Post

correction on this post, Norway didn’t spend any GPFG money for the first 20 years of its existence, but they did tap it in 2016 for the first time, and repeatedly since then due to the pandemic and rearmament post-2022 www.ipe.com/norway-takes...

ryan cooper

@ryanlcooper.com

6 July

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

ryan cooper

@ryanlcooper.com

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

6/7/26, 1:47 pm26 reposts159 likes

Mity Cheese

@mitycheese.bsky.social

6 July

Also, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland all have similar benefits and none of them have oil.

C.V. Danes

@cv-danes.com

6 July

My usual tongue-in-cheek response is we don't have these things because the US is not a country, it's a plantation. But really, the reason is because the US is not a country, it's a plantation.

Dan Jago

@dj1au.bsky.social

6 July

Other countries pay for it with tax but it seems America would rather pay less tax than fund welfare.

Ben Wright

@benwrightatl.bsky.social

6 July

I was at the lake this weekend with extended family and someone mentioned that they knew a father who works for a church is getting 12 weeks of for paternity leave. Folks- most of the world offers mandatory paid parental leave that makes 12 weeks look like a coffee break. We just don't want to.

expat catdad

@jmneel.eurosky.social

6 July

Especially since in all likelihood we would SAVE MONEY in terms of health expenditures compared to the current situation.