If Every Norwegian's a Millionaire, Why's Alberta in Hock?

[Oscar]

If Every Norwegian's a Millionaire, Why's Alberta in Hock?

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/01/15/If ... ign=150114 ]

Norway cut a proper deal with oil corporations. Canadians got screwed.

By Mitchell Anderson, January 15, 2014 TheTyee.ca

Feeling poor? A recent news item [ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/ ... 0U20140108 ] showed that Norway's massive pot of petroleum of money, now totaling CA$909.364 billion, has made every citizen a millionaire in Norwegian kroner. That works out to about $178,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. By contrast, every Canadian lumbers under an individual debt of $17,000 as Ottawa is in hock to the tune of $600 billion.

Not only is Norway ahead of Canada by $1.4 trillion, it has fully funded social programs that Canadians can only dream of. Norwegians enjoy universal day care, free university tuition, per capita spending on health care 30 per cent higher than Canada and 25 days of paid vacation every year. By owning 70 per cent of their own oil production and taxing oil revenues at close to 80 per cent, Norway is now saving about $1 billion per week.

The so-called "Calgary School" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_School ] of economic thought would say this stunning socialist success story is impossible in the same way that scientists used to believe that bumblebees [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee#Flight ] cannot fly. Out in the real world, Canada is being trounced on the field of comparative fiscal management.

Last year, the Fort McMurray School District voted on a proposal to shorten the school week to four days. Why? Because the communities that include some of the largest petroleum reserves on the planet couldn't afford school bus drivers five days a week. The motion was voted down not because this situation is insanely stupid, but because trustees worried that tar sands workers couldn't access daycare during a shortened school week.

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LINKS: (on original URL above . . .)

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