Even as the Scandinavian establishment peddles this dubious line, it serves up a picture of the United States as a nation divided, inequitably, among robber barons and wage slaves, not to mention armies of the homeless and unemployed. It does this to keep people believing that their social welfare system, financed by lofty income taxes, provides far more in the way of economic protections and amenities than the American system. Protections, yes -but some Norwegians might question the part about amenities.
In Oslo, library collections are woefully outdated, and public swimming pools are in desperate need of maintenance. News reports describe serious shortages of police officers and school supplies. When my mother-in-law went to an emergency room recently, the hospital was out of cough medicine. Drug addicts crowd downtown Oslo streets, as The Los Angeles Times recently reported, but applicants for methadone programs are put on a months-long waiting list.
I don't know where to begin. I could take you to libraries in LA where you would think you are in a third world country. They are lucky if they can keep the books on the shelves. People from many parts of the northern US pack their lunch. Is it a coincidence that one of the largest ethnic groups in that part of the country are the Scandinavians including Norwegians. Scandinavians esp. Norwegians are noted for being very frugal. ER's tend to run out of the most basic of stuff whether you are in the US or Norway.
As for cars, they are a major status symbol in the US, particularly the southern US. They are not that important in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia.
The guy is a social and cultural writer......he should know better than to give in to such unbridled nationalism. The major difference between Norway, Sweden etc and the US is you don't see the stark differences between the classes in those countries that you see here in the US. The Scandinavian countries appear to be mostly middle class. That's what gives people the impression they are better off. Their wealth is more evenly distributed among the population relative to the US. However, according to GDP data that you have posted, the US is actually the one with the better per capita income.
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