Defending the Truth

Lets just get our definitions correct here shall we.
Norway is a constitutional monarchy,not a socialist country.The only socialist country in the world today (according to experts) is North Korea(some also say Cuba,but others still consider Cuba Communist).

Constitutional Monarchy - a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom.

Socialism - a government in which the means of planning, producing, and distributing goods is controlled by a central government that theoretically seeks a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor; in actuality, most socialist governments have ended up being no more than dictatorships over workers by a ruling elite.

Working time According to the Working Environment Act ordinary working hours shall not exceed 9 hours per day, and 40 hours per week. Shorter hours may have been agreed upon in some enterprises. You may have a right to reduced working hours if material reasons of welfare justify this, and the reduction of working hours does not result in particular inconvenience for the employer. One such reason is the need of parents for more time to spend together with their small children.
Persons engaged in discontinuous shift work or who work on weekends may demand a 36-hour or 38-hour week. By special agreement the working hours during a week may be extended to 48 or 54 hours. You then have the right to a comparable reduction in other weeks, so that the average working hours does not exceed 40, 38 or 36 hours per week. Pay lists shall be kept showing the number of hours overtime worked per week and per calendar year by each employee.

Over time
Work carried out beyond 9 hours per day or 40 hours per week at the same job, is considered overtime. For overtime you shall receive at least 40 percent more than your regular pay. This is true for employees who work during the day. If you work at night or during weekends, there are special rules that apply here. Work exceeding 36 or 38 hours shall then be paid for as overtime.
The employer may not use overtime as a permanent arrangement to get the daily work done. If, because of health problems, or because of special social conditions, you are unable to work overtime, the employer cannot demand that you work any longer than the ordinary working hours. If you need confirmation that you cannot work overtime, a doctor can give you this.
If you work part-time, the rules relating to overtime also apply for the hours with which your hours of work have been reduced. However, you are not entitled to overtime pay for these hours.

Night work
Night work is done between the hours of 21.00 and 06.00.
Usually night work is not permitted, but the Working Environment Act contains a number of exceptions, as for example, for transport, health service, restaurants, hotels. Night work may also be permitted in other cases where it is absolutely necessary.

Weekend and holiday
By holiday is meant the time beginning at 18.00 hours on Saturdays or the day before a public holiday, until 22.00 hours of the day before the next working day. Ordinary work is not to be carried out on Sundays and public holidays. There are, however, many exceptions to this rule. This is true, for example, of transport, health and welfare service, hotel and restaurants. If you work on Sundays and public holidays, you are entitled to time off every second weekend. If you work at an enterprise that is in operation all day, all year round, you are entitled to time off at least every third weekend.

Flexibility
In the public sector and often in the private sector, there is the possibility of flexibility of working time, but you have to be at work during certain "fixed" hours a day. You might for example arrive at 9 am and leave at 5 pm, but also arrive at 8 am and leave at 4 pm.

Rest break
Rest breaks shall be regarded as working time when the employee is not free to leave the workplace during the break.

Incomes and cost of living In Norway average monthly earnings per full-time equivalent were NOK 26 400 for all employees per 3rd quarter 2002. This was an increase of NOK 1 700 or 6.8 per cent from 2001. Average monthly earnings (full-time equivalent) for part-time employees were NOK 22 300 per 3rd quarter 2002. Part-time employees account for about 27 per cent of the total workforce. Average consumer’s expenditure per household per year 1999-2001 was 289 459 NOK. This includes goods and services.
In 2002 the number of people in employment reached approximately 2.3 million, or 50 per cent of the population. Women accounted for 47 per cent of the workforce. Many women work part-time, though the numbers are declining. While 47 per cent worked full-time in 1980, the figure had increased to 56 per cent in 2002. The percentage of men in full-time employment remains steady at around 90 per cent and those who work part-time are mainly students.

Women often earn less than men do. In 2001 the average monthly salary for male and female full-time employees was NOK 26 937 and NOK 23 134, respectively. In other words, a woman’s salary amounted to 86 per cent of a man’s salary. However, this difference varies from one profession to another. In financial services a woman’s salary is 76 per cent of a man’s salary, while in schools it is almost 95 per cent.
There are only a handful of women in leading positions in Norwegian business and industry, despite the fact that women make up nearly half the work force. Female executives are a rarity. In firms with more than 250 employees there are only 21 women directors as compared with 467 men. Furthermore, these women earn only half of what the men earn and wage growth is much slower than it is for men.

Same # of hours in a work week.Women are paid far less than men.Taxes are high.Cost of living is high.Yeah,Norway is fucking idyllic.

Socialism premotes eqaulity, all you keep expoliting my work so i am down and poor. I say power to the worker.

What exactly is it that you do (or have done) anyways? I'm just wondering. Sorry.

I constantly here about the long waiting list. But never here how millions of Americans are on nolist. Millions do not have coverage. Adequate coverage can cost a person 150 to 200 a month. HMO are a joke. Many docs sign on and make money by making it difficult for the patient to get in. Many schedule one HMO per day. Universal health care benifits many. It benefits the people, it benefits business, since they wont have to cough up a lot of money for their employees..

Many say but its our privatized system that makes us the best health care in the world. Well, perhaps we have the best health care in the world, but the majority of the population has no access to it. What good is having the best health care system if 70% of the population can't afford it.

Insurance companies have a very powerful lobby. They select people that are already healthy and most likely not to use the insurance. If you are sick, a diabetic, etc. Your going to have problems getting Insurance, your probably going to pay even higher than the already high price for adequate insurance.

The other problem is that many insurance dictacte what can and can't be done. Not the Doctor.

Another problem is many Americans have little idea what adequate insurance coverage is. Many fall for the believe that they have good isurance at $30 dollars a month. These so call HMO are more of a discount plan than anything else. Your choices are limited as to who can see you. Refferals are very difficult to get, Doctors try to avoid scheduleing these patients. HMO is the biggest joke. You think your $30 a month plan is good, well I hope you dont get seriously ill.

Sorry the biggest joke are discount plans. Recently there are these plans that say we will cover you for $10 a month. It lower than an HMO. They create a fee schedule of what you can have done and they tell you who to go to. An many do not even know it not an isurance plan. They go to the office and ask what does my insurance cover. Then they are told nothing, prices are your resposibility. The "isurance" plan negotiattes a discount.

Our health care system is a mess. SS is nothing to the problems health care is in this country. We are the only industrialize nation with out adequate healthcare. Cuba has a better health care system for their people, and one of the most modern in the world, and every citizen has access to it..

Oh my god that is so cruel and heartless. Mean people suck.

That is pretty messed up.

Does anyone REALLY believe socialism is better? Or that it works? And if they do, I want to know where they learned history...

I dont think anyone here can name one socialist country that has it better than the US, if you can name a few features that can be easily compared and that prove that socialist nation to be better than the US.

Sweden. Lower crime, higher literacy, higher life expectancy, health care for everyone, craddle to grave protection, higher pollution standards, lower pollution, multi-party political system (more than two).

Just came from there... the tap water is great.

Don't forget MUCH higher taxes and a high unemployment rate.