I mean, they got that socialist medicine thingy going. They got those high taxes and stuff. They probably live in grey dreary cities, eating mush for supper, in impoverished dreary nations where everybody is poor and stuff, right?
Errr... not so much. Turns out that one in 85 Norwegians is a millionaire, as vs. 1 in 125 Americans. *AND* they get free health care. *AND* they get free university tuition. *AND* they have the world's best infant mortality figures. *AND* they have the world's longest lifespan. And their cities are beautiful. And income inequality is relatively low -- with living wage laws and high taxes, the middle class actually control more of the national income than the upper class, and unlike here in the United States, the middle class is seeing their standard of living improve, not decline. Wow, imagine that, what a remarkable thing that must be!
Crap, if that's what socialized medicine and high taxes do for a people, gimme some of dat!
-- Badtux the neo-Scandinavian Penguin
This country is about greed, and I'll bet their political system is different than ours.
ReplyDeletemy personal exposure to socialized medicine happened in norway. we were on a boat trip out of stavanger up the coast and into a fjord to play at a small festival (i was doing stomp jazz with harry "the hipster" gibson). i came down with a brutal case of pnuemonia. dangerously high fever, lungs almost at the shutdown stage. i was taken to the local clinic, given excellent first aid (O2 tent and stuff) and then flown by helicopter down to oslo. where i was placed on a course of IV antibiotics and kept in hospital for 3 days. i was discharged with a 2 week supply of medications. the charge? nothing. not even for the flight. we were traveling with piano, bass, drums, and guitar, hiring locals to flesh out the rest of the band. all over scandinavia our horns and other players were often folks that held PhD's in music (courtesy of that free tuition you pointed out). one of the coolest was when our brass section (three trumpets, 2 trombones and a bass bone) was two sets of siblings. they were family tight, sight read like demons, and swung out loud.
ReplyDeleteBut...but...but Michael Moore is fat! And if you want national healthcare, then I bet you want to send people to the Gulag!
ReplyDelete*wingnut mode off*