Quote Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat View Post
Much as the spiralling debt is not the result of wanton spendthrift by any particular Western government, so too is Norway's fiscal health not the result of any particular Norwegian discipline. It is not at all difficult to balance the books when a country of five million receives this many oil dollars.
Norways social system is not lean and mean, it is a spendthrifty social paradise, what with such luxuries as fully equipped hospitals on remote, sparsely populated islands and what not.
Alright; take Japan then. They've got money in the bank as well.

And what's really to stop us from spending all our yearly oil revenue and cut taxes? It's not like there are no parties willing to do just that....

The oil made it easier to build our reserve, yes. But it still needed to be built. And what's stopping you frenchmen to put all the tax you get from oil comapnies into a special fund, eh?