Tag: Norway

We Are Capitalists

Let’s take a look at the facts behind the meme.

First, amount of political funding.

In 2013, funding of Norwegian political parties totaled 622m NOK[1], or $103.7m USD at the 2013/2014 exchange rate of $1USD to ~6 NOK [2].

Norway’s population was 5.1 million in the same year [3]. Thus, their political campaign funding came out to $20.33 per person.

In 2012 (our last presidential election year), the total cost of elections was $6.3B [4].

Our population was 314 million in the same year. Thus, our political cost came out to $20.06, lower than the “unbought” Norwegians.

But wait a minute…Norway does not elect a president. Their president-equivalent is the Prime Minister, who is appointed by Parliament, their version of our Congress. Thus, to compare apples to apples, and taking only congressional campaign funding, in 2012, the total between the parties was only $3.7B [5], which is in line with the 2010 mid-term elections. This comes to only $11.67 per person, or 43% LESS than the “unbought” Norwegians.

Second, look at where their political funding comes from:
67.4% was subsidized by the central (Federal) and local government. [6] (The meme is outdated with 2012 numbers). That means it was forcefully taken from the TAXPAYERS, and giving to the political parties.

You might be wondering, how do they decide which party gets how much? The political funding is allocated proportionally by the number of votes received in the last election [7]. Which means, the party ALREADY in power gets the most money.

While Norwegian parties get the majority of their funding from government subsidies, they’re ALSO allowed to receive private donations, amounting to 7.6% of their funding. Why so little? Not because of contribution limits…Norway is one of the countries with unlimited contributions [8]. But rather, why contribute your OWN money, when you can use GOVERNMENT to take the PEOPLE’S money, to lobby ITSELF to do what you want it to!

[1] http://www.ssb.no/en/partifin

[2] http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=NOK

[3] http://data.worldbank.org/country/norway

[4] http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/

[5] http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/index.php?display=T

[6] http://www.ssb.no/en/partifin

[7] http://www.idea.int/political-finance/country.cfm…

[8] http://prospect.org/…/how-our-campaign-finance-system-compa…

We Are Capitalists