Damn, Ólafur Grímsson, President of Iceland, is getting cocky. For good reason of course. Keeping the people that run your country and businesses educated and healthy = productivity and innovation.
Shocked I am. Positively aghast. :)
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9 comments
November 20, 2014 at 5:54 am
john zande
Let this message go forth!
Unfortunately, it reminds me of what Australia used to be.
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November 20, 2014 at 7:09 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
It’s just common sense — something sorely lacking here in America. Not only should we look at everything he mentioned, but also the fact that the Nordic countries rank among the top most peaceful countries on the planet.
Americia — WTFU
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November 20, 2014 at 9:54 am
PrivacyIsBetterThanTyranny
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ – maybe that’s because a significant slice of the most war-like (UK, America, France) have long had the descendants of Vikings (AKA ‘Normans’ and their influenced on English policy and culture) running the show? In other words, the less peaceful of the Nordic countries were ‘encouraged to leave’ and went on to found you know what… Does that make these countries peaceful or just highly-forward-thinking NIMBYs? Hehehe.
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November 20, 2014 at 10:20 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
LOL — It makes them one of the few countries who’ve actually learn from history and studies from the social sciences and neuroscience.
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ~Aldous Huxley
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November 20, 2014 at 5:58 pm
PrivacyIsBetterThanTyranny
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ – putting (Norway) one’s sovereign, one-time-only-deal OIL wealth into an investment fund for the NATION instead of giving it to private profit is pretty intelligent. It also avoids war in more than one way. Although NATO doesn’t help when Nordic countries are obliged by treaty to join-in with war-for-oil, even though they were intelligent, not selfishly-negligent in managing their needs.
What does that say about the other side of the North Sea, the UK? What does it say about the war-metaphor for the abusive exploitation of (some?!) capitalists and the non-metaphorical profit-motive of the UK’s capitalism-uber-alles modus operandi? Even when war nor oil are technically the issue, it is underneath it ALL in this country (I live in the UK and have watched – and attempted to educate against in my own little way – the nation become more capitalist-lackey and simultaneously more fascist in laws and culture. Thanks greatly for that, go to the REAL instigators of 9/11 who were NEVER convicted in any transparent, unbiased court of law.
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November 20, 2014 at 6:02 pm
PrivacyIsBetterThanTyranny
Not that all Nordic countries are that close to perfect, mind-you… I generalised a bit as I am new to the subject of economics, geopolitics and actual education-giving knowledge as opposed to what I was raised to know and produce for a fairly sick society…
Anyway, peace be upon you.
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November 21, 2014 at 8:08 am
sapeterson
I am a life long social democrat and was born and reared in Alberta. It is to cry at what has transpired there. The theft of all their wealth and the destruction of one of the most beautiful places on earth.
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November 21, 2014 at 11:21 am
The Arbourist
@sapeterson
Hiya! Welcome to the club. The four other blog authors and I mostly reside outside the acceptable political spectrum in Alberta as well.
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November 22, 2014 at 8:50 am
VR Kaine
I agree with much of the video in that freedom and education have to go hand in hand equally (one problem that has made the US fail) and as well, I believe that innovation and quality cannot thrive when people are hungry so I accredit much of European company’s success to their healthcare system as well. We pay what – $50-$100 in Canada whereas US companies pay double or triple that? The math is a no-brainer.
However, the video has some spin and is a bit misleading Talking about Socialism in business is really talking about the degree of government interference in business and yet even in the video, the Norwegian President is talking about a “free market” not just locally, but globally – a free market which on any other day most liberals would say they hate.
Even as a capitalist, however, I’m no fan of what Alberta’s done with both the environment or its wealth. You blame corporations, I blame peoples’ own deliberate ignorance, but regardless it is a tragedy to come home (born and raised here, too) and see what we’re doing to this place and ourselves.
To that point if I may also point out that for 1/2 of the year I live in a desert down south, yet I come back here I get asthma symptoms as well as mild psoriasis – sorry if that’s overshare and grosses people out but no one can tell me the air around here (Edmonton/Ft. Saskatchewan) is “healthy”.
But hey, on the upside coming up here I can clear $20k+ in a month so that asthma must all be in my head, right?!
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