I have family in Norway, and lived there until they forced me out, as they do not allow dual nationality. They should allow it now, but don’t unless you have mates in the right place or have a skill they need.
I have great reservations about the direction Norway is going, the tolls are very expensive and they come in the post months after you have driven, and they are done by each municipal area. You therefore can’t tell what you are being charged unless you keep a full diary of borders of each and every town/area and when you went through it.
Retail prices are about 3 to 4 times those in the UK, so I can’t possibly live there on my pension. My family say that they will pay everything for me on visits, but it is so embarrasing that I now never visit.
The awkward thing about the Scandinavian countries is that the Tax Offices are a truly massive part of GDP, so with federal licence they take cash directly from your bank account, and demand just about anything they feel like. In Denmark they want you to actually keep a diary of your movements in your UK vehicle, but keeping it at home and emailing or presenting it to the authorities when asked, is not good enough. They have the cheek to unofficially demand the ledger from you when they stop you at random, simply denying that they did so if you report them.
Tax is a bloody nightmare wherever you live in the world, but some provision for dealing with dead bodies in the streets, major municipal repairs, and keeping streets safe etc. is essential.
It is genuinely interesting to see President Trump’s assault on the conventions currently held, but, (it has not gone un noticed here in the UK that the world order that pushed China into its current position was created and engineered by the US).
I am very apolitical, but my stance was one of horror when Nixon withdrew the Gold Standard, as it should have been modified to maintain stability. The predicted overprinting of cash which John Galbraith warned of was never tackled, it became out of hand this century; so here we are !
So my view of current events is a nervous one of ‘watch and see from the cheap seats’.
It is all about the business model a country decides to use, and roads, pensions, healthcare, etc. can all be free at point of use, OR charged by the minute or foot. I never had much cash (despite being well qualified), so if anything I lean towards the ‘free at point of use’ options, but things do seem to be landsliding to a more 1700 -1800’s way of working.
Hey Ho.
