The Viking states over 400 years; roughly from about 800 AD to 1200 AD were able to accomplish the following: discover North America, settle Iceland and Greenland; conquer England, northern France, Sicily, parts of the Balkans; found the Rus` Kyiv empire; provide most of the men for the 200 year Crusades to the East; control trade routes from Ireland to Constantinople (the Viking Arc); and invent the most advanced shipping technology in the world. It is enough to send a modern multi-cult Marxist into an epileptic shock.

Today of course the Vikings are famous for men who want to become pregnant; socialized day care; cars that look like small planes; and poor quality cell phones; not to mention men in pony tails and sandals imitating Abba.

A slight cultural diminution. We can see the results. If Sweden was in North America it would be the poorest jurisdiction with the lowest per-capita incomes; the lowest standard of living; and the worst productivity.

The average income for a Swede in Sweden is $36, 600, while the average income in the United States is $45,500—and the average income for a Swede in the United States is $ 56,900 – 55 percent more than the Swedish average. ...Interestingly Sweden also has the 'sickest' workforce in Europe, even though it has 'free' socialized health care, with 20% of its workforce not working on any given day. Considering that only 60% of employable Swedes actually work, this means that the daily employment rate is less than 50%. In other words, more than half of those who could work are being sustained by the half who actually do work.

No one works, but all may receive. Welcome to Nirvana.

Norway is fat on oil and like Denmark dependent on Germany. If the German economy implodes thanks to EUtopian bankruptcy then both states will find that their socialist tyranny is unsustainable.

But perhaps one can be too hard on the Vikings. Could such a beaten down set of societies with no dynamism change, or be forced into a metamorphosis, especially as Europe goes bankrupt ?

The Viking lands basically sat out World War II some minor fighting by the Norwegians and Danes notwithstanding. The Swedes were part of Hitler`s raw material supply chain and discretely an ally – much like the Swiss who became the bank vaults for the Nazi treasure and gold. When Europe lay in ruins in 1945 the modern Vikings collected tribute through the exportation of raw material and manufactured goods. Wealth was created and the Viking Ninny state formed. GDP in the Viking lands doubled in one generation. Reasonably poor states were now reasonably well-off. Socialism was deemed to be the answer to the question of how can a nation achieve societal peace.

In 1993 the Swedish pony-tail state, feminized and collectivized spent 68% of the national income. In 2011 it had dropped to 48 % - below that of France (52%). One has to wonder if Occupy Sweden will get out the longboats and blockade Stockholm in protest. The trend in Sweden is the reduction of the omnipotent state which will simply bankrupt the nation. So it is with Denmark and Norway as well. Expect the cutting to continue.

Interestingly the Nordic states all have a flat tax structure. The ridiculous regressive tax structure of taxing higher incomes more does not exist in post-modern Viking land. Tax rates are punishing on income and capital. But at least the insanity is fairly distributed. Everyone shares in the pain – unlike in North America where half of all workers pay no national income tax which means they don`t support defence, border control, the bureaucracy and the thousands of programs transferring money thither and hither.

Since 1993, Sweden has cut government spending by 20% of GDP, Finland by 11%, Norway by 5%, and Denmark 3% of GDP.  In contrast, the high-debt countries of Greece, Japan, France, Portugal, the U.K., and the U.S. all grew spending as a % of GDP since 1993.. The Vikings are cutting, the rest are debtifying.

Importantly the tax beta in Sweden is 1.0 and just above or below 1.0 for the other Viking states. This means that mostly everyone pays the same rate of income tax regardless of income levels. In North America and elsewhere the progressive tax structure means that almost half the population does not pay an income tax, and instead becomes only a client of the state receiving government money or using the socialized services without paying in. When this happens it becomes politically impossible to reduce government. Too many hands out and too many votes to lose. The culture shifts as well, from one of independence and action to a society in which the employment rate falls below 60 per cent and the multi-cult diversity bores are in power, and post-modern socialist theology firmly in place. The state and multiculturalism as God.

At least the Swedes and former Vikings are moving in the right direction by reducing the awful crushing weight of government and its attendant immorality. No one else is. Maybe there is hope for the Vikings yet.