Is there someone controlling global capitalism behind the scenes?
You’ve heard about the Reptilians, the Rothchild family, even George Soros… but there is
one player with much more power than any of these guys… and nobody has ever told you
about it: the Government of NORWAY.
Yes, Norway is way more than just a very rich country… its government has a real sway
on international businesses…
Think I’ve gone nuts?
Well, at the end of this video, you’ll see where I’m coming from.
Norway is the only country on the planet where Satanic Black Metal songs are on the Billboard
charts.
Yes, my dear viewer, if you ever travel to this country and turn up the radio, you might
not find yourself listening to Taylor Swift but, instead, bands like GORGOROTH, MAYHEN
or…
LILLI MEISTER and her hit titled…
MY ASS.
Ahm… yes, I know, there is something pretty weird going on in this country.
But the truth is, Norway is one the wealthiest countries on the planet, playing on the same
league as Ireland and Switzerland.
But not only that!
They are also one of the most equalitarian.
This means that the differences between rich and poor are pretty subtle.
Their welfare state is big, their taxes are high and their lifestyle is good.
But you already know this.
What you probably don’t know is that Norway’s influence on the international economy is
way bigger than it looks…
Yes, Norway is on the backstage of the biggest corporations on the planet…
OK!
Don’t leave this video!
I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is NO!
This video is not a crossover with Alex Jones!
You see, Norway has a population of less than 5 million inhabitants.
New York City is more populated than this.
Nonetheless, these 5 million people have big shares in the world’s major corporations.
Yep!
You heard that right!
The Government of Norway has its own hedge fund, and they are among the main shareholders
in lots of companies like Apple, Facebook and Tesla.
So yes, Norway might not have a big military but they have an army of money ready to influence
the world’s economy.
So the question now is…
Why is Norway so Rich and powerful and… how did they get here?
At this point, you’re all thinking the same word: OIL.
And you are kind of right.
Norway is one of the World’s largest oil producers.
But, they have nothing to do with the other oil rich countries.
Just look at this picture.
Here you can see the skyline of RIYADH, Saudi Arabia’s capital.
It looks like a sci fy city, right?
Skyscrapers, modern buildings and lots of lights.
Now let’s look at this picture of Oslo, Norway’s capital.
You can already see the difference, right?
If you’ve been following VisualPolitik for a long time, you already know that having
oil is not the same as being rich.
In fact, as you can see on this chart, Norwegian crude oil is twice as expensive to extract
as Saudi oil.
For a better understanding, most of the Norwegian oil comes from the Nord Sea.
And these oil beds are shared with other countries like the United Kingdom.
However, Norway has taken the most advantage of that oil wealth.
Oh!
OK!
Now you might be thinking, ‘Ah, another VisualPolitik video where Simon tells us how
Norway became so rich by privatizing companies!
Right?
Right?’
So… this time, the story is different.
Norway is a great example of what we call STATE CAPITALISM.
So what is state capitalism?
Why is Norway so rich and powerful?
What does it mean for a government to invest in the stock market?
Today we are going to answer to all of these questions but, before we do, let’s take
a look back at history.
THE DUTCH DISEASE
We have to be honest here: Norway has never been a poor country… but it wasn’t always
a very wealthy one either.
In the 50s, Norwegians enjoyed a lifestyle similar to that of the French.
This means, wealthier than the Spaniards but poorer than their Swedish neighbours and,
of course, the Americans.
Back then, nobody expected Norway to have oil.
But things changed in the year 1959.
In that moment, SHELL started prospections in the Nord Sea.
SHELL is an oil company in the Netherlands and they were looking for potential oil beds
in the shores of their country.
One day… boom!
They found some little gas sources.
And whenever there’s gas, there is oil.
So they kept up their exploration.
And this is how one of the biggest oil fields was discovered.
An oil field situated under British and Norwegian waters.
During the 60s, Shell got drilling licenses in those two countries.
Years later, in 1972, the Norwegian Government founded its own oil company: STATOIL.
This is how the Nord Sea oil boom started.
During the 70s, money flew into the country.
In just 3 years, Norwegians doubled their GDP per capita.
All of a sudden, the Norwegian dream meant working in the Dinosaur Juice industry.
Who wants to fish for salmon when you can make big bucks working with oil?
It really sounds fantastic… right?
Well… actually, NO.
In fact, this phenomenon has a name.
They call it the DUTCH DISEASE or the CURSE of natural resources.
Basically, anytime a country finds oil, its economy goes nuts.
The government can waste money while lowering taxes.
Citizens want to work in the oil industry because it’s the most profitable and…
What happens next?
In just a few years, your economy makes just one thing: Dinosaur juice.
And when you depend so much on just one product, a small change in the market price puts the
whole country on the verge of bankruptcy.
This is exactly what happened in Venezuela, and what could happen in other countries like
Saudi Arabia or Bahrain.
And this was the big difference between Norway and United Kingdom.
Both countries had labour governments but their policies couldn’t be more different
from one another.
In the year 1976, the UK was in the middle of one of their worst financial crises.
So the Government couldn’t wait to squeeze that oil wealth for all it was worth.
Norway, however, had a more stable situation and they could wait.
What does this mean?
Well… first, the government put very strict industry regulations in place.
Plus, 50% of those oil rigs had to be in the hands of the state owned company STATOIL.
On the other hand, foreign companies had to pay a 78% tax on the oil profits.
And that’s not all!
Norway put a limit on oil production.
Just look at this chart.
Here you can see how the UK kickstarted their production from the very first time.
At the end of the 70s, the British were already producing more than a million and a half barrels
a day while Norway was still at a third of that.
During the 80s, during the Margaret Thatcher administration, the UK keeps pumping oil like
there’s no tomorrow while Norway is still pretty relaxed with production.
What did they achieve by doing this?
Norway was keeping all the productive economy focused on oil.
But wait a minute because there Is another big difference!
You see, during the 80s, Thatcher privatized British Petroleum.
Norway’s government, by contrast, has kept control of STATOIL.
Even today, despite the company changing its name from STATOIL to EQUINOR, the State still
owns 67% of the firm.
And I know what you’re thinking of now…
Oh my god!
Norway is a socialist country!
Hold on just a second.
In fact, the Norwegian economic system is pretty similar to that of China.
This is what the experts call STATE CAPITALISM.
This means, the State controls a good share of the economy but… it behaves like a big
private company.
So what does this mean?
Well… check this out.
THE HEDGE FUND COUNTRY
Before continuing, I should make an aside… because this beautiful, romantic and sweet
melody you’re hearing right now is the music of… ENDEATHED!
A Black Metal band that…
OK, they aren’t from Norway, they’re from Colombia but… it sounds just like a Norwegian
band and they sent us their music for this video!
If you want to hear more of them, we have a link to their channel in the description.
Now, returning to our story…
Remember those two Pictures I showed you at the beginning of the video?
Other countries like Saudi Arabia used their impressive oil wealth to live like a hip hop
artist on a Friday night.
However, the different Norwegian administrations, both labour and conservative, have measured
every last penny they spent.
What does this all mean?
Their oil wealth went into a piggy bank.
And this is how we go to the year 1990.
In this year, Norwegian Parliament realizes three things: 1.
They have a lot of savings.
2.
Oil market prices go up and down and they cannot control that.
3.
The best thing they can do is diversify their economy.
And how could they do that?
Well… how about… investing in the stock market?
So, as we say here at VisualPolitik, as it was said, it was done.
This is how the Government Pension Fund of Norway, also known as the Oil Fund, was created.
This is a hedge fund controlled by the Norwegian Central Bank.
And yes, I know what many of you are thinking now…
What’s so impressive about that?
There are many other countries with a Sovereign wealth fund: China, Australia, the United
Arab Emirates… of Course!
But look, this one is the biggest of all of them.
We’re talking about more than 1 trillion American Dollars.
This means that if we divide this fund by the entire Norwegian population, each citizen
has more than 200 000 USD invested in stocks.
But this is not the end of the story!
According to the law, nobody can touch that money for public spending.
This means the Government can only use the benefits of the fund, but not the capital.
And believe me… we aren’t talking about a tip here…
How Norway’s sovereign wealth fund made $130 billion in one year
Also, according to the law, they cannot invest in their local economy.
Just foreign companies.
This is why, Today Norway holds 1.5% of all the stocks existing in the world.
Of course, some years are better than others.
And, according to many analysts, the management of the fund is overly conservative and doesn’t
make as much money as it could.
But the truth is Norway doesn’t just use this for diversification… the Oil Fund is
also a political weapon.
Norway’s $905bn oil fund flexes its shareholder muscles
World’s largest sovereign wealth fund opposed 6,700 company resolutions last year
For example, every year, the Norwegian Central Bank publishes a Black list with companies
that they don’t invest in for ethical reasons.
That includes weapon manufacturers, tobacco producers and firms involved in corruption
scandals.
But this is just the beginning!
You see, having stocks of a publicly traded company gives you the right to participate
in the shareholders meetings.
You can vote on corporate decisions and even suggest topics for discussion.
The more stocks you have, the more important you are in those meetings.
Here’s an example.
This summer 2018, Facebook started a new algorithm to filter fake news.
They are also starting to take the wage gap seriously.
These two decisions are the outcome of a shareholder meeting.
And guess who added these topics on the meeting schedule?
Of course, that would be Norway!
And the same happens with other companies.
Norway's fund backs activists' bid at Alphabet meeting
As you know, Alphabet is the conglomerate that Google and YouTube are part of.
A small group of shareholders wanted Google to refine the fake news filter.
And having the support of Norway’s fund helped them win very crucial votes.
The same happened with Apple.
In this case, Norway is the 8th biggest shareholder, with more than 9 billion USD invested.
And they aren’t exactly silent in the shareholder meetings.
In general, Norway is pushing the biggest world companies to change their corporate
policies on many different fronts.
Of course, there’s the gender gap but… that’s not the only one!
Part of the ‘Norwegian ideology’ focuses on this too.
Norway's sovereign fund to focus on high executive pay
Exactly!
In many ways, the big multinational executives make big salaries despite the company losing
Money.
We’ve seen this several times during the financial crisis.
As you can imagine, shareholders of these companies are not happy with this.
But it’s hard to speak out when you only hold a little share of the company.
This is where Norway comes in as the loudspeaker for small investors.
Many countries try to control the World with their militaries.
Other countries try to sway foreign governments with diplomacy.
Norway tries to expand their influence on the biggest global companies… this is the
Norwegian conspiracy!
Meanwhile, Norwegian citizens can sleep at night knowing that, even if oil prices go
down, they have their future quaranteed.
And now it’s your turn…
Do you think it’s a good idea for a whole country to invest in the stock market?
Do you think this Norwegian influence on global capitalism is good or bad?
Please, leave your answer in the comment section below.
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