Well, politically, if you call somebody a Communist or a Nazi its much worse (Nazi still being the worst thing to call somebody). The response will be: {curse}, I'm no Communist/Nazi/Socialist.

A good example of what works in Germany, but which wouldn't work in the US. (I bring up Germany because I've spent time there and speak German). A sizable portion of Volkswagen is actually owned by the German state of Lower Saxony (just over 20%)

Motor Authority » Update: Lower Saxony blocks Porsche’s moves at VW

The problem from a US point of view is that such a relationship is an inherent conflict of interest. How does Lower Saxony vote its shares? How can Lower Saxony regulate Volkswagen, when it is a major shareholder?

Soooooo, your Finance Minister is an avowed Socialist, the country spends 55%+ of GDP on government expenditures....you know what they say, if it looks like a duck....hehe

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Neither am I.

She looks and walks like, but now she quaks with the non sicialist Academia. In politics it is much easier to be in opposition than in position.

In my view socialism is not primarily reckognized by the government spending as perscent of GDP. More important is the ownership rights to the means of production. Do you know why I am against Norway joining EU? One word is enough -- bureaucracy.

This summer I had a holiday at the Central Banks cabin. Swedes have the right to use that cabin too. For the first time I heard a person from Sweden admit the problems with the large bureaucracy.

Social Darwinism (belonging to the right group / class). That is Scandinavian and other politics in a nutshell whether it is to the left or to the right.

Now, in the left part of my brain there is nothing right and in the right part there is nothing left.

So you are satisfied with the Bush administration?

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Paris has it all figured out and is now running for President

YouTube - Paris Hilton & Barack Obama Reply to McCain Ads

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Oh, well, isn't that cozy? What business does the Central Bank have owning a cabin? Well, at least you share it with the Swedes...hehe.

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A company with self respect have it here. It was bought while a social democrat was Govenor of the bank.

Developing story on cnn.

Worse than Watergate. Book about the war in Iraq.

'Today' Promotes Author Who Calls Pre-War Runup 'Worse Than Watergate' | NewsBusters.org Correct link?

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Great hybrid energy view.

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Frankly, I wouldn't have bothered liberating Kuwait to begin with. BUT if the pretext for going to war, the second time around, in 2003 was Weapons of Mass Destruction and BUSH KNEW THERE WERE NO WMD. Don't you think they would've dug a hole and 'found' them anyway?

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Most probably Osama Bin Laden is in a hole and your intelligence have not found him yet. Google (earth) may identify him before your intelligence.

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He's most likely dead. (you never really do know though)

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Hell yes, the Cheney Administration is worse than Watergate, but the press today sucks and is employed by the same folks who employ Bush.

Kissinger is Cheney's close friend and advisor. Guess who was the first to rig the oil markets in 1973 for the first time in world history folks ?

Kissinger's clients are the House of Saud for many years, he is also a Rockefeller boy. Put 2 + 2 together, funny that the press never mentions any of this though.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by kgun In my view socialism is not primarily reckognized by the government spending as perscent of GDP. More important is the ownership rights to the means of production. Do you know why I am against Norway joining EU? One word is enough -- bureaucracy.

And the Norwegian government does own large stakes of the 'means of production' - State intervention in the economy is significant. The two dominant industrial groups - Statoil and Norsk Hydro - are state-controlled. With its current holdings in DnB NOR, the government owns some 20 per cent of the total private banking sector.

From what I hear, it appears that its very similar to a 'social-market economy' - which is a middle path between socialism and capitalism.

With all due respect, if you truly believe that Norway isn't closer to socialism than it is to capitalism; then frankly you are so far left you've lost sight of the center.

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My bolding. That is a wrong word.

Yes.

1. That is one company now, StatoilHydro. The company is run in the same way as a private company.
2. Our state is the largest owner. Privatization has increased after WW II. Shares are traded on the stock exchange.
3. In corruption cases, the final word is often said by the national assembly, that mean that it is under democratic control.
   Responsible Ministers may leave the Government.

Yes, because of the earlier banking crisis. Our banks are secured by a fund so the small investor shall not loose their money. That is related to the credibility of our bank system. Privatization is increasing. The bank is also traded on the stock exchange.

Here we use the word mixed economy. See my above post about command economy versus turbo capitalism.

Read and registered.

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And the Norwegian government does own large stakes of the 'means of production' - State intervention in the economy is significant.
My bolding. That is a wrong word.

What makes you say this is the wrong word? Significant simply means 'important' (I didn't say 'paramount') - government intervention in the US is ALSO significant.

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I just want you to know that I wasn't implying that Norway had anything less than democratic political system.

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The US is also a 'mixed economy' within the full meaning of the term. Social market economy really is an apt description for the German model (Sozialmarkwirtschaft), but the Scandanavian model or Nordic model

Karlson, Johansson & Johnsson estimates that the percentage of the buyer’s income entering the service vendor’s wallet (inverted tax wedge) is around 15% in Nordic countries, compared to 10% in Belgium, 15% in Germany, 25% in France, 30% in Ireland and 50% in the United States.

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? - what do you mean?

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In this regard I thought of state intervention in relation to state ownership. If you read the last chapter of Keyens "General theory ..." you will note that he was for a free economy and government intervention in extreme situations like the 1930's. And as explained above, state ownership is decreasing.

"The Norwegian Banking Crisis affected almost 2/3 of the banking system and led to the nationalization of our three largest banks. At the time, it was the first systemic crisis in an industrialized country since the 1930s. This also explains why the crisis caught most policymakers off-guard".
Source: A Norwegian perspective on banking crisis resolution

As explained above in relation to DnB, our banking crisis was most probably an example of such an extreme situation. Now it is your, UK's, Spanis time to handle such a crisis that may finally hurt other nations because of an interdependent global economic system and global monetary policy. When a foreigner has a share of a US hedge fund that has invested in your housing market, it can hurt these investors. It has already hurt us, in the socalled Terra Securities scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KW's:
financial fragility
bank / systemic risk
financial stability

Shipping has traditionally been very competitive. Because of what is regarded as unfair (tax) policies some of our shipping companies flag out (correct term?).

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I would say that 'state ownership' is significant in both Norway and the United States. Just by way of example. Approximately 26% of all land in the US is still retained by the Federal government. 34.71% is Federal + State + Local government. That is a sizable chunk of land and not all of it is tundra (Alaska), desert (western states) that nobody wants.

Even if you look at lists at who the largest employers are, you will invariably see government entities at the top of the list.

Even if you just took education, the governments (here and in Norway) own and operate the schools and its a huge 'industry' (although we tend not to think of it as one), but yes, even if the government were limited to JUST education, that would be 'significant'

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What happended after

"Florida Real Estate Bubble in the 1920"?

You should know more than me.

What will be the outcome of this real estate crisis?

If I remember correctly, this Elliott Wave International: Expert Market Forecasting using the Elliott Wave Principle company that mean that social mood and mass psychology has fractal structure (I have written a masther thesis in financial mathematics about that subject, so it is easy to understand the message) like many other natural phenomena, have for a long time said that it will be severe (90 % decrease from top to bottom if I remember correctly).

My master thesis (academic degree) in economics was about inflation.

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Production with falling unit costs like railroads (large fixed costs) is an argument for state owned production.

Since the unit cost curve is falling, it never intersects the marginal cost curve. You like I know this. Othe members may not.

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English word would be 'natural monopoly'

In the US you have state ownership of many railroads (ie. Amtrak/NJ Transit), although there are private freight lines. Utility companies are private but subject to government regulation with respect to rates. Some deregulation has occured, but typically the private company is given an area in which to operate exclusively and must go to the government if they want to raise rates.

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In my view, the trains can be privately owned if there is competition. I think that would improve the service level here. I don't know about the German system, but they probably have the most precise train arrivals in the world. If there is competition among three companies, that may require three tracks in each direction

Infrastructure, is most probably like roads, an argument for a natural state monopoly.

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The best is when you see advertisements for public utilities. Why are they advertising? Its not like you have a choice or anything.

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Mass transit can be difficult. To really justify it (to make it cheap at least) you really need high ridership which is why subways in large cities 'make it'

I used to work in NYC and I would take the NJ Transit bus into Midtown Manhattan everyday. During rush hour it is great, you have a full bus and the system works well. The problem is that to have a 'system' they operate these buses during hours when there are few people on them. Its the inherent problem associated with a suburban development pattern; you have too few people going any given direction at any given time.

The secondary problem with a suburban development pattern was that it was a pattern that favored cars over trains so now the physical tracks simply do not exist. To build the track would be a costly eminent domain battle. To get through even a small NJ suburb would cost $50-$100 million per mile.

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