The price of gas around the world.

http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2012 ... tml#slide1

The next time you complain about the price of gas, remember: It's all relative. Filling up the same 39-gallon tank of a Chevrolet Suburban in Venezuela costs $3.51. In Norway it's $394.68.

However, Norway has it right in a way.

Norwegians pay the most of any nationality to fill up their tanks. That's because instead of subsidizing fuel at the pump, the country uses its oil profits for services such as free college education and savings for infrastructure improvements.

Resource-rich Norwegians absorb the high prices with relative ease. The average daily income is $272. The share of a day's wages needed to buy a gallon of gas is 3.7 percent.

It still pisses me off that we subsidize the oil industry. After dumping shit all over our land and oceans, jacking prices all out of control, and making some of the largest profits ever, we still give them tax money? Fuck that shit.

Gas doesn't actually cost that much less in Venezuela. It's subsidized.

To be clear, the average Norwegian household pays roughly $70,000 per year in tax. Including the state’s oil income, government tax revenue exceeds $100,000 per household.

Yes, they get free healthcare, free education, and pretty fountains. But for $100,000 per year? The value they get for what they pay is pitiful.

Not to mention, taxes have really driven up the cost of living. It is no coincidence that Norway is simultaneously the most heavily taxed AND most expensive country in the world.

Because of this, Norwegians have limited after-tax discretionary spending cash. Sure they have ‘free’ healthcare, but when dinner for two costs an arm and a leg, people scale back their activities.

This is by design. In keeping people at the same level, Norwegian society has lowered the bar for everyone.

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/why-n ... axes-8235/

The guy seemingly knocks the Norwegians for not wanting to spend all their time holed up in an office or slaving away on the docks. God forbid they actually want to be out of the office by 5 PM.

Now, I've never been to Norway and I don't know the ins and outs of their system, but I think I've been over this before, where I've said that if earning six figures a year means I have to fly a desk under cancerous fluorescent light tubes and recycled air, you can count me out. I'd rather figure it out as I go along and have time to do what I want rather than what society wants. It's worked for me so far. I actually live a more active life than a lot of people earning ten times my yearly salary. What's the old saying, "Some people are so poor, all they have is money..."

Shaun, when the balloon goes up (I actually kind of sympathize with you in that regard, I think something is going to go down in the next decade), all those zeroes and ones in the bank aren't going to mean shit. But I think you know that.

However, the writer of that blog post makes a valid point, the only reason Norway can pull this off is because of their oil reserves, which aren't an infinite resource. Norway doesn't have anything else really other than pretty landscapes, and only weirdos like me will fly up there to see them. They need to regear their economy soon, otherwise they're screwed. I suggest they take up software development. They're educated, they can pick up the concepts easily enough. Work from home, crank out code, and then spend the rest of the day in the fjords. I should be prime minister.

The guy seemingly knocks the Norwegians for not wanting to spend all their time holed up in an office or slaving away on the docks. God forbid they actually want to be out of the office by 5 PM.

Now, I've never been to Norway and I don't know the ins and outs of their system, but I think I've been over this before, where I've said that if earning six figures a year means I have to fly a desk under cancerous fluorescent light tubes and recycled air, you can count me out. I'd rather figure it out as I go along and have time to do what I want rather than what society wants. It's worked for me so far. I actually live a more active life than a lot of people earning ten times my yearly salary. What's the old saying, "Some people are so poor, all they have is money..."

Shaun, when the balloon goes up (I actually kind of sympathize with you in that regard, I think something is going to go down in the next decade), all those zeroes and ones in the bank aren't going to mean shit. But I think you know that.

However, the writer of that blog post makes a valid point, the only reason Norway can pull this off is because of their oil reserves, which aren't an infinite resource. Norway doesn't have anything else really other than pretty landscapes, and only weirdos like me will fly up there to see them. They need to regear their economy soon, otherwise they're screwed. I suggest they take up software development. They're educated, they can pick up the concepts easily enough. Work from home, crank out code, and then spend the rest of the day in the fjords. I should be prime minister.

They have a very sizable fishing industry. Also, they export blondes.

The guy seemingly knocks the Norwegians for not wanting to spend all their time holed up in an office or slaving away on the docks. God forbid they actually want to be out of the office by 5 PM.

Now, I've never been to Norway and I don't know the ins and outs of their system, but I think I've been over this before, where I've said that if earning six figures a year means I have to fly a desk under cancerous fluorescent light tubes and recycled air, you can count me out.

I don't think he's knocking the people for not wanting to spend their time holed up in the office, he's knocking their economic system for not giving their people the incentive to make that choice for themselves. The funny thing is, desk jockeys make $100,000 over there, but they keep about $1,000 of it. Between stupidly high taxes and a stupidly high cost of living, they really don't have anything left over to enjoy themselves with. You can debate the merit of going out to dinner vs. staying at home for dinner with your family, but it's not like they have the choice. They eat at home because they have no money to go out. But hey, at least everyone has equal status.

One of the commentators also notes that they don't stop "working" at 5 PM, they often devote time to their families and in some cases building their own businesses.

I actually have a few friends from Norway who split their time between there and here, I'll ask him how it is and the ups and downs.

The guy seemingly knocks the Norwegians for not wanting to spend all their time holed up in an office or slaving away on the docks. God forbid they actually want to be out of the office by 5 PM.

Now, I've never been to Norway and I don't know the ins and outs of their system, but I think I've been over this before, where I've said that if earning six figures a year means I have to fly a desk under cancerous fluorescent light tubes and recycled air, you can count me out.

I don't think he's knocking the people for not wanting to spend their time holed up in the office, he's knocking their economic system for not giving their people the incentive to make that choice for themselves. The funny thing is, desk jockeys make $100,000 over there, but they keep about $1,000 of it. Between stupidly high taxes and a stupidly high cost of living, they really don't have anything left over to enjoy themselves with. You can debate the merit of going out to dinner vs. staying at home for dinner with your family, but it's not like they have the choice. They eat at home because they have no money to go out. But hey, at least everyone has equal status.

The stupid taxes you talk about also pay for their healthcare system and education system or do you think that is also a freebie?

The stupid taxes you talk about also pay for their healthcare system and education system or do you think that is also a freebie?

I know, I covered this already. They pay an average of $100,000 a year in taxes to have that system. They're getting severely ripped off.