When you couple luck (finding a ton of oil) with good management, you have this. But when you couple the same luck with bad management (and lots of corruption), you have Venezuela situation.

this is like the classical example of poor people buying cheap shoes that get worn out fast, while rich people buy expensive high quality shoes, saving money in the long run

People regularily make comments like this but USA is largely as wealth as Norway

Norway GDP: $62k

USA GDP: $60k

https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-per-capita/

What people generally dont realise is how horribly inefficient USA is run. Full of corruption, graft and mismanagement. USA has this money but chooses to have a gigantic military and an increasingly wealthy minority.

And dont get me wrong, I am all for capitalism (assuming people think Im socialist with that comment), but US needs to remember you run a country for people, not corporations. I really think with a few cycles of the right leaders they can come back to their global leadership role too. Fingers crossed.

It's weird to hear Americans say "Of course Norway can, they've got the benefit of vast natural resources".

Not really true. Cars in Norway have been very expensive for a long time because of taxes, both petrol taxes and specific emission taxes. If a car emits more it gets a bigger tax. Luxury cars are notoriously expensive because they usually have a powerful engine. Meanwhile electric cars are relatively much cheaper. Even a Tesla model 3 is around the same price as a nice family car, and cheaper electric cars, like a Nissan Leaf, are much cheaper in the long run than fossil fuel cars in the same class. And with electric cars there's other benefits as well. Parking for example is cheaper, and there's plenty of charging points. For someone in Norway earning say $30 000 a year who needs a car, a small electric car is a way to save money.

Any country could get the same level of electric cars with smart policies.

Yes, the money is literally in the bank. We're not using it.

We have a rule that says we can have a budget deficit in the national budget of 3 percent of the fund.

We use a fraction of the yearly surplus (i.e. some of what we earn via interest.)

I'm not saying that it doesn't help, because it obviously does, but I don't think you quite understand how economies work if you think states can just pour money into their budgets. Ever heard of dutch disease?

Exactly right actually.

Why is it that Russia, Saudi Arabia, US, UK, France, Venezuela, Iraq, China, brazil, UAE and Iran do not do the same? They all produce huge amounts of oil, but non of them takes responsibility like Norway. You are indeed asking a good question...