, "what good am i, unless i'm helping my clients avoid the courtroom entirely?"

quarter-life crisis!

 

With all reports you have to look at context.

In any ranking that includes health care the US will not rank first -- simply because of accessability. However, note that the US ranks 8th (which is pretty good), just behind Iceland (?) but ahead of Germany, UK, Japan, France and most of the European nations.

And it's not all about Norway's oil revenues (though i had no idea they were THIRD in world exports!). The Aussies and Canadians snuck in there without that benefit.

So, if, like Bama, you value personal liberties and economic opportunity, you will prefer the US to Norway and Sweden. I would rather live in San Francisco then Reykjavik -- but that's just me. Even though i expect that if you charted a comparability index on affordability, crime, universal health care access, life expectancy and steriod use amongst sports figures, you could decisively conclude i would be so much better off in Iceland.

 

The countries ranked ahead of the US are extremely homogenous racially when compared to the US and they also do not share a common border with a third world country of about 100 million people. While those two factors provide opportunities for the US, they also provide challenges as well. Most of the countries mentioned have also had the luxury of having the American taxpayer pay for their defense needs for nearly 60 years.

 

If you think transactional lawyers don't screw people then you're fooling yourself.

 

I'm not blaming them, I just wish they would occasionally show a little gratitude. By devoting such a large portion of our defense budget toward defending Europe, they could more easily engage in cradle to grave socialism.

 

Sure. p*rn on every newstand at every corner or shop. Real high standard. Great for the kids.

 

I'm pretty sure that kids don't have a hard time seeing p*rn here either.