As an Australian we got late the the SWF party once we realised where Norway was headed. It interesting to see Margret Thatcher's involvement because she was the high priestess to Ronald Reagans high priest of "neoliberalism" that's dominated western economic thinking for the past 40+ years. Mark Blyth ahs talked about that a lot and what its achieved for the top 1% while its completely fleeced the bottom 99%. He's mentioned recent Rand report that highlights among other things that America's top 1% made off with $47 Trillion between 1978 & 2018. To give that some perspective, the game show "who wants to be a millionaire" had a box with a million dollars in it. That box was about 1 cubic foot. A standard 20ft container with about 1130 cubic feet of space can there fore hold about $1billion in cash. The ship that just got stuck in the Suez canal the _"Even Given"_ is a Golden Class container carrier and they have a capacity of 20,124 TEU (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit) So in terms of raw cash in 20ft containers that ship can basically sail off with $20 Trillion on board, which isn't even half what the top 1% of America have made off with since 1978. Considering Margret Thatcher did to Britain what Reagan did to America is it any wonder that Norway has a SWF that's worth a $trillion and they own over 1.5% of the worlds shares while they are only 0.07% of the worlds population. *If that doesn't explain how neoliberalism has failed nothing will.*
It's what decided me to go abroad in the late 80's. I could see the country making one mistake after another, just for short term gain for some, and they are still at it.
@@squirrel6338 not necessarily, many of the more inefficient policies of the Attlee government were scrapped by the tories in the early 50s, like getting rid of some nationalisation. It’s more about the policy of constantly subsidising and encouraging mergers in industries that were dying, instead of helping to grow firms entering in industries that were actually rising up. So no, it’s not just about the Attlee government
The UK’s policy is not less successful than Norway’s, it simply had different aims. Norway intended to bring about long term economic stability and increased living standards for its people and has been more or less succeeded in that aim. The uks aim was to divert the wealth created by the resources into the pockets of a few very wealthy people. It also succeeded.
Forking tory greed. Thatcher was not really of the people, even though she was basically from a working class background. Delusions of grandeur from the Milk Snatcher. She must have loved self-flagellation!
I once read a cabinet minister said they don’t invest long term in infrastructure or suchlike because they don’t want the opposition to reap the credit.
@@billtomo yes you likely to be right on that. Where I live, there is the A12 main Rd that runs up from the M25 to our largest Container Port in UK. The A12 was dueled in 1975, yes thats right, it is not a Motorway just an A road duel carriage way. They have done nothing to it apart from filling in potholes. We have dozens of Tory MP's here yet nothing happens, and houses are popping up everywhere.
UK Govt could have managed better. However, tax cuts passed benefits to the taxpayers. Another question would be: what did the taxpayers do with this extra money? It helped me buy my first property.
I suspect you will find that the sovereign wealth of the UK ended up via multiple methods into the hands of the already extraordinary wealthy. Whereas Norway considered all the population should share in that bounty as they have done.
Yes it's the population of Norway's oil, and the state work fore us, not some few crooked fu(kers. But sadly that's changing 😒 and we have it to good so they get away whit it fore now
@@dannycostello Well I think you just proved my point. They could, for example chosen to reduce the bottom rate of tax. A 1% reduction in that area would help far more people to a significantly greater degree. And that money would have been spent rapido boosting the economy.
@@billgreen576 problem is that when a few get extraordinary rich, they stop caring about the rest of the people in the country. And money talks so much of the politicians can be brought off. Its just shit for the UK as a whole cuz most of the highest taxable people just move to tax heavens and the rest of the population is stuck with the bill
@@dan79600 Or stop bootlicking the billionaires... The sooner you realise you have more in common with a homeless person the better. Most of us genuinely have very little to “give up” lmao
@@dan79600 So true; it’s really ironic when capitalism has made that for someone to partake in society online they have to use platforms owned by billionaires. Almost like there isn’t a choice... huh. You can be forced to use something and still oppose it; or you can bootlick your masters like you do ;)
Thatcher wasted the oil windfall on paying the dole bill in the same way that money from council house sales wasn't reinvested in new homes. 40 years on we now live in a world where the madness of both shortsighted policies has caused untold damage and proved to be very very expensive mistakes.
Lol. It was labour that gave away our oil resources to big businesses. But both parties gave what money was left to social services. So what did we learn? All party politicians are corrupt and the parties are even worse.
Thatcher marks the downturn of the UK's economy, using the same thought process of 'wonga loans' to get us out of a pit, just to fall back in when the loan needed repaying. Not to mention the reduction of corporation tax and the privatisation of necessary services e.g. trains
Which "dole bill" are you referring to? The coporate or the disadvantaged? We all know where most of those billions went and it wasn't toward measly state welfare payments?? ;-))
I remember when North sea oil was found. We were told we would be like the Arab countries. No income tax. Cheap petrol. New hospitals. New schools. Saw none of it...
Its not just the UK. Here in Australia we have completely wasted the resources, only a very small sovereign wealth fund. We export our gas and then re-import it at a higher price.
This happens because the same guys are involved in this affair in UK like in Australia or at least they have the same perspective . They are masterminding these like in old times when Australia was just a colony, but now is its natural resources. When some politician raise his voice and pointed out the problem he was dismissed.
More could be had from our resource wealth but remember Australia has superannuation which does the same job as a sovereign wealth fund. But it's funded by everyone in all sectors and gets invested in all sectors including resources. It's arguably more sustainable and reliable than Norway's sovereign fund. They had no way to know what the future would be like for oil at the time it was instituted. The UK has nothing to show for itself though. It didn't make private pensions the default until 2008 and it wasn't fully enforced until 2017. A third of UK households still have no private fund. How they're going to pay what is already the developed world's lowest pensions in an aging population who knows.
I remember the headlines on virtually every newspaper in the 1970's: "Once the oil starts flowing we will be as well off as Saudi Arabia. " A vast fortune was wasted or went into the pockets of a few.
Britain got three times the population, and their oil reserves were at least less than 5% of Saudi-Arabia's, probably way less than 5%. Not really a fair comparison in my opinion.
@@marcgraham412 Watch the video, think about it, read my original comment, think about it and once you have understood everything try not to act like some idiot.
@@hanshartfiel6394 I did three times now. I still don't understand your point. "A vast fortune was wasted or went into the pockets of a few." Britan's oil money didn't go in the pockets of a few. But your other example did, 20% of native-born Saudis live in poverty. Saudi Arabia has 3 of the 4 richest people in the middle east. All made their wealth exclusively from the oil. Saudi Arabia got rich from oil because they had the largest oil reserve in the entire world. The reason UK didn't get rich from oil like Saudi Arabia wasn't because the money went in the pockets to a few. But because they had three times the population, sharing a very small fraction of Saudi's reserve. 01:27 Restructuring of the UK economy during an era of deindustrialization. Helping to cover some of the cost of the process. 02:58 Investing the money in an oil fund may not have been realistic.
@@drSvensen The video is what matters here and the comparison of the UK and Norway and how each nation invested or wasted the riches coming out of the Northsea. I only quoted the headlines of the newspapers of the time. I don't know your age but reckon that you were either not born in the 1970's or were still a little boy more interested in kicking a ball than reading a newspaper. At no time was I comparing Saudi Arabia or Norway with the UK.
My dad worked most of his life for British Gas. He was a High-Flier and was on the Gas Council in Croydon. He would have become Chairman if Thatcher had not privatised the state owned company and broken it up in the 80's. My dad reckoned there was enough gas in the North Sea to last until 2040 not counting the Irish Sea or Morcombe Bay. At about the same time the National Electricity Board was broken up. These two state owned companies were in direct completion with each other. Separate showrooms in every town, selling fridges that worked on gas and electricity. The Gas Council was supposed to be kept in situ to supervise the new independent gas companies, but pressure was put on the Government to scrap it. Now there was no oversight committee. My Dad was forced to resign and sign a document that he would never reveal what had been going on behind closed doors other wise it would effect his gold plated pension. What happened then was that the gas companies starting selling cheap North Sea Gas to the new Independent Electricity Companies. A gas cooker wasted about 16% of it gas. The Electricity Boards were using it to turn their turbines and wasting over 50% of the gas in doing so. It made multi millionaires out of all the CEO's and you will not find one of them in situ. They thought they were going to get caught. It did not stop there. The Independent gas companies then put pressure on the Government to dismantle and scrap all the storage units in each town, stating they did not need them and they were costly to service. Ooops, they suddenly needed them about 15yrs ago when they started running out of North Sea gas. They had to very quickly build one in Kent to receive Liquid Gas from Nigeria and then another in North Wales to serve Scotland. ??? Treason was committed and they have got away with it, including the politicians. My Dad passed away last year.
Fascinating read, It's been over 40 years & the country is still suffering from the legacy of Thatcherism. The political class/establishment are in thrall to her & any politician that tries to challenge that consensus is ostracized. Things will get better, but it's going to take a long time I think.
Nice story but ignores the Economic reality. Uk does not produce enough oil and gas to significantly influence the global price of oil and gas. When the market price drops below about $60 dollars / barrel it costs more to extract it than sell it. The reserves are still there it just that no one wants to buy it. The Uk also consumes over 40 million tonnes of oil more than it produces each year. Now that the world has passed peak oil. The UK Govt is also not facing the huge cost of decommissioning. Norway also has about 20% of its population on State benefits whilst the UK has over 50%. The state owned companies in the 1970s where in many cases so inefficient that they were costing the Govts money to keep them afloat. In 1979 the Thatcher Govt was voted in on a landslide majority with manifesto to privatise steel, railways, airways, airports and aerospace; and, of the utilities, gas, electricity, telecoms and water. This is what the population voted for in huge numbers after the winter of discontent. These industries had only been nationalised in the first instance by the Atlee Govt of the in 1940's following the 2nd world war.
@@badwolf8787 agree. social welfare is not the reason for our stagnation and great decline. Putting a country’s wealth and means of production into the hands of privateers has failed. 40 years on we’re a plutocracy floating adrift to irrelevance in the North Sea. Our leaders don’t plan for the future they only seek to gain short term. There is no plan or vision for rejuvenation apart from “green revolution” which is supposed to put the west on par with China. They’re already 20 years ahead! No corporation or billionaire fund can contest with a state of that size with clear objectives and its people onside. Rip UK
Short-Termism is a British disease. You only have to look at our companies. Top German businesses look at 20 to 50 year plans, while UK management look at 5 years, an LTIP management bonus and sale of their best assets to a foreign buyer.
Kudos to the Norwegian government's foresight all those years ago. If the current British government were running Norway (God forbid), I'm sure they would already be looking for ways to get around the SWF protections to get their hands on the money.
Norway is a tyrannical shithole. They have social worker-style policing, which has seen the state kidnap children and religious and political minorities flee the country. The UK may have had Thatcher use oil money to centralise and control everything - to keep it from the lefty loons who run everything anyway - but at least the UK is freer than Norway. Well, at least for now. Being freer than Norway is a pretty low bar. Left fascism just seems to keep winning.
This is the Government equivalent of... Norway Payday = Save a large chunk.. perhaps go on one nice trip in the month UK Payday = Woohoo! Down the pub.. drinks are on me!
"Restructuring of the economy" is a euphemism for destroying the north's economy, creating unemployment to discipline the workforce, emasculating the trade unions, atomising society, politically isolating the individual citizen, creating a low-wage service economy, which ensured wages would stagnate and that an ever-greater proportion of the country's wealth goes to the 1%, as the government became more and more dependent on the financial sector. The UK remains a divided nation and London is another country entirely. The present generation have rejected politics and have chosen intersectionality instead.
Absolutely my favourite economics channel! It would be great if we could get an episode on some African countries too. Maybe Ghana, Nigeria or South Africa could be interesting!
Norway’s sovereign oil fund is a contributing factor as to why they are so prosperous, do you think every country can have a sovereign commodity fund for the good of their citizens? Great job on the channel!
Well USA doesn't need one. It just prints a trillion dollars when it needs it. Its good to have the world-currency. Wonder how long they can keep that up.
Norway have something like 75% tax on oil and the state shared the expenses of developing new oil fields. The oil companies tried to hustle the Norwegian people at first trying to blow up the pumping cost but we hired an 3.third party expert that the oil companies couldn't corrupt/buy off. True fact!
You work for 40yrs to have $1M in your retirement, meanwhile some people are putting just $10K in a bitcoin from just a few months ago and now they are multi millionaires..🇺🇸.
The UK hardly saw anything for its oil wealth - the Tories quickly sold off everything for a quick buck, used it for tax cuts for the wealthiest, and made a mint for their pals in the private sector.
Like large chunk of our gold reserves being sold off by a certain chancellor to pay for unrealistic spending in an attempt to “buy” more votes. Sold at a historicaly low price as well
@@warone100 well according to the financial Times Gordon Brown made the correct decision, as gold doesn't pay any income, it just sits there looking pretty. And he didn't sell all of our gold reserves. So the money raised from the sale of some of our gold, was reinvested into income paying assets. So that income could have been used to fund public services, you know those vital services that we all rely on. Unless your a tory of course, as tories don't do public services like the NHS, police etc etc etc. The tories always just cut funding for all public services including NHS. Also you could say that if he'd sold it 12 yrs later he would have got significantly more for it, but nobody knows that beforehand that's only with hindsight. And about the same time as Gordon sold gold other countries were doing the same. The FT also said gold is a speculative asset, it's risky,as the price can fluctuate wildly and it doesn't pay any income. And the price of gold started going down after 2011, so if he had held onto the gold it would have just sat there, it wouldn't have realised any profit unless it was sold, but after 2011 the price started going down. Also the income from the new assets brought with proceeds of gold sale would have offset price increase in the gold. And by unrealistic spending are you referring to properly funding public services instead of giving tax cuts to big corporate businesses and the wealthy and higher payed, which doesn't benefit the majority of people or this country as a whole,or the economy
@@fredatlas4396 well unless your a labour supporter of course that makes sense. Because you’ll be blind to common sense. You’ll be absolutely annoyed and blind with rage that anybody sensible would disagree with you. Once labour only labour put a labour badge on a donkey and you’d vote for it. Corbyn giving all that that free money away as welll heh? To bad to many Britons had commen sense and voted that idiot out of existence
@@warone100 your entitled to your opinion same as me, but it looks like the real conmen are now running this country. ie our tory government since 2010. Economy in a mess, national debt higher than it was in 2010, and immigration higher than ever before, despite tory promises to the contrary back in 2010. All of this even before the corona virus pandemic arrived, and we are now in the worst recession of all the major economies in the world. All this thanks to our tory government since 2010 and brexit. So who's really been conned. Put a tory badge on a lying crook and you'll vote for him and the con party
@@fredatlas4396 remember that “No money left note “ given Tory government when they took power ? Probably not. Dept takes decades to recover even in good times and immigration control was not fully in our power because of Europe and still not today we NEED European consensus on that and they don’t seem to have much control themselves. I’ve voted for a few different political groups in my time I bet you voted for one.your language on the Tory party betrays you. No point talking to you really it’s ingrained. Try Twitter it’s algorithm with only put you into contact with people who agree with you, you’ll enjoy that. Elements of the Labour Party want to break away from itself. The best thing I can do is let you talk because it shows how bad the left is right now and your so ingrained you can’t see that.
Very informative, thanks. Just to add that Shetland and the Isles of the north DO have a sovereign wealth fund of their own and makes one wonder what-if the rest of the country had followed suit. Sadly, the UK government loves stealth taxes hence the income tax rate might have fallen but property taxes endure on its citizens and businesses that are treated as captive audiences. Additionally, the UK government likes to institute one-off taxes that go under the name ‘windfall’. It all shows a government that manages in a ‘hand-to-mouth’ way with no long-term plan. The UK has the lowest state pension and the funding of social care is in disarray. Thanks again.
When Margaret Thatcher is mentioned I always feel bad for atheists. They miss out on the joy of believing she is burning in eternal hellfire. She had to be buried in a tomb because a grave would have been pissed on so many times grass would never grow.
Greetings from 🇳🇴! The story goes on, and our country is as before following the UK (western world), a few steps behind. Also when it comes to neoliberalism. Much more of the offshore value chain is now privatised, along with health, welfare, transportation and more. The promised pension returns are now being reevaluated, and most (well earning) individuals are setting up private funds - because our government told us to do so. I’m 55, so it’s too late for some of us. The income gap is rapidly expanding, even in a very lucky nation like ours. Socialism for a few, not for all? Go figure... Thanks for the great video! 🍀
a factor is also Norway is not producing children enough, like most western countries, and will be so much fewer to pay and take care of the exploding number of senior citizens. One looked at the oil/pension fund a few years back and was thinking 'we will be wealthy senior citizens'. Now one see that the fund might be hardly enough to survive, even if it's that big. Time will tell
@@Rimrock300 Sure, like many other countries. But causally this is an outcome of policy/politics and not a reason in itself. With much higher costs of living, and more gender equality (good), a couple will need two full educational and professional lives. In Norway those are the major reasons for having fewer children since around 1990’s according to statistics.
Though a lot of the companies nowadays extracting oil are private, it still needs to be emphasized that they pay a 78% tax on their profits from the extracted oil.
@@correctionguy7632 I stand corrected (Correction guy, right?) - But petroleum taxation is really (!) complicated... So, let’s try revenue stream (cash) 2019 instead: State of Norway $29,3 bn (total sector) Equinor $13,5 bn (one company) after tax Adding every other company would take too long... I still imagine that those numbers show who’s really making money here. Since money is power, the power is in the corporate realm. As in every other “western” neoliberal nation state. If any state could (dared) tax a corporation just 2,5% on revenue, the sum would be more than that of 22% tax on profits, 25% VAT and 35% income tax - Combined. Because companies can write off debt and expenses - You and I can’t. So we pay, they (nearly) don’t. Would a country like 🇳🇴 have had road tolls and welfare/school/police issues if we were really a “rich” nation? I doubt it, the numbers don’t add up.
I'm not quite sure how the UK did it, but Norway decided very early that ALL oil and gas that had not been extracted remaind thge nation's property. Oli and gas companies buy licenses to extract oil/gas, and whatever they don't extract remain the nation's property, which meant that the government could manage the exploration and extraction under less pressure.
@@airrodgers7277 Not really. Norway keeps ownership of the oil and licences the extraction and sale, instead of selling ownership and kissing it all goodbye. That is much smarter because they could limit extraction when the oil price is low and keep some back for when the price rises again.
@@airrodgers7277 Maybe you're technically correct? But not really. What country in the world doesn't own it's natural resources? If you're in the US you're going to have to buy your land from the state. You want to chop down a forest to export lumber you're going to need land ownership, or a license issued by the owner (the state). Norway simply said it wasn't selling.
IN 1975 WHEN THE OIL WAS FIRST DISCOVERED. THE FINANCIAL EXPERTS WERE SAYING IF WE USE THIS MASSIVE WINDFALL CORRECTLY. SOCIALLY THIS COUNTRY COULD CHANGE FROM POVERTY TO ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD. BEST SCHOOLS, GOOD SOCIAL SERVICES AND THE BEST NHS THAT THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN. WHAT HAPPENED? WE HAD A CONSERVATIIVE GOVERNMENT RUNNING TH COUNTRY. NEED SAY MORE.
Yes you need to say more .... you have to explain how the country could both spend the money on Schools and Social Services ... and yet invest the same money into a "Sovereign Wealth Fund".... By the way the amount of money the UK got from the oil revenues almost certainly less than the amount we have thrown away on Foreign Aid and Wars.
Will never understand why the UK government didn’t set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund? Even if it had been on a modest scale, I could forgive them, but no, it was hosed up against many walls , and wasted! Correct me if I’m wrong please, but didn’t Shetland set up its own SWF? I’m sure it’s been reported that this will help Shetlanders in the future. Politicians of all stripes believe that “long term” is the next round of voting, and ever about their employers!
The difference between pure capitalism which UK and US practice encourages greed and rise of elite rich 1%,while Norway practice social capitalism where 80% of working population become rich, therefore increasing the purchasing power of majority of the population which Will create a stable economy but if you have 1-,10% super rich and 90% Just surviving you create a unstastinable economy
Actually UK and US, don't practice pure Capitalism, they practice Keynesianism-Corporativism, because pire capitalism (1) don't have goverment and (2) there is incentive for doing the rigth thing (Generally).
Well soviet union is a great example of what socialization brings. Environmental catastrophes and starvation. The UK had much less oil per capita, so its not really a good comparison. Anyways, both countries are top class on life quality so not much to complain.
@@MrDerebail No there's only capitalist societies with social programs of varying degrees and then there's socialist societies. Capitalism is required to support the social programs. That's what's going on in Europe. The biggest difference between Norway and the UK is the quality of governance.
Im old enough to remember London before the Thatcher high days of North Sea oil. Suddenly overnight huge sums began flowing into the financial industry and most visibly as massive buildings started going up all over and flash shops and Porsches on the streets. Seemingly there was money everywhere. At the same time Thatcher was forcing the closure of much of UK industry and mining which was in poor shape and had been in decline since the end of Empire post WW1 and especially post WW2. I fully agree that such things as the UK coal mining, textile, ship building, car sectors had to go as they were relics of the past age of the Imperial Preferences policy whereby the far flung Empire was forced to sell GB raw materials cheap (eg Indian cotton) and buy GB made products at high prices. The huge industrial areas of the English midlands and north developed because the Empire was their captive supplier and market. However the unforgivable sin of Thatcher was that she did not use the North sea oil bonanza in a massive program of redeveloping the economy of these areas with things like re-training and re-skilling the younger and early full pensions for those too old but out of work due to such things as pit closures. Its absolutely instructive to note that Germany in the 1990's was the sick man of Europe with an arthritic ailing economy and in particular the ruin of the former East Germany which was literally a rust bucket of failed Soviet style command industry producing appalling stuff like the Trabant and building houses out of asbestos sheets. Germany launched the huge Hartz reform program (now on Hartz 4) whereby via a mix of measures including massive investments in redeveloping the East. Its still running and will do so for at least a generation or two. Now look at the German economy. The UK could have done the same funded by North Sea revenue but the instead Tories spaffed it on London and the private sector controlled by their cronies. I firmly believe that the disaster that is Brexit is a direct result. There is no doubt that in England it was and still is a protest vote by those tired of decades of neglect and worse is to come for them.
@@wiganfan3373 well the first election I can vote in is the London Mayoral election and I don't think I will be voting for Sadiq Khan! I can't say who I will vote for PM as proper manifestos for the next campaign haven't been created. It is just interesting to see how much commenters on these kinda videos hate their governments.
Anyone that tries to stop the establishments wealth gets the press to tell lies about them and get brainwashed into believing that tories are the only answer , Norway shows you that looking after people is the way forward not the selfish greed politics of the right.
@@roberttewnion1690 Your devolved government is the SNP, they are the ones that failed you. The only thing Westminster does for you is give you 15 billion a year extra.
@@xtc2v its these shitty tory policies of helping the corporations and creating britain as a tax haven at the expense of a few small companies falling foul to larger corporations, like googles european hq in kings cross
@@c3realK1ll4h Transnational companies (like Google) only remit profits to tax havens. Ireland has a huge GDP because of all the companies that HQ there. Britain is not a tax haven though its desperate enough to try and attract some business to stay by keeping taxes reasonable. You need to take account of all the flight of uk firms that have closed down here and set up elsewhere. Hundreds of old names no longer manufacture here. This country has not made a significant fiscal surplus for 20 years. What would you do to bring and retain business here?
80's oil revenue also paid the dole for the 1:10 unemployment number due to Thatchers monetarist following, thus high value of sterling collapsing competitive exports and causing massive deindustrialisation. Interest rates reached 15%, new indirect taxation, house prices rose then collapsed, negative equities, sheer misery for millions. Mr Thatcher had many non e ecutive directorships, given a hereditary Peerage so failed accountant son now has the Peerage. Remember how Mrs T started using the "One" has or does descriptive reference to herself? Thatcher was only became Tory leader because of her radical ideas but they didn't work.
Norway implemented a system similar to Alberta’s Heritage Trust Fund, which ironically has only shrunk while Norway’s kept growing. To be fair, the magic beans we were promised looked really, really good and when we eventually get them I’m sure the bean stalk is going to be amazing!
I lived in Alberta for over 8 years, They have given away their Heritage fund to the Oil companies , very low taxes on corporations , no over sight , no refineries , no use being made of the by products of oil, just giving away the future ,
Thatcher started a process of reducing public spending (rolling back the frontiers of the state), reducing taxation and privatisation of almost every sector of the economy. This has been continued right through to today, slowly chipping away at public services, outsourcing, and funding unnecessary income giveaways to the better off. Introducing all manner of tax loopholes, allowing anyone with a few million to 'hide' their money offshore in one of the tax havens we - the British people - allow and maintain. The gap between rich and poor continued to widen, until we have an IMMORAL wealth divide today - millionaires who pay little or no tax, being able to exclude themselves from the system the rest of us have to live under. This is the real reason why young people cannot afford to buy a home of their own today.
A wonderfully straightforward explanation of failed Tory economic policies; somewhat like the £30 BILLION recently sqandered on track & trace. The grocer’s daughter wasted the oil tax windfall instead of saving some of it for rainy days to come. The fallouts from the 2008 financial crisis & the current pandemic would be much less devastating if we only had a national equivalent of the emergency fund we’re all told to keep in reserve.
Biggest reasons, Every Tory government since the mid 70s. Its the same where I live in Alberta. 40 odd years of Conservative rule in our province has led to it all being pissed away.
@@goclick you can not blame the corporations or the people for the mismanagement of money the government has given them. They are under no oblifation to spend it wisely they will spend 8t or ivest it where they think it will help them the most. Where as the government is there to spend it wisto help the people and the province sustain them selves.
Where do you start? Economic restructuring, aka de industrialisation. Mass unemployment kept from civil unrest by the revenues, which should've been used to make our industries competitive.
Blown mostly on the welfare state and unemployment benefits when what was left of British Industry was destroyed (3 million unemployed) and substituted for a low wage low skilled service industry ( or 3rd industrial revolution ) Now the path is being prepared for the 4th industrial revolution it will be interesting where the money will come from to pay for that change.
The problem is that the British spent the money instead of investing it. This is a recurring theme. They did the same with the Marshall plan money. R&D tends to give a better return than tax cuts. Notice how the Americans built large parts of their economy by using government money to create technology. This allowed them to sponsor the industry which later generated a lot of wealth.
Sadly the political system of the UK does not follow good governance for its citizens no matter where your political views lie, you only have to look at the wage rises MP's pay themselves I don't see any of them refusing. We live in a divided nation affluent south crumbs for everyone else.
Scottish Liberation is inevitable and impending. Englistan better brace for bankruptcy. They have no natural resources or global exports like Scotland.
Norway's politicians have fortunately very little say over the investments of the SWF. Because they are pretty inept and uneducated, unlike the people running the SWF.
Scotland lost the chance to take its independence and use the oil wealth properly (As 94% of all uk oil fields lay within Scottish waters) I say this to the Scottish people, NEXT TIME you get the chance of independence GRAB IT with both hands and get out of the UK (The EU is a longer term better market also wider world too) Yes, there's still some oil in Scottish waters that could be handy after Independence and provide a welcomed revenue, but as I understand Scotland will soon surpass 100% in renewables such as solar, wind and sea generated energy. Scotland's long term plan should be to EXCEED 100% and export it's surplus energy to its nearest neighbors who are desperate for energy supplies And unlike oil which eventually runs out, renewable energy doesn't and goes on and on and can be expanded... (unless after thousands of years Scotland's climate changes and I don't think that will happen in near time) Renewable exports can be just as big to any economy as oil booms were and they also create cleaner greener energy and jobs Go for it SCOTLAND. This time don't let them scare you off
This fuels my derision of Westminster - to see the oil being squandered. We've ended up oil poor where other nations are oil rich. British Governments have always been, and continue to be, short term outlookers - focussing on the next 4 years as opposed to what's good for the country in the long term. What a shame. So much expensive education wasted on luddites.
Since Thatcher, it's all about the individual. Me, me, me. I would not even refer to the UK as a nation or united or great. No contract between citizens otherwise no government would ever have allowed such plundering of its natural resources.....nothing less than a crime.
Norway: What can we do for the long term benefit of everybody? UK Gov (mostly Tory): What can we cream off from the public funds to our donors and ourselves from our term in office?
I don't think Maggie was intentionally corrupt. She was dogmatic about her political beliefs to the point that rational debate, reason and logic were futile. That spraying the windfall around also helped buy the next two elections was just the icing on the cake.
@@polaris7122 Obviously he sold it at a record low as the price of gold has steadily dropped since 1992. He ditched a consistently depreciating commodity in the hopes it would continue to depreciate and it did and still is. Gold has been almost abundant since the 1970's to the point that it stopped being considered a precious metal for a time, even now that it has found a new use in electronics we still dig up more of it than smartphone makers need meaning those who own any lose value. Something is only valuable if it is scarce or hard to come by. Brown lost us 7 billion by selling when he did, but if we sold the same amount today we'd lose 11 billion, and if gold keeps going the way of silver it won't be a precious metal in 50 years. We may as well be stockpiling rocks.
Because the Norwegian politicians and companies don't take Lobbyists or Foreign Oil companies on board nor their promised bribes post retirements. Look at all the Aussie and UK ones who rushed to join US lobby consultancy, to pick up barsoaps in their bathhouse, post politics.
@@scottwhitley3392 if you have a pizza and divide it between 67 people and then divide the same pizza between 6 people. Have a guess which group will have the largest slices?
The difference is more than that, as stated by the video. If the UK managed to keep spending down (larger population but also larger tax base, so that should have been possible) it could have built a SWF. It would not have been as large, and not as important for the economy, but it would still have provided profit for the government also now that North Sea oil and gas is only a fraction of what it used to be. That is the wasted possibility. Lower tax income from oil and tax is also a choice that the UK did, and if that was done because they were afraid that companies would not invest it was the wrong choice as shown by the Norwegian sector being developed despite very high taxes on oil profits.
I remember studying this at Uni and it always amazes me that British politicians of either party think so short term, nothing is ever invested in long term thinking it’s all about bribing the voters ready for the next election.
Because Norwegian monarch can intervene (even veto a law) to make a more long-term vision for the country, since the King of Norway is a member of the Council of State, while British monarch cannot intervene too much, constitutionally. Politicians come and go, but the King stays to safeguard the long term visions.
@@saltymonke3682 Yea, the King has ALL power still, but he never use it.. Last time he used his power, was when Germany invaded. The government wanted to surrender, King said NO.. Never!!
@@firstnamesurname5376 no constitution?? 😂😂😂😂😂 it's literally one of the oldest constitutional monarchs in the world, have you heard about Magna Carta from 1200s? 😂😂😂😂 after that there are Acts of Parliament, Bill of Rights, Act of Union. etc. It's not styled like American Constitution because the American Constitution is styled after UK. and no, Her or His majesty won't be thrown out of His or her throne for exercising his or her constitutional duty and power. How do we know? Australia Constitutional crisis in 1980s.
Because they sold it off to big Oil Companies so all profits went to share holders and not the Government Oil Gas Water Electricity should all be Nationalised and profits kept for the good of the country and not Shareholders .
What a disastrous story for UK. We squandered this unique resource. We continue to be badly served by politicians who are only interested in getting reelected as we were in the 70s and 80s.
"Though, to be fair, investing most of it in an oil fund might not have been realistic." I disagree, and I disagree quite a bit. The income was, as you yourself said, used to finance tax cuts. if those tax cuts hadn't been made the UK could've invested the oil wealth instead. But as is normal with right wing liberal policies, short term gains is valued over long term gains. Quick populist policies valued over financially and socially healthier political options. Making investments were very realistic - just not with the government you had at the time.
When you say "UK" you mean England, Labour under Callaghan decided not to have a UK Wealth Fund, Denis Healey noted in his memoirs that this was to prevent Scotland seeing her wealth and possibly leaving the UK.
The funny thing is, Thatcher claimed Conservatives are better at economics, taxes and claimed, there is no such thing as society. And then comes Norway... 🇳🇴 😂
It seems like the oil companies were writing government policy. Instead of the government having a stake in the oil companies, the oil companies had a stake in the UK government. hmmm
Frankly let the whining ingrates go. If I never had to hear another word from the SNP and their cronies again I would be a happy man. They can have the joy of finding their total income drop by over 10% and perhaps we will see that money go to other areas in the UK that need it more.....
@@alganhar1 Ireland with no oil and other natural resources- English: let them go I will never have to hear them complain again and watch their economy turn to shit Ireland today: highest GDP in Europe
@@alganhar1 as a Canadian government minister said a few years ago. Scotland is the only country in the world to discover oil and not to have benefitted from it as the proceeds were stolen by another nation. It's the English that are the ingrates here.
Norway is democratic socialist, so they used their natural resources and national wealth to help its citizens. The UK is NeoLiberal capitalist, so they used their oil wealth and natural resources to line the pockets of 2 or 3 billionaires and maintain the lavish lifestyles the aristocracy were accustomed to since the empire.
How will people blame this on Labour I wonder? "If Labour hadn't let Thatcher beat them this would never have happened!!!" Don't forget, Gordon Brown sold the gold!! 😢😢😢😢
Regarding GB selling the gold - that was to prop up the Euro, because Tony Blair wanted a British republic as part of a country of Europe. TB did many things to cosy up to the EU, many of which are the reason a lot of people voted (erroneously) to leave.
Privatisation that's why through Thatcher we have lowest pensions in Europe and many of our standards life chances are very low ,compared to Norway who's people enjoy much better standard of life .
Lang Hancock flew over the Pilbara, Western Australia in 1952, identified iron ore sites and took possession, making him and his descendants some of the richest people on the planet. When Phillips Petroleum found oil and gas in the North Sea in the late sixties, they had to acquire licensing rights from the Norwegian government to extract it, making the country the richest in the world.
Short termism reigns in the UK. The fall of empire, and not being able to cope with that meant the UK needed the money to try to maintain its status, which of course was no longer possible. The economic downfall compared to its neighbours could only be masked by spaffing up the oil funds and selling the family silver. Where other nations might have similar national debt levels, they at least have national assets left. The UK is now left with no oil, no wealth fund and hardly any family silver.
The fall of the empire has nothing and "not being able to cope" did not cause british short termism. Its always been there,if anything it helped contribute to it. There's always been a lack of strategic thinking in Britain, economically and geostrategically
This video brushed over the point that the UK now has 68M people and Norway 5.5M. The UK had to significantly restructure its economy as it was being wiped out from cost Asian manufacturing competing with UK production as well as high cost of energy from low productivity local coal mines. Thatcher era also saw home ownership for average incomes from very low to western world average.
How much extra population did the Uk purchase compared to Norway over the same time? More pop lower wages socialize the costs and privatize the benefit.
Even if the UK had salted away a little of this revenue for the future and not blown it on giving it away to government cronies it might have been put to better use during this pandemic and the nhs.
Norway was, at least in the 70-80s, a more socialistic country than Britain. I suppose the idea of a state-controlled oil-company and high taxes was a no-brainer back in those days. But, as Thatcherism and Reaganism flushed over our shores as well, we've become slightly less optimistic about state-controlled companies and high taxes (although we probably don't have good reasons for it). This is to say that I believe one crucial difference is the ideology at the time. Also, I think it's fair to say the Norwegian, no matter which era, would be more trusting in the state than Brits - so naturally we are more inclined to allow the state to "reap the benefits", trusting it will benefit all of us.
Fuel price at the pump is about 42p it gets to £1.20 from double taxation (Fuel Duty + VAT) it's effectively a 130% tax for HMRC coffers. That's where most of the money goes!
You can argue that the high tax cuts car use (but it probably doesn’t) and may encourage transition to electric vehicles (which are still too expensive).
Norway has 8% of the population of the UK and bigger reserves of hydrocarbons. Norway has higher tax rates but also higher level of social services. It is a lot more expensive to live in Norway than the UK. What the hell good is a sovereign fund if it isn’t being used? Perhaps they should waste it like the Middle East by buying football clubs and making non-national athletes overpaid citizens? Norwegians are a progressive people, but to compare them with the UK is like comparing Vietnam to China. Dumb.
I worked at sullom voe oil terminal late 70's. I went from working 40 hours for £25 per week. To £350 for not working. I was constantly told to slow down, go for a kip (sleep) . I doubt i actually worked 15 hours a week. Was great at the time, but looking back makes me realise why the uk was a mess . Oh and there was over 6,000 people working there at the time.
Successful people don't become that way overnight. most people see at a glance-wealth, a great career, purpose-is the result of hard work and hustle over time. I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life
My first investment with Clara gave me upto $53,000 and that has made me invest without the fear of losing, I got four of my friends involved with her already.
So glad I found this channel!! Very Interesting I think you touched on the main point, the UK spent the money changing its economy to more of a services based view, and that money enabled it. Norway didn’t invest it in itself rather than invest it in other countries and has had a massive return! I think in isolation the argument is valid that Norway made the right decision however looking at the economic output of the UK and comparing it to Norway it’s a more complicated view.
Danish Governments have mostly invested our oil revenue in welfare and green technology; today the oil revenue (DK is the EUs largest oil exporter after the UK left the EU) is spent on changing the national energy infrastructure from fossil fuels to renewable green energy sources.
@@Mosern1977 I think most Danes would say yes; around $80bn has been added to the Danish treasury since the 1970s from oil and gas revenue. But the oil adventure is coming to an end; the position of the current government and its supporters is, that no new licenses to drill after oil in the Danish part of the North Sea will be issued. This leaves a gap that will need to be filled with other revenue from around 2040 and onwards, hopefully from selling renewable energy to our neighbors.
@@thoso1973 - hmm, but in order to sell power you must make it cheaper than your competition. And I'm talking about actual cheaper, not including any "green" subsidies.
@@harrybarrow6222 - well, taxing things does not increase productivity. If so - we would have taxed rain and sunshine a long time ago and be rich today.
1. The country doesn't get all the wealth, only the tax revenue. Most of the companies extracting the oil were American. The tax revenue was used to pay for public services and to lower taxes. 2. Norway is still a high tax economy (in terms of both income tax and sales tax). They rarely dip into their wealth fund. The fund was created because Norway had a far narrower economy than the UK and oil dominated that economy. the fund is there to stop fluctuations in the oil price denting the Norwegian economy.
Most of what you state here is totally wrong. 1. Norway established a state owned oil company, and enjoy not only the tax income, but also company profit as well as profit from the share value. 2. Norway made a law that 50 % ownership of the oil fields belongs to the Norwegian Oil Companies. Other oil companies were British, French, Italian and US. The international oil companies pays a hefty price to drill and produce oil and gas on the Norwegian shelf. 3. High income tax economy: NO. ... Corp tax: 22 % and average personal income tax:19 % and among the lowest in Europe 4. The fund was created because the people of Norway should own and enjoy the Norwegian resources. The oil income should not affect the Norwegian economy, and that the money should not be invested in the Norwegian mainland.
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Please can you do the economics of freddo chocolate bar.
It's used by the middle and lower class in the UK to track inflation in both size and cost.
@@Jordan_Warrington that's a great shout! 😂
You missed the whole WWII debt issue. Norway had none, Britain had loads.
As an Australian we got late the the SWF party once we realised where Norway was headed.
It interesting to see Margret Thatcher's involvement because she was the high priestess to Ronald Reagans high priest of "neoliberalism" that's dominated western economic thinking for the past 40+ years.
Mark Blyth ahs talked about that a lot and what its achieved for the top 1% while its completely fleeced the bottom 99%. He's mentioned recent Rand report that highlights among other things that America's top 1% made off with $47 Trillion between 1978 & 2018.
To give that some perspective, the game show "who wants to be a millionaire" had a box with a million dollars in it. That box was about 1 cubic foot. A standard 20ft container with about 1130 cubic feet of space can there fore hold about $1billion in cash. The ship that just got stuck in the Suez canal the _"Even Given"_ is a Golden Class container carrier and they have a capacity of 20,124 TEU (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit) So in terms of raw cash in 20ft containers that ship can basically sail off with $20 Trillion on board, which isn't even half what the top 1% of America have made off with since 1978.
Considering Margret Thatcher did to Britain what Reagan did to America is it any wonder that Norway has a SWF that's worth a $trillion and they own over 1.5% of the worlds shares while they are only 0.07% of the worlds population. *If that doesn't explain how neoliberalism has failed nothing will.*
The short answer is that Maggie Thatcher spent it on dole money to smash the Unions.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned "Good Governance", a quality that has been sadly lacking in the UK for a very long time.
UK was on coarse to bankruptcy from the moment we elected Clement Atlee.
It's what decided me to go abroad in the late 80's. I could see the country making one mistake after another, just for short term gain for some, and they are still at it.
@@squirrel6338 Nonsense. That is just your personal opinion. His government gave us the NHS. (And it is “course”, not “coarse”).
@@squirrel6338 not necessarily, many of the more inefficient policies of the Attlee government were scrapped by the tories in the early 50s, like getting rid of some nationalisation. It’s more about the policy of constantly subsidising and encouraging mergers in industries that were dying, instead of helping to grow firms entering in industries that were actually rising up.
So no, it’s not just about the Attlee government
And both the Tories and Labour were perfectly with demand management which arguably caused stagflation
The UK’s policy is not less successful than Norway’s, it simply had different aims.
Norway intended to bring about long term economic stability and increased living standards for its people and has been more or less succeeded in that aim.
The uks aim was to divert the wealth created by the resources into the pockets of a few very wealthy people. It also succeeded.
Good joke.
@@engelsteinberg593 would be funny if it wasn’t true
@PGH Engineer You missed out 'failing' from in front of 'laissez faire' ;-)
Forking tory greed. Thatcher was not really of the people, even though she was basically from a working class background. Delusions of grandeur from the Milk Snatcher. She must have loved self-flagellation!
Nailed it.
You hit it one, Tax cuts, and investing into the Future. GB Govt and British Company CEO's do not Invest for the future, it's all about ME and NOW.
I once read a cabinet minister said they don’t invest long term in infrastructure or suchlike because they don’t want the opposition to reap the credit.
@@billtomo yes you likely to be right on that. Where I live, there is the A12 main Rd that runs up from the M25 to our largest Container Port in UK. The A12 was dueled in 1975, yes thats right, it is not a Motorway just an A road duel carriage way. They have done nothing to it apart from filling in potholes. We have dozens of Tory MP's here yet nothing happens, and houses are popping up everywhere.
Exactly - right on the money
GB did tax cuts hence why they had less return. Did you not watch the whole video?
UK Govt could have managed better. However, tax cuts passed benefits to the taxpayers. Another question would be: what did the taxpayers do with this extra money? It helped me buy my first property.
Squandered and managed by governments "living for the now" and spending for votes. Short term wins for long term pain and regret.
More like, squandered by corrupt officials who wanted the profits for themselves rather than having to share them with the nation.
I suspect you will find that the sovereign wealth of the UK ended up via multiple methods into the hands of the already extraordinary wealthy. Whereas Norway considered all the population should share in that bounty as they have done.
Yes it's the population of Norway's oil, and the state work fore us, not some few crooked fu(kers. But sadly that's changing 😒 and we have it to good so they get away whit it fore now
You say that but the UK used the oil wealth to reduce higher tax from 60% to 40% thats probably created more wealth overall
@@dannycostello Well I think you just proved my point. They could, for example chosen to reduce the bottom rate of tax. A 1% reduction in that area would help far more people to a significantly greater degree. And that money would have been spent rapido boosting the economy.
@@billgreen576 problem is that when a few get extraordinary rich, they stop caring about the rest of the people in the country. And money talks so much of the politicians can be brought off. Its just shit for the UK as a whole cuz most of the highest taxable people just move to tax heavens and the rest of the population is stuck with the bill
@@billgreen576 Exactly
Norway recognised its one opportunity...... and did not blow it.
Norway recognised the value of society, something Thatcher denied existed
Spoiler alert: Greed is not a Virtue!
@@BartSliggers Feel free to give up everything you own
@@dan79600 Or stop bootlicking the billionaires... The sooner you realise you have more in common with a homeless person the better. Most of us genuinely have very little to “give up” lmao
@@dan79600 So true; it’s really ironic when capitalism has made that for someone to partake in society online they have to use platforms owned by billionaires. Almost like there isn’t a choice... huh. You can be forced to use something and still oppose it; or you can bootlick your masters like you do ;)
Thatcher wasted the oil windfall on paying the dole bill in the same way that money from council house sales wasn't reinvested in new homes. 40 years on we now live in a world where the madness of both shortsighted policies has caused untold damage and proved to be very very expensive mistakes.
Lol. It was labour that gave away our oil resources to big businesses. But both parties gave what money was left to social services. So what did we learn? All party politicians are corrupt and the parties are even worse.
Thatcher marks the downturn of the UK's economy, using the same thought process of 'wonga loans' to get us out of a pit, just to fall back in when the loan needed repaying. Not to mention the reduction of corporation tax and the privatisation of necessary services e.g. trains
Which "dole bill" are you referring to? The coporate or the disadvantaged? We all know where most of those billions went and it wasn't toward measly state welfare payments?? ;-))
You hit the nail on the head with the comment about not reinvesting in council house sales I’ve been saying that for 40 years
I remember when North sea oil was found.
We were told we would be like the Arab countries.
No income tax.
Cheap petrol.
New hospitals.
New schools.
Saw none of it...
Unemployment benefits and tax cuts
Its not just the UK. Here in Australia we have completely wasted the resources, only a very small sovereign wealth fund. We export our gas and then re-import it at a higher price.
This happens because the same guys are involved in this affair in UK like in Australia or at least they have the same perspective . They are masterminding these like in old times when Australia was just a colony, but now is its natural resources. When some politician raise his voice and pointed out the problem he was dismissed.
Far right politics , when will people learn?
Australian Government is a shamble. This country deserves better. This is what happen when corporate interests overtake the government.
More could be had from our resource wealth but remember Australia has superannuation which does the same job as a sovereign wealth fund. But it's funded by everyone in all sectors and gets invested in all sectors including resources. It's arguably more sustainable and reliable than Norway's sovereign fund. They had no way to know what the future would be like for oil at the time it was instituted. The UK has nothing to show for itself though. It didn't make private pensions the default until 2008 and it wasn't fully enforced until 2017. A third of UK households still have no private fund. How they're going to pay what is already the developed world's lowest pensions in an aging population who knows.
@@mksensej8701 Sounds like Australia's crooks-in-office would give their British counterparts a run for their money, which is impressive.
I remember the headlines on virtually every newspaper in the 1970's: "Once the oil starts flowing we will be as well off as Saudi Arabia. " A vast fortune was wasted or went into the pockets of a few.
Britain got three times the population, and their oil reserves were at least less than 5% of Saudi-Arabia's, probably way less than 5%. Not really a fair comparison in my opinion.
Our oil is deeper down and costs much more to extract compared to Saudi Arabia.
@@marcgraham412 Watch the video, think about it, read my original comment, think about it and once you have understood everything try not to act like some idiot.
@@hanshartfiel6394 I did three times now. I still don't understand your point.
"A vast fortune was wasted or went into the pockets of a few."
Britan's oil money didn't go in the pockets of a few. But your other example did, 20% of native-born Saudis live in poverty. Saudi Arabia has 3 of the 4 richest people in the middle east. All made their wealth exclusively from the oil.
Saudi Arabia got rich from oil because they had the largest oil reserve in the entire world. The reason UK didn't get rich from oil like Saudi Arabia wasn't because the money went in the pockets to a few. But because they had three times the population, sharing a very small fraction of Saudi's reserve.
01:27 Restructuring of the UK economy during an era of deindustrialization. Helping to cover some of the cost of the process.
02:58 Investing the money in an oil fund may not have been realistic.
@@drSvensen The video is what matters here and the comparison of the UK and Norway and how each nation invested or wasted the riches coming out of the Northsea.
I only quoted the headlines of the newspapers of the time.
I don't know your age but reckon that you were either not born in the 1970's or were still a little boy more interested in kicking a ball than reading a newspaper.
At no time was I comparing Saudi Arabia or Norway with the UK.
My dad worked most of his life for British Gas. He was a High-Flier and was on the Gas Council in Croydon. He would have become Chairman if Thatcher had not privatised the state owned company and broken it up in the 80's. My dad reckoned there was enough gas in the North Sea to last until 2040 not counting the Irish Sea or Morcombe Bay. At about the same time the National Electricity Board was broken up. These two state owned companies were in direct completion with each other. Separate showrooms in every town, selling fridges that worked on gas and electricity. The Gas Council was supposed to be kept in situ to supervise the new independent gas companies, but pressure was put on the Government to scrap it. Now there was no oversight committee. My Dad was forced to resign and sign a document that he would never reveal what had been going on behind closed doors other wise it would effect his gold plated pension. What happened then was that the gas companies starting selling cheap North Sea Gas to the new Independent Electricity Companies. A gas cooker wasted about 16% of it gas. The Electricity Boards were using it to turn their turbines and wasting over 50% of the gas in doing so. It made multi millionaires out of all the CEO's and you will not find one of them in situ. They thought they were going to get caught. It did not stop there. The Independent gas companies then put pressure on the Government to dismantle and scrap all the storage units in each town, stating they did not need them and they were costly to service. Ooops, they suddenly needed them about 15yrs ago when they started running out of North Sea gas. They had to very quickly build one in Kent to receive Liquid Gas from Nigeria and then another in North Wales to serve Scotland. ??? Treason was committed and they have got away with it, including the politicians. My Dad passed away last year.
This is incredible history. Yes treason is the correct term for what happened.
Fascinating read, It's been over 40 years & the country is still suffering from the legacy of Thatcherism. The political class/establishment are in thrall to her & any politician that tries to challenge that consensus is ostracized. Things will get better, but it's going to take a long time I think.
Nice story but ignores the Economic reality. Uk does not produce enough oil and gas to significantly influence the global price of oil and gas. When the market price drops below about $60 dollars / barrel it costs more to extract it than sell it. The reserves are still there it just that no one wants to buy it. The Uk also consumes over 40 million tonnes of oil more than it produces each year. Now that the world has passed peak oil. The UK Govt is also not facing the huge cost of decommissioning.
Norway also has about 20% of its population on State benefits whilst the UK has over 50%.
The state owned companies in the 1970s where in many cases so inefficient that they were costing the Govts money to keep them afloat. In 1979 the Thatcher Govt was voted in on a landslide majority with manifesto to privatise steel, railways, airways, airports and aerospace; and, of the utilities, gas, electricity, telecoms and water. This is what the population voted for in huge numbers after the winter of discontent. These industries had only been nationalised in the first instance by the Atlee Govt of the in 1940's following the 2nd world war.
@@badwolf8787 agree. social welfare is not the reason for our stagnation and great decline. Putting a country’s wealth and means of production into the hands of privateers has failed. 40 years on we’re a plutocracy floating adrift to irrelevance in the North Sea. Our leaders don’t plan for the future they only seek to gain short term. There is no plan or vision for rejuvenation apart from “green revolution” which is supposed to put the west on par with China. They’re already 20 years ahead! No corporation or billionaire fund can contest with a state of that size with clear objectives and its people onside. Rip UK
@Dave Coyle I love how you've brought Corbyn up despite the fact I didn't even mention him lol.
Short-Termism is a British disease. You only have to look at our companies. Top German businesses look at 20 to 50 year plans, while UK management look at 5 years, an LTIP management bonus and sale of their best assets to a foreign buyer.
It is certainly driven by the short-termism of shareholders, who just want a quick buck. A weakness of modern capitalism.
Green new deal is their answer to Chinas century of planning. 40 years too late lol
Btw,50%of so called hidden champions are german companies.worlwide.( small to middle sized companies leading in their field) excuse my English!
Kudos to the Norwegian government's foresight all those years ago. If the current British government were running Norway (God forbid), I'm sure they would already be looking for ways to get around the SWF protections to get their hands on the money.
Pffft! They're giving it all away to their corrupt globalist friends so kudos to SHIT!!
@@fuqupal You mean the Norwegian government is giving to the globalists? Interesting. Tell us more
Norway is a tyrannical shithole. They have social worker-style policing, which has seen the state kidnap children and religious and political minorities flee the country.
The UK may have had Thatcher use oil money to centralise and control everything - to keep it from the lefty loons who run everything anyway - but at least the UK is freer than Norway. Well, at least for now. Being freer than Norway is a pretty low bar.
Left fascism just seems to keep winning.
What are you on about ? Mind saying a bit more about that whole abduction thing ?
@@machintrucGaming Yes, I wouldn't mind some links from reputable sites. First time I've heard anything about this
This is the Government equivalent of...
Norway Payday = Save a large chunk.. perhaps go on one nice trip in the month
UK Payday = Woohoo! Down the pub.. drinks are on me!
Yeah we took all the drugs in the 80’s
@@barrysmith4674 I didn't but I know a lot who did. 😂🤣😅😆😁
UK payday - woohoo, lets take our money offshore so we don't have to pay tax!
"Restructuring of the economy" is a euphemism for destroying the north's economy, creating unemployment to discipline the workforce, emasculating the trade unions, atomising society, politically isolating the individual citizen, creating a low-wage service economy, which ensured wages would stagnate and that an ever-greater proportion of the country's wealth goes to the 1%, as the government became more and more dependent on the financial sector. The UK remains a divided nation and London is another country entirely. The present generation have rejected politics and have chosen intersectionality instead.
YES !
Spot on.. It takes so long to educate folks.
Absolutely my favourite economics channel! It would be great if we could get an episode on some African countries too. Maybe Ghana, Nigeria or South Africa could be interesting!
Glad you think so! Thank you 👍
Nigeria has pissed away or should I say siphoned it's oil money away.
@@Bruce-1956 As a Nigerian, I endorse your comment
The city of London or the corporation of London, is my prime suspect without even watching this clip.
It actually runs the country. The government is just for show.
Ran by a Norwegian mayor btw :)
Norway’s sovereign oil fund is a contributing factor as to why they are so prosperous, do you think every country can have a sovereign commodity fund for the good of their citizens? Great job on the channel!
Well USA doesn't need one. It just prints a trillion dollars when it needs it. Its good to have the world-currency. Wonder how long they can keep that up.
Norway have something like 75% tax on oil and the state shared the expenses of developing new oil fields. The oil companies tried to hustle the Norwegian people at first trying to blow up the pumping cost but we hired an 3.third party expert that the oil companies couldn't corrupt/buy off. True fact!
You work for 40yrs to have $1M in your retirement, meanwhile some people are putting just $10K in a bitcoin from just a few months ago and now they are multi millionaires..🇺🇸.
The UK hardly saw anything for its oil wealth - the Tories quickly sold off everything for a quick buck, used it for tax cuts for the wealthiest, and made a mint for their pals in the private sector.
They reduced the tax for the riggers and put it onto corporation tax instead. Hardly seems like looking after the private sector.
@@micallef87 Your not one to go and find the truth then.
@@micallef87 they reduced corporation tax from 60% to 40%, they reduced the top rate of personal tax too.
They also used the money to bribe the electorate into voting for them again.
I have wondered about this. Still if there was £200 BN in a pot, you can be absolutely sure a chancellor of the exchequer would have raided it by now.
Like large chunk of our gold reserves being sold off by a certain chancellor to pay for unrealistic spending in an attempt to “buy” more votes. Sold at a historicaly low price as well
@@warone100 well according to the financial Times Gordon Brown made the correct decision, as gold doesn't pay any income, it just sits there looking pretty. And he didn't sell all of our gold reserves. So the money raised from the sale of some of our gold, was reinvested into income paying assets. So that income could have been used to fund public services, you know those vital services that we all rely on. Unless your a tory of course, as tories don't do public services like the NHS, police etc etc etc. The tories always just cut funding for all public services including NHS. Also you could say that if he'd sold it 12 yrs later he would have got significantly more for it, but nobody knows that beforehand that's only with hindsight. And about the same time as Gordon sold gold other countries were doing the same. The FT also said gold is a speculative asset, it's risky,as the price can fluctuate wildly and it doesn't pay any income. And the price of gold started going down after 2011, so if he had held onto the gold it would have just sat there, it wouldn't have realised any profit unless it was sold, but after 2011 the price started going down. Also the income from the new assets brought with proceeds of gold sale would have offset price increase in the gold. And by unrealistic spending are you referring to properly funding public services instead of giving tax cuts to big corporate businesses and the wealthy and higher payed, which doesn't benefit the majority of people or this country as a whole,or the economy
@@fredatlas4396 well unless your a labour supporter of course that makes sense. Because you’ll be blind to common sense. You’ll be absolutely annoyed and blind with rage that anybody sensible would disagree with you. Once labour only labour put a labour badge on a donkey and you’d vote for it. Corbyn giving all that that free money away as welll heh? To bad to many Britons had commen sense and voted that idiot out of existence
@@warone100 your entitled to your opinion same as me, but it looks like the real conmen are now running this country. ie our tory government since 2010. Economy in a mess, national debt higher than it was in 2010, and immigration higher than ever before, despite tory promises to the contrary back in 2010. All of this even before the corona virus pandemic arrived, and we are now in the worst recession of all the major economies in the world. All this thanks to our tory government since 2010 and brexit. So who's really been conned. Put a tory badge on a lying crook and you'll vote for him and the con party
@@fredatlas4396 remember that “No money left note “ given Tory government when they took power ? Probably not. Dept takes decades to recover even in good times and immigration control was not fully in our power because of Europe and still not today we NEED European consensus on that and they don’t seem to have much control themselves. I’ve voted for a few different political groups in my time I bet you voted for one.your language on the Tory party betrays you. No point talking to you really it’s ingrained. Try Twitter it’s algorithm with only put you into contact with people who agree with you, you’ll enjoy that. Elements of the Labour Party want to break away from itself. The best thing I can do is let you talk because it shows how bad the left is right now and your so ingrained you can’t see that.
Where is SCOTLANDS wealth!!!
Very informative, thanks.
Just to add that Shetland and the Isles of the north DO have a sovereign wealth fund of their own and makes one wonder what-if the rest of the country had followed suit.
Sadly, the UK government loves stealth taxes hence the income tax rate might have fallen but property taxes endure on its citizens and businesses that are treated as captive audiences.
Additionally, the UK government likes to institute one-off taxes that go under the name ‘windfall’.
It all shows a government that manages in a ‘hand-to-mouth’ way with no long-term plan.
The UK has the lowest state pension and the funding of social care is in disarray.
Thanks again.
In other words Maggie wasted the UK's birthright on tax cuts for her rich mates & paying for the unemployment created by her "economic restructuring".
precisely!
But who are people who worship her even today ?
Yes, Britain would have been much better off if we were still mining coal and building terrible, union-crippled cars! 🙄
@@mebsrea it would have been better off with an oil-fund
When Margaret Thatcher is mentioned I always feel bad for atheists. They miss out on the joy of believing she is burning in eternal hellfire. She had to be buried in a tomb because a grave would have been pissed on so many times grass would never grow.
Greetings from 🇳🇴! The story goes on, and our country is as before following the UK (western world), a few steps behind. Also when it comes to neoliberalism. Much more of the offshore value chain is now privatised, along with health, welfare, transportation and more. The promised pension returns are now being reevaluated, and most (well earning) individuals are setting up private funds - because our government told us to do so. I’m 55, so it’s too late for some of us. The income gap is rapidly expanding, even in a very lucky nation like ours. Socialism for a few, not for all? Go figure... Thanks for the great video! 🍀
As a fellow Norwegian I’m sad to say that you’re 100% right. Neoliberalism is destroying our country.
a factor is also Norway is not producing children enough, like most western countries, and will be so much fewer to pay and take care of the exploding number of senior citizens. One looked at the oil/pension fund a few years back and was thinking 'we will be wealthy senior citizens'. Now one see that the fund might be hardly enough to survive, even if it's that big. Time will tell
@@Rimrock300 Sure, like many other countries. But causally this is an outcome of policy/politics and not a reason in itself.
With much higher costs of living, and more gender equality (good), a couple will need two full educational and professional lives. In Norway those are the major reasons for having fewer children since around 1990’s according to statistics.
Though a lot of the companies nowadays extracting oil are private, it still needs to be emphasized that they pay a 78% tax on their profits from the extracted oil.
@@correctionguy7632 I stand corrected (Correction guy, right?) - But petroleum taxation is really (!) complicated... So, let’s try revenue stream (cash) 2019 instead:
State of Norway $29,3 bn (total sector)
Equinor $13,5 bn (one company) after tax
Adding every other company would take too long... I still imagine that those numbers show who’s really making money here. Since money is power, the power is in the corporate realm. As in every other “western” neoliberal nation state.
If any state could (dared) tax a corporation just 2,5% on revenue, the sum would be more than that of 22% tax on profits, 25% VAT and 35% income tax - Combined. Because companies can write off debt and expenses - You and I can’t. So we pay, they (nearly) don’t. Would a country like 🇳🇴 have had road tolls and welfare/school/police issues if we were really a “rich” nation? I doubt it, the numbers don’t add up.
I'm not quite sure how the UK did it, but Norway decided very early that ALL oil and gas that had not been extracted remaind thge nation's property. Oli and gas companies buy licenses to extract oil/gas, and whatever they don't extract remain the nation's property, which meant that the government could manage the exploration and extraction under less pressure.
Norway went communism with its oil wealth while the UK went capitalism....
@@airrodgers7277 Not really. Norway keeps ownership of the oil and licences the extraction and sale, instead of selling ownership and kissing it all goodbye.
That is much smarter because they could limit extraction when the oil price is low and keep some back for when the price rises again.
@@harrybarrow6222 isn’t government ownership communism, capitalist is when the ownership are own by private entities.
@@airrodgers7277 Maybe you're technically correct? But not really. What country in the world doesn't own it's natural resources? If you're in the US you're going to have to buy your land from the state. You want to chop down a forest to export lumber you're going to need land ownership, or a license issued by the owner (the state).
Norway simply said it wasn't selling.
@@airrodgers7277 Communism is when the government owns ALL businesses.
IN 1975 WHEN THE OIL WAS FIRST DISCOVERED. THE FINANCIAL EXPERTS WERE SAYING IF WE USE THIS MASSIVE WINDFALL CORRECTLY. SOCIALLY THIS COUNTRY COULD CHANGE FROM POVERTY TO ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD. BEST SCHOOLS, GOOD SOCIAL SERVICES AND THE BEST NHS THAT THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN. WHAT HAPPENED? WE HAD A CONSERVATIIVE GOVERNMENT RUNNING TH COUNTRY. NEED SAY MORE.
Yes you need to say more .... you have to explain how the country could both spend the money on Schools and Social Services ... and yet invest the same money into a "Sovereign Wealth Fund".... By the way the amount of money the UK got from the oil revenues almost certainly less than the amount we have thrown away on Foreign Aid and Wars.
No one wants high oil prices Norway has the highest oil prices in Europe that isn’t good
Will never understand why the UK government didn’t set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund? Even if it had been on a modest scale, I could forgive them, but no, it was hosed up against many walls , and wasted! Correct me if I’m wrong please, but didn’t Shetland set up its own SWF? I’m sure it’s been reported that this will help Shetlanders in the future. Politicians of all stripes believe that “long term” is the next round of voting, and ever about their employers!
The difference between pure capitalism which UK and US practice encourages greed and rise of elite rich 1%,while Norway practice social capitalism where 80% of working population become rich, therefore increasing the purchasing power of majority of the population which Will create a stable economy but if you have 1-,10% super rich and 90% Just surviving you create a unstastinable economy
You could call it socialism
Actually UK and US, don't practice pure Capitalism, they practice Keynesianism-Corporativism, because pire capitalism (1) don't have goverment and (2) there is incentive for doing the rigth thing (Generally).
Another great example of what privatisation brings. Profit for the few and nothing for the people.
It was probably old thinking from 1930-1960 ?? There is no truth - more emotion than thinking, perhaps
Well soviet union is a great example of what socialization brings. Environmental catastrophes and starvation.
The UK had much less oil per capita, so its not really a good comparison. Anyways, both countries are top class on life quality so not much to complain.
@@k0zzu21 www.bigissue.com/latest/food-poverty-in-the-uk-the-causes-figures-and-solutions/ there is food poverty in the UK
@@k0zzu21 semi capitalist socialist society is different from that of communist society
@@MrDerebail No there's only capitalist societies with social programs of varying degrees and then there's socialist societies. Capitalism is required to support the social programs. That's what's going on in Europe. The biggest difference between Norway and the UK is the quality of governance.
Im old enough to remember London before the Thatcher high days of North Sea oil. Suddenly overnight huge sums began flowing into the financial industry and most visibly as massive buildings started going up all over and flash shops and Porsches on the streets. Seemingly there was money everywhere.
At the same time Thatcher was forcing the closure of much of UK industry and mining which was in poor shape and had been in decline since the end of Empire post WW1 and especially post WW2. I fully agree that such things as the UK coal mining, textile, ship building, car sectors had to go as they were relics of the past age of the Imperial Preferences policy whereby the far flung Empire was forced to sell GB raw materials cheap (eg Indian cotton) and buy GB made products at high prices. The huge industrial areas of the English midlands and north developed because the Empire was their captive supplier and market.
However the unforgivable sin of Thatcher was that she did not use the North sea oil bonanza in a massive program of redeveloping the economy of these areas with things like re-training and re-skilling the younger and early full pensions for those too old but out of work due to such things as pit closures.
Its absolutely instructive to note that Germany in the 1990's was the sick man of Europe with an arthritic ailing economy and in particular the ruin of the former East Germany which was literally a rust bucket of failed Soviet style command industry producing appalling stuff like the Trabant and building houses out of asbestos sheets.
Germany launched the huge Hartz reform program (now on Hartz 4) whereby via a mix of measures including massive investments in redeveloping the East. Its still running and will do so for at least a generation or two.
Now look at the German economy. The UK could have done the same funded by North Sea revenue but the instead Tories spaffed it on London and the private sector controlled by their cronies.
I firmly believe that the disaster that is Brexit is a direct result. There is no doubt that in England it was and still is a protest vote by those tired of decades of neglect and worse is to come for them.
W•.H•.A•.T•.S•.A•.P•.P
+•1•8•1•6•4•0•8•0•0•2•6
I•n•v•e•s•t•inC•r•y•p••t•o
B•T•CA•N•D•E•T•H..... ..
As a young person in the UK, It annoys me that my government has failed to do much right both now and in the past.
Ditto for me but not because I'm that young but Scottish.
And I imagine as a young bloke you will vote for Labour, which is ironic if you do given the comment above
@@wiganfan3373 well the first election I can vote in is the London Mayoral election and I don't think I will be voting for Sadiq Khan! I can't say who I will vote for PM as proper manifestos for the next campaign haven't been created. It is just interesting to see how much commenters on these kinda videos hate their governments.
Anyone that tries to stop the establishments wealth gets the press to tell lies about them and get brainwashed into believing that tories are the only answer , Norway shows you that looking after people is the way forward not the selfish greed politics of the right.
@@roberttewnion1690 Your devolved government is the SNP, they are the ones that failed you. The only thing Westminster does for you is give you 15 billion a year extra.
Short answer: Thatcher wasted it all. 😏 Instead of using this windfall to boost investment for longer-term prosperity, it was used for tax cuts.
Never has so much been stolen from so many by so few.
By the tories under thatcher in the 1980's
That's the TRUTH......! And they think we don't see it.
@@fredatlas4396 Do you have evidence of embezzlement by individual Tory MPs or are you thinking of lower taxes as a crime
@@xtc2v its these shitty tory policies of helping the corporations and creating britain as a tax haven at the expense of a few small companies falling foul to larger corporations, like googles european hq in kings cross
@@c3realK1ll4h Transnational companies (like Google) only remit profits to tax havens. Ireland has a huge GDP because of all the companies that HQ there. Britain is not a tax haven though its desperate enough to try and attract some business to stay by keeping taxes reasonable. You need to take account of all the flight of uk firms that have closed down here and set up elsewhere. Hundreds of old names no longer manufacture here. This country has not made a significant fiscal surplus for 20 years. What would you do to bring and retain business here?
80's oil revenue also paid the dole for the 1:10 unemployment number due to Thatchers monetarist following, thus high value of sterling collapsing competitive exports and causing massive deindustrialisation. Interest rates reached 15%, new indirect taxation, house prices rose then collapsed, negative equities, sheer misery for millions. Mr Thatcher had many non e ecutive directorships, given a hereditary Peerage so failed accountant son now has the Peerage. Remember how Mrs T started using the "One" has or does descriptive reference to herself? Thatcher was only became Tory leader because of her radical ideas but they didn't work.
I'm glad I subscribed to this channel. It's a hidden gem. Need a video on Colombo port city
I just got to ask you one more question, did Columbo even have a boat?
This was more educational than I expected. Please return to longer videos, I love this channel 😭😭😭😭😭❤❤❤
Norway implemented a system similar to Alberta’s Heritage Trust Fund, which ironically has only shrunk while Norway’s kept growing. To be fair, the magic beans we were promised looked really, really good and when we eventually get them I’m sure the bean stalk is going to be amazing!
I lived in Alberta for over 8 years, They have given away their Heritage fund to the Oil companies , very low taxes on corporations , no over sight , no refineries , no use being made of the by products of oil, just giving away the future ,
Thatcher started a process of reducing public spending (rolling back the frontiers of the state), reducing taxation and privatisation of almost every sector of the economy. This has been continued right through to today, slowly chipping away at public services, outsourcing, and funding unnecessary income giveaways to the better off.
Introducing all manner of tax loopholes, allowing anyone with a few million to 'hide' their money offshore in one of the tax havens we - the British people - allow and maintain. The gap between rich and poor continued to widen, until we have an IMMORAL wealth divide today - millionaires who pay little or no tax, being able to exclude themselves from the system the rest of us have to live under.
This is the real reason why young people cannot afford to buy a home of their own today.
Sold Britain down tbe swanny
A wonderfully straightforward explanation of failed Tory economic policies; somewhat like the £30 BILLION recently sqandered on track & trace. The grocer’s daughter wasted the oil tax windfall instead of saving some of it for rainy days to come. The fallouts from the 2008 financial crisis & the current pandemic would be much less devastating if we only had a national equivalent of the emergency fund we’re all told to keep in reserve.
Biggest reasons, Every Tory government since the mid 70s. Its the same where I live in Alberta. 40 odd years of Conservative rule in our province has led to it all being pissed away.
@@goclick you can not blame the corporations or the people for the mismanagement of money the government has given them. They are under no oblifation to spend it wisely they will spend 8t or ivest it where they think it will help them the most. Where as the government is there to spend it wisto help the people and the province sustain them selves.
@@thearsenalmisfit2414 they elect people like themselves aka spend now
It seems that the Poms gave the rich tax breaks, therefore wasting the money. Like Australia is doing with their mineral wealth!
Where do you start? Economic restructuring, aka de industrialisation. Mass unemployment kept from civil unrest by the revenues, which should've been used to make our industries competitive.
Blown mostly on the welfare state and unemployment benefits when what was left of British Industry was destroyed (3 million unemployed) and substituted for a low wage low skilled service industry ( or 3rd industrial revolution )
Now the path is being prepared for the 4th industrial revolution it will be interesting where the money will come from to pay for that change.
This channel needs millions of subs
We wholeheartedly and unbiasedly agree!
UK basket-case caught out again. Even when it has a chance to get ahead, it stuffs it up.
In other words we pissed it all up against the wall.
Should've just read your comment, could've saved me 6:30 :D
The problem is that the British spent the money instead of investing it. This is a recurring theme. They did the same with the Marshall plan money.
R&D tends to give a better return than tax cuts. Notice how the Americans built large parts of their economy by using government money to create technology. This allowed them to sponsor the industry which later generated a lot of wealth.
Sadly the political system of the UK does not follow good governance for its citizens no matter where your political views lie, you only have to look at the wage rises MP's pay themselves I don't see any of them refusing. We live in a divided nation affluent south crumbs for everyone else.
Isnt it actually Scotland's oil wealth? Imagine if Scotland with the same population as Norway got the same economy!
No it belongs to Shetland not Scotland that why they pissed at the snp same as bulk of scotish fishing is also done by Shetland Islands
Scottish Liberation is inevitable and impending. Englistan better brace for bankruptcy. They have no natural resources or global exports like Scotland.
@@davie8906 wake up don't talk silly scotlands in dream world every one wants a bit of england no one's interested in scotland
@@davie8906 , or a submarine base. Oh, I could not resist. Best of luck.
@@davie8906 it's not happening buddy.
Similar to what happened to the Dutch natural gas wealth. It was "invested" by the politicians.
Norway's politicians have fortunately very little say over the investments of the SWF. Because they are pretty inept and uneducated, unlike the people running the SWF.
Scotland lost the chance to take its independence and use the oil wealth properly (As 94% of all uk oil fields lay within Scottish waters)
I say this to the Scottish people, NEXT TIME you get the chance of independence GRAB IT with both hands and get out of the UK
(The EU is a longer term better market also wider world too)
Yes, there's still some oil in Scottish waters that could be handy after Independence and provide a welcomed revenue, but as I understand Scotland will soon surpass 100% in renewables such as solar, wind and sea generated energy.
Scotland's long term plan should be to EXCEED 100% and export it's surplus energy to its nearest neighbors who are desperate for energy supplies
And unlike oil which eventually runs out, renewable energy doesn't and goes on and on and can be expanded...
(unless after thousands of years Scotland's climate changes and I don't think that will happen in near time)
Renewable exports can be just as big to any economy as oil booms were and they also create cleaner greener energy and jobs
Go for it SCOTLAND. This time don't let them scare you off
This fuels my derision of Westminster - to see the oil being squandered. We've ended up oil poor where other nations are oil rich.
British Governments have always been, and continue to be, short term outlookers - focussing on the next 4 years as opposed to what's good for the country in the long term.
What a shame. So much expensive education wasted on luddites.
Governments always think of the next election. Stop voting, and start protesting.
Since Thatcher, it's all about the individual. Me, me, me. I would not even refer to the UK as a nation or united or great. No contract between citizens otherwise no government would ever have allowed such plundering of its natural resources.....nothing less than a crime.
What what in the world is going on sometimes there are so many lies you don't know what to believe thanks for the video guy appreciate it
Thatcher happened, that’s what. This country has never recovered from her time as PM.
Norway: What can we do for the long term benefit of everybody?
UK Gov (mostly Tory): What can we cream off from the public funds to our donors and ourselves from our term in office?
hahaha mostly tory hahaha who gave the gold away, hahahahaha
@@polaris7122 Read up some time on why he sold our gold and you'll seem less ignorant.
@@krashd what in a Labour mag, he didn't sell it you fool, he gave it away at a record low!!!! Hahahahahahaha deluded nutter!!!!!
I don't think Maggie was intentionally corrupt. She was dogmatic about her political beliefs to the point that rational debate, reason and logic were futile. That spraying the windfall around also helped buy the next two elections was just the icing on the cake.
@@polaris7122 Obviously he sold it at a record low as the price of gold has steadily dropped since 1992. He ditched a consistently depreciating commodity in the hopes it would continue to depreciate and it did and still is.
Gold has been almost abundant since the 1970's to the point that it stopped being considered a precious metal for a time, even now that it has found a new use in electronics we still dig up more of it than smartphone makers need meaning those who own any lose value.
Something is only valuable if it is scarce or hard to come by. Brown lost us 7 billion by selling when he did, but if we sold the same amount today we'd lose 11 billion, and if gold keeps going the way of silver it won't be a precious metal in 50 years.
We may as well be stockpiling rocks.
Mrs T and co spent it. Norway saved and invested is my understanding.
Because the Norwegian politicians and companies don't take Lobbyists or Foreign Oil companies on board nor their promised bribes post retirements. Look at all the Aussie and UK ones who rushed to join US lobby consultancy, to pick up barsoaps in their bathhouse, post politics.
The big difference is population and the fact that Norway produces all its electric from renewable sources (hydro electric).
The big difference is that some watched the video, and others clearly didn't.
So does Scotland? What difference does that make?
@@scottwhitley3392 if you have a pizza and divide it between 67 people and then divide the same pizza between 6 people. Have a guess which group will have the largest slices?
The difference is more than that, as stated by the video. If the UK managed to keep spending down (larger population but also larger tax base, so that should have been possible) it could have built a SWF. It would not have been as large, and not as important for the economy, but it would still have provided profit for the government also now that North Sea oil and gas is only a fraction of what it used to be. That is the wasted possibility. Lower tax income from oil and tax is also a choice that the UK did, and if that was done because they were afraid that companies would not invest it was the wrong choice as shown by the Norwegian sector being developed despite very high taxes on oil profits.
Norway mind you has the population of London ...
Meanwhile here in Ireland we give it all away for nothing
how? could you explain?
I remember studying this at Uni and it always amazes me that British politicians of either party think so short term, nothing is ever invested in long term thinking it’s all about bribing the voters ready for the next election.
Because Norwegian monarch can intervene (even veto a law) to make a more long-term vision for the country, since the King of Norway is a member of the Council of State, while British monarch cannot intervene too much, constitutionally. Politicians come and go, but the King stays to safeguard the long term visions.
@@saltymonke3682 Yea, the King has ALL power still, but he never use it.. Last time he used his power, was when Germany invaded. The government wanted to surrender, King said NO.. Never!!
@@HerrStaale it's a discretionary power, doesn't mean he has to use it all the time
@@firstnamesurname5376 no constitution?? 😂😂😂😂😂 it's literally one of the oldest constitutional monarchs in the world, have you heard about Magna Carta from 1200s? 😂😂😂😂
after that there are Acts of Parliament, Bill of Rights, Act of Union. etc.
It's not styled like American Constitution because the American Constitution is styled after UK.
and no, Her or His majesty won't be thrown out of His or her throne for exercising his or her constitutional duty and power. How do we know? Australia Constitutional crisis in 1980s.
Because they sold it off to big Oil Companies so all profits went to share holders and not the Government Oil Gas Water Electricity should all be Nationalised and profits kept for the good of the country and not Shareholders .
What a disastrous story for UK. We squandered this unique resource. We continue to be badly served by politicians who are only interested in getting reelected as we were in the 70s and 80s.
"Though, to be fair, investing most of it in an oil fund might not have been realistic."
I disagree, and I disagree quite a bit. The income was, as you yourself said, used to finance tax cuts. if those tax cuts hadn't been made the UK could've invested the oil wealth instead.
But as is normal with right wing liberal policies, short term gains is valued over long term gains. Quick populist policies valued over financially and socially healthier political options.
Making investments were very realistic - just not with the government you had at the time.
When you say "UK" you mean England, Labour under Callaghan decided not to have a UK Wealth Fund, Denis Healey noted in his memoirs that this was to prevent Scotland seeing her wealth and possibly leaving the UK.
The funny thing is, Thatcher claimed Conservatives are better at economics, taxes and claimed, there is no such thing as society.
And then comes Norway... 🇳🇴 😂
Norway’s money went to the Norwegians, the Uk money went to the top 2%, nothing new there.
It seems like the oil companies were writing government policy.
Instead of the government having a stake in the oil companies, the oil companies had a stake in the UK government. hmmm
The Westminster gov could not run a piss up in a brewery it's one of the reasons Scotland wants to leave the UK.
Frankly let the whining ingrates go. If I never had to hear another word from the SNP and their cronies again I would be a happy man. They can have the joy of finding their total income drop by over 10% and perhaps we will see that money go to other areas in the UK that need it more.....
@@alganhar1 Ireland with no oil and other natural resources- English: let them go I will never have to hear them complain again and watch their economy turn to shit
Ireland today: highest GDP in Europe
@@alganhar1 as a Canadian government minister said a few years ago. Scotland is the only country in the world to discover oil and not to have benefitted from it as the proceeds were stolen by another nation. It's the English that are the ingrates here.
@@callummiller5886 I love what Ireland has been able to achieve, Shetland (bigest oil terminal in Europe) hopes to follow you soon.
@@alganhar1 But of course the rest of the UK would have less oil revenue...
Norway is democratic socialist, so they used their natural resources and national wealth to help its citizens. The UK is NeoLiberal capitalist, so they used their oil wealth and natural resources to line the pockets of 2 or 3 billionaires and maintain the lavish lifestyles the aristocracy were accustomed to since the empire.
How will people blame this on Labour I wonder?
"If Labour hadn't let Thatcher beat them this would never have happened!!!"
Don't forget, Gordon Brown sold the gold!! 😢😢😢😢
Regarding GB selling the gold - that was to prop up the Euro, because Tony Blair wanted a British republic as part of a country of Europe. TB did many things to cosy up to the EU, many of which are the reason a lot of people voted (erroneously) to leave.
@@EvilGav no it wasn't jesus christ, i bet the daily mail hasn't even gone that nutty!! Well done Gav
Privatisation that's why through Thatcher we have lowest pensions in Europe and many of our standards life chances are very low ,compared to Norway who's people enjoy much better standard of life .
Where was Scotland oil. Little ever spent in building the North
Lang Hancock flew over the Pilbara, Western Australia in 1952, identified iron ore sites and took possession, making him and his descendants some of the richest people on the planet. When Phillips Petroleum found oil and gas in the North Sea in the late sixties, they had to acquire licensing rights from the Norwegian government to extract it, making the country the richest in the world.
Short termism reigns in the UK. The fall of empire, and not being able to cope with that meant the UK needed the money to try to maintain its status, which of course was no longer possible. The economic downfall compared to its neighbours could only be masked by spaffing up the oil funds and selling the family silver. Where other nations might have similar national debt levels, they at least have national assets left. The UK is now left with no oil, no wealth fund and hardly any family silver.
The fall of the empire has nothing and "not being able to cope" did not cause british short termism.
Its always been there,if anything it helped contribute to it.
There's always been a lack of strategic thinking in Britain, economically and geostrategically
This video brushed over the point that the UK now has 68M people and Norway 5.5M. The UK had to significantly restructure its economy as it was being wiped out from cost Asian manufacturing competing with UK production as well as high cost of energy from low productivity local coal mines. Thatcher era also saw home ownership for average incomes from very low to western world average.
How much extra population did the Uk purchase compared to Norway over the same time? More pop lower wages socialize the costs and privatize the benefit.
No shock that Tory gov made terrible decisions
Even if the UK had salted away a little of this revenue for the future and not blown it on giving it away to government cronies it might have been put to better use during this pandemic and the nhs.
Norway was, at least in the 70-80s, a more socialistic country than Britain. I suppose the idea of a state-controlled oil-company and high taxes was a no-brainer back in those days. But, as Thatcherism and Reaganism flushed over our shores as well, we've become slightly less optimistic about state-controlled companies and high taxes (although we probably don't have good reasons for it). This is to say that I believe one crucial difference is the ideology at the time. Also, I think it's fair to say the Norwegian, no matter which era, would be more trusting in the state than Brits - so naturally we are more inclined to allow the state to "reap the benefits", trusting it will benefit all of us.
Yes. The combination of our UK politicians and survival-of-the-fittest capitalism is pretty dire.
Important video. Thank you for making it!
Fuel price at the pump is about 42p it gets to £1.20 from double taxation (Fuel Duty + VAT) it's effectively a 130% tax for HMRC coffers. That's where most of the money goes!
You can argue that the high tax cuts car use (but it probably doesn’t) and may encourage transition to electric vehicles (which are still too expensive).
Or, in one word, Thatcherism! Mel Drew
BTW Statoil is called Equinor now.
Yup, such a stupid name change
Most oil countries have fallen for the temptation to spend money as if there was no tomorrow, as if that money had a best before date.
Norway has 8% of the population of the UK and bigger reserves of hydrocarbons. Norway has higher tax rates but also higher level of social services. It is a lot more expensive to live in Norway than the UK. What the hell good is a sovereign fund if it isn’t being used? Perhaps they should waste it like the Middle East by buying football clubs and making non-national athletes overpaid citizens? Norwegians are a progressive people, but to compare them with the UK is like comparing Vietnam to China. Dumb.
I worked at sullom voe oil terminal late 70's. I went from working 40 hours for £25 per week. To £350 for not working. I was constantly told to slow down, go for a kip (sleep) . I doubt i actually worked 15 hours a week. Was great at the time, but looking back makes me realise why the uk was a mess . Oh and there was over 6,000 people working there at the time.
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Very Interesting
I think you touched on the main point, the UK spent the money changing its economy to more of a services based view, and that money enabled it. Norway didn’t invest it in itself rather than invest it in other countries and has had a massive return!
I think in isolation the argument is valid that Norway made the right decision however looking at the economic output of the UK and comparing it to Norway it’s a more complicated view.
Instead if a top division Norwegian football team, their money is best spent on just buying Erling Haaland!
Only if he goes to the best team! 😉
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I believe the technical term is "we pissed that up the wall".
There'll be another gravy train along again soon so we can repeat that.
Danish Governments have mostly invested our oil revenue in welfare and green technology; today the oil revenue (DK is the EUs largest oil exporter after the UK left the EU) is spent on changing the national energy infrastructure from fossil fuels to renewable green energy sources.
Ok, except for the feel-good factor, does it benefit the Danish economy?
@@Mosern1977 I think most Danes would say yes; around $80bn has been added to the Danish treasury since the 1970s from oil and gas revenue. But the oil adventure is coming to an end; the position of the current government and its supporters is, that no new licenses to drill after oil in the Danish part of the North Sea will be issued. This leaves a gap that will need to be filled with other revenue from around 2040 and onwards, hopefully from selling renewable energy to our neighbors.
@@thoso1973 - hmm, but in order to sell power you must make it cheaper than your competition. And I'm talking about actual cheaper, not including any "green" subsidies.
@@Mosern1977 Or you realise what burning oil is doing to the planet and impose a carbon tax.
@@harrybarrow6222 - well, taxing things does not increase productivity. If so - we would have taxed rain and sunshine a long time ago and be rich today.
What do you expect from a country when Brown sold all of UKs gold at the low and actually made it worse because he told the market he was selling.
if you noticed they mentioned the 80s, brown wasnt around then
@@stewart8727it doesn't matter - it's the same mentality, of caring only about today, and not caring about the future
@@startracer6012 couldnt agree more, gets me that people think that politicians, especially the ones now, do anything for the good of average joe
Brown was a fool.
This is thatchers fault, Brown was what kept us from total economic collapse in 2008
Norway is surprisingly on of the most technologically advanced nations now.
@Vijay Raghavan💩
@Vijay Raghavan 💩
1. The country doesn't get all the wealth, only the tax revenue. Most of the companies extracting the oil were American. The tax revenue was used to pay for public services and to lower taxes.
2. Norway is still a high tax economy (in terms of both income tax and sales tax). They rarely dip into their wealth fund. The fund was created because Norway had a far narrower economy than the UK and oil dominated that economy. the fund is there to stop fluctuations in the oil price denting the Norwegian economy.
Most of what you state here is totally wrong.
1. Norway established a state owned oil company, and enjoy not only the tax income, but also company profit as well as profit from the share value.
2. Norway made a law that 50 % ownership of the oil fields belongs to the Norwegian Oil Companies. Other oil companies were British, French, Italian and US. The international oil companies pays a hefty price to drill and produce oil and gas on the Norwegian shelf.
3. High income tax economy: NO. ... Corp tax: 22 % and average personal income tax:19 % and among the lowest in Europe
4. The fund was created because the people of Norway should own and enjoy the Norwegian resources. The oil income should not affect the Norwegian economy, and that the money should not be invested in the Norwegian mainland.
I am glad to know that there were several reasons. I thought I might have blown the lot on a night out in Newcastle in 1987.