That can be interpreted differently ;)

Norge är sannerligen den sista sovjet staten.
Allt är så politiskt och byråkratiskt.

he he

Anyway, the scale thing is quite interesting and I don't think I agree on the meaning of ultra liberal. In my mind that is someone who thinks the most important thing is freedom. Freedom to create your own success with almost none interacting with the government. A socialist prefers a society with much interacting with the government to create a stable ground for all it's citizens. A government that restricts the market. A conservative prefers a system with a strong government but also a free market. A government that protects its citizens. In sweden anyway we have a different Party system than that in the US. I think I would translate it like this.
swe: socialist - socialdemocratic - liberal - conservative
us: superultraliberal - ultraliberal - liberal - conservative - ultraconservative

Anyway I understand the meaning of conservative has changed and conservative people often are more liberal than the liberals.

Anyway on your scale I think I would find myself on -2.

Also. The russian flag is red, white and blue and Norway most certainly has a "Joey" law.

 

We hear complaints on taxes every day. But can you blame us?

 

I thought that might be the case, Karoline. However, we do not hear complaints, as often as we should, about the litigious nature of our society and we seldom blame that for the increased medical care costs.

While we have sue-happy lawyers, you have high taxes that increase costs. Governing styles and the politics surrounding public issues are very interesting my opinion.

Erk it took me a little time to figure out what the "Joey" law was. I realized you meant the collaborative strategy to increase profits. This still happens here. For example, if have two benzene stations that (do you use the term petrol or benzene) are across from each other and one drops the price from 4 kroner per liter to 3.5 kroner (that is what we pay in Florida), often the other station will as well. If he raises it to 4.5 often the other will too. This is overlooked, but if all of gas stations get together to do this, that is illegal.

So you think you are a -2 huh? Haha

--Joey

 

I'm not sure where I stand on the tax issue.

I think the average income tax in Norway is about 30%, a bit lower than Sweden, with exceptions for those with income under 250 000 NOK a year, I think. Sure one could argue that the tax is too high, but on the other hand this has bought us the benefit of one of the world's best health care and educational systems, etc. Everything certainly isn't red and rosy, but Norwegians have very, very little reason to complain.

In Britain, the people are campaigning to get the Railways back into the hands of the federal government after a few years of open competition which has ended in disastrous schedules and fatal safety hazards. The people have also applauded the governments proposal for increased taxes to help health care.

All in all I guess most things could go both ways. Eh, if you know what I mean...?

 

"(do you use the term petrol or benzene)"
In swedish it's called bensin, but when speaking english we tend to use petrol.

"I think the average income tax in Norway is about 30%, a bit lower than Sweden, with exceptions for those with income under 250 000 NOK a year, I think."

In sweden it's also about 30% if your salary is lower than 50 000 SEK/month. Beyond that limit it's 50%.

 

How much money do teachers in Norway and Sweden make starting off?

A new teacher in Florida, which has no state income tax, (do you have county taxes or just national?) receive 30.000,00 NRK per year.

This can go up to about 55.000,00 if you have tenure and a higher education degree.

We do not have quality teachers because of the low pay. I would like to be a teacher but I can make 50.000 starting off as an engineer.

I assume the income in Norway, like it does in the US and apparently Sweden, increase with your salary. IE 30% if you make above 250k 40% if you make about 500k etc etc.

--Joey

 

"How much money do teachers in Norway and Sweden make starting off? "

I would say about 20.000 SEK. In elementary school...

"(do you have county taxes or just national?)"

If you earn under the 50.000 limit you only pay county taxes but if you earn over that you also pay national taxes. Anyway the county taxes are almost the same everywhere, from 28 to 32%.

"We do not have quality teachers because of the low pay. I would like to be a teacher but I can make 50.000 starting off as an engineer."

We have exactly the same problem.

 

Am I understanding this right?
Teachers only get 20-30-55k a year, talking NOK and SEK?
I knew they had poor wages, but seriously! I thought the average norwegian made about 20k a month.

 

Sorry, I made a mistake. A reasonably accurate conversion is to add a zero to the American dollar amount.

300.000,00NRK...and I thought I was doing so well with the comma and period inversing and all

Engineers start at 500.000,00 NRK

 

Ok. You really had me there for a while

That's more than a norwegian teacher gets. A newly educated elementary school teacher would get about 200-240k a year. The higher you get in the school system, the higher the wages get, though.

 

..and I forgot the SEK/month....

 

Now, I was getting quite scared there for a while...