[whirlwin]

For Norwegian situation, I can recommend the book "The country that got too rich" which in fact is very accurate. Socialism works to a point but if it continues to spiral into more aggressive socialism you will end up in a much worse place for everyone, this is where Norway is heading the moment unfortunately even though we are a social democracy on paper.

[karmakurtisaani]

That sounds vaguely terrifying!

Seriously tho, care to elaborate?

[throwaway0236]

The book has some valid points when it states that the government has too much money and does not need to make the hard prioritizations.

It has however been heavily criticized. It seems like he had a point to prove and found numbers that fit with his view, and not a neutral description. He also seems to ignore that the trends he points to, also exists in other countries.

That said, he does raise some valid concerns. The number of employees in the public sector grows, even under conservative governments. Part of the reason is that Norway can afford it at the moment. Another reason is that the number of rules and regulations increases, and the government needs more people to enforce them.

The latter is mostly a political issue, and something that also happens in countries that are not wealthy. The author's solution is to reduce taxes and cut public spending.

[whirlwin]

The socialists’ rallying cry has long been, “Finally, it’s ordinary people’s time.” But in reality, ordinary people have seen their wealth steadily decline, while the state has only grown fatter and richer. The slogan should be more honest: “It’s the state’s time now.”

Now the state has more employees and will continue growing to attain more power, and thereby more voters. Having worse public services than 10 years ago while the spending has increased drastically is a bad sign.

That being said, it'll have to get drastically worse before ordinary people realize where their money went, and then it might shift