The Dark Side of Norway

[Aimless]

Most of you have heard of--and been miffed by--the most awesome country in the world, Norway, where people are happier, healthier and more well-mannered than thou. It's understandable. All of us wish we could live in Eden. It's not fair that only a few million people actually get to. They've done nothing to deserve it!

For those of you who didn't get enough schadenfreude out of the Utöya massacre, this may make your day:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/10/...tter-shortage/

How d'you like your fjords now suckahs

[Aimless]

To quote a famous group of legal scholars, "It's not about butter." It's about the dangers of monopolies and protectionism

[Catgrrl]

Holy hell, that would be enough to make me flee the country in search of deliciousNess.

[EmperorNorton]

I blame Paula Deen.

[Lebanese Dragon]

I don't like the idea of a "fat tax" There is somethign to laws that aren't designed for liberty for the good of society.. however I dont' support that philosophy. I don't think we should create laws telling people how to live (in certain situations) even if it's beneficial to them and society overall. If people want to die at 40 but have live a tasty life.. let them.

[Kazuha Vinland]

Haha, rub it in, will ya?

I bet this wouldn't even be a problem if the media hadn't made so many stories about it. Now people are rushing out buying three times as much as they use to, just to "save" themselves. Hell, I didn't get a birthday cake because of this.

[Crowheart]

Will this thread have zany monthy updates like the dark side of the USA thread did?

[Nessus]

That depends on the Norwegians, doesn't it?

[Crowheart]

I fear they aren't wacky enough to merit a chronicler of Kath's stature..

[LittleFuzzy]

Most of you have heard of--and been miffed by--the most awesome country in the world, Norway, where people are happier, healthier and more well-mannered than thou. It's understandable. All of us wish we could live in Eden. It's not fair that only a few million people actually get to. They've done nothing to deserve it!

For those of you who didn't get enough schadenfreude out of the Utöya massacre, this may make your day:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/10/...tter-shortage/

How d'you like your fjords now suckahs

A butter tax in Denmark? Dear God, tell me this won't hurt the supply of butter cookies from Royal Dansk!

[Catgrrl]

Every year my father in law used to bring those tins of cookies over. He used to work for a company that did business with Maersk so they always sent him gobs of those cookies (and sometimes LEGO! Must be the three major exporters of Denmark ). I used to keep the tins because they are pretty and nice to put your own cookies in afterword. But having to eat the whole tin, barf

Just realized I am rambling........

[Kazuha Vinland]

My mother used to be the chief secretary of Maersk, so I know that company well. Worked there a summer vacation too.

[Flixy]

Maersk, that's the shipping company right? I think I see their ships and containers a lot.

[Kazuha Vinland]

To quote Wikpedia, it is the largest container ship operator and supply vessel in the world. It's also really important within the energy sector, primarily oil and gas. I worked under Maersk Drilling stationed in the oil "capital" of Norway, Stavanger. Pretty much organized helicopter flights for the off-shore people.

[GGT]

[Kazuha Vinland]

I guess there are some advantages being enlisted into the army contra being a civilian.

[GGT]

My youngest son used to love to eat butter straight from the individual serving packets like that.

Tried (but failed) to find an image from the Julie and Julia movie that ended with the museum and butter. Julia Childs, that is...queen of cooking with butter, and keeping pounds of it on hand.

[Dattu]

Things have gotten serious.

[Kazuha Vinland]

It had to be brought up, didn't it?

He's an actor, somewhat along the lines of Borat. The "ego trip" character of his, Tommy, deliberately uses the blond gene to ironize over not-so-important stuff. If anything, he is a blogger, and I don't like those, lol.

[Wraith]

I heard they're starting to have problems with butter smugglers. This is silly.

[Kazuha Vinland]

Are you serious?

[Flixy]

I heard they're starting to have problems with butter smugglers. This is silly.

Heh, we had that ~50 years ago between Belgium and the Netherlands. Nowadays it's mostly medicine 'smuggling' (aspirin is way cheaper here), but it's all legal now!

[wiggin]

Okay, this is just ridiculous. There isn't a butter 'shortage' - there's an unfair trade barrier put in place by the Norwegian government to protect domestic dairy farmers. In a normal market, absent a global butter crisis, this entire issue would be arbitraged away.

Now I can understand short-term shortages due to massive crop losses or whatever, since it can take time to ship from elsewhere. But an actual crisis this is not - it's just stupid trade policy. There are other circumstances where such shortages can happen. Certain products are often only grown on industrial scales in a handful of locations, or only processed in one or two places. If bad weather hits them all, or a major bottleneck (e.g. processing/canning factory, transshipment point) is taken down by strikes/unrest/regulation/fire/whatever, you can have legitimate shortages of a product. But for the most part, all of these panics have everything to do with deficiencies in their trade policy and nothing to do with an actual shortage.

(For the record, it's hardly the Norwegians who are the only culprits in this - nearly every developed country in the world has uncompetitive subsidies or import duties to protect domestic agriculture/etc. industries. It's frankly frustrating.)

[Nessus]

(For the record, it's hardly the Norwegians who are the only culprits in this - nearly every developed country in the world has uncompetitive subsidies or import duties to protect domestic agriculture/etc. industries. It's frankly frustrating.)

You say that now, but it might reduce the death toll once the Euro collapses and we'll have Nationalism 2: Nationalism harder all over again!

[CitizenCain]

I heard they're starting to have problems with butter smugglers. This is silly.

How's it silly?

Sure, the law's all kinds of dumbassed, but there's apparently a lot of money to be made, so of course you'll have people ignoring the law to do so. If I was in the area, I'd definitely load up the truck bed with butter, drive a cross the border and sell it at the bargain price of... 200% markup for my troubles.

Not admitting to anything here, but a good way finance a few weeks of partying in a warmer climate would be to buy a few thousand dollars worth of smokes in somewhere cheap, like Kentucky, and sell them somewhere that the state taxes are ridiculous (like NY). You can make 50% on your money in a couple days without breaking a sweat... and then have a couple grand to drink away on spring break. Or so I heard. *ahem*

[Ziggy Stardust]

[LittleFuzzy]

Okay, this is just ridiculous. There isn't a butter 'shortage' - there's an unfair trade barrier put in place by the Norwegian government to protect domestic dairy farmers. In a normal market, absent a global butter crisis, this entire issue would be arbitraged away.

What is smuggling but grey/black market arbitrage at a mark-up to reflect some of the added costs arising from a trade barrier?

[wiggin]

Indeed it is. But the market price after arbitrage would be far lower than the cost of smuggled goods because of added costs and risks. More broadly, there's a hidden cost to the Norwegian economy even when there is plenty of butter to go around - by subsidizing an inefficient industry (presumably they have the trade barrier because butter can be produced for cheaper elsewhere), the Norwegian consumer (and taxpayer) is losing money even in good times. It's an all around bad deal and a textbook case for why free trade is generally a good idea. I honestly don't see any reason for protectionism except in specific cases of strategic necessity (i.e. it's probably a bad idea to outsource nuclear weapon production and design, though it certainly seemed to work out for the Brits). Butter does not qualify.

[Flixy]

Indeed it is. But the market price after arbitrage would be far lower than the cost of smuggled goods because of added costs and risks.

Really? You do realise there's no border controls?

[wiggin]

Uhm, I imagine that smugglers who are caught would be arrested and charged with tax fraud (avoiding the tariffs), yes? That's an added risk. Additionally, I imagine that transportation costs are higher even if there's not clandestine activity. I doubt smugglers benefit from the economies of scale that a free market would employ.