Norway

Turns out that the people in Norway are just as lovely as the fjords.

Like many of its Scandinavian neighbors, Norway has absolutely remarkable numbers on everything from Environmental Protection to women's rights. Norwegians have strived to build a society in which everyone is protected and cared for, and that's been reflected in the remarkable freedoms all of their citizens enjoy.

Norway's communal spirit is perhaps best evidenced by it's government's decision, several decades ago, to effectively put a relatively small tax on oil being extracted from its off shore oil fields and put the money generated in a sovereign wealth fun for all citizens.  The fund was recently worth more than $192,000 per Norwegian citizen.  The United States could do well to levy a similar tax on its own petrochemical extraction to create a citizens wealth fund college education through income tax credits and to fund green tech initiatives specifically chosen to generate high paying jobs in areas hardest hit by the negative effects of globalization.

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