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the basic point stands that it is categorically not true that Norway only has a welfare state because of oil rents, it had that before 2016 and indeed before oil was even discovered in the 1960s. all the other Nordics are similarly generous without oil as well

How much of an impact did creditors knowing they were extremely solvent have on them though? I imagine Norway can borrow money more cheaply than most countries since they're guaranteed to be good for it

The US is also considered an extremely reliable debt payer, or at least it was before Trump, and really, it still is. Right now, Norway's central bank interest rate is slightly higher than that of the US; the difference is that the US has much higher levels of public debt and deficits than Norway.

and on the “can we afford it” question America is better situated than any country to fund a world class welfare state, we are rich and control the global reserve currency, we could chase down tax cheats better than any nation, we just don’t because of our shitty constitution and corruption

This all started with a post about why Norwegians can afford to vacation so much in the US and while the welfare state helps with that the main reason is that their currency is super strong thanks to their oil wealth so everything outside Norway is cheap to them.

That is incorrect. The Norwegian krone is actually much weaker than the dollar and the euro. Norway's way of handling its oil revenues prevents its currency from becoming overly appreciated. Interestingly, the Swedish krona is also weak. Here is an explanation: corporate.nordea.com/article/1019...

The Norway posting by libs here is driving me nuts. What's the point here? That socializing revenues from natural resources is bad, actually?

Not just libs! Vanguard leftists also generally dislike mushy social democracy stuff and will level similar kinds of criticisms. Any successful social model stands as an existential threat to all its ideological competitors.

I suppose, but I have only seen posts characterizing Norway as a "petrostate" coming from abundo-lib types. I think vanguard leftists would agree with the policy of "nationalize natural resources", no?

From the outside, it really feels like a lot of USians who are on the face of it opposed to the pretty awful things about the US, also really aggressively excuse said things as soon as anyone else (even here by only faintly allusion) criticises them.

I feel like the Norway discourse is a kind of reprise of the "100 corporations" discourse. Norway is pumping oil out of the North Sea, but who is buying it? Increasingly not the Norwegians! Is any country doing more to cut carbon emissions? Should they cede their oil wealth to Aramco instead?

Yeah, criticizing Norway—or any other country—for selling oil on the international market is pretty silly. Countries and corporations only sell oil because there is a demand for it, and there is a demand for oil because people use it for extremely useful activities, such as electricity and travel.