That may have something to do with the domestic politics of the Scandinavian government in question...

I don't know which one it was and I'm not too terribly familiar with the policies of the Swedish and Norwegian governments, but the Danish government has stuck tightly to a no-public-spending policy essentially since it was elected. No exceptions (well, except for the banks, of course - wouldn't want to let the banks down...) and even to the point of being ridiculous about it.

The most tragicomic tale is that of a county had a footbridge destroyed by a careless truck driver. His insurance paid for reconstruction, but they had to postpone the reconstruction indefinitely, because - get this - they had already spent as much as they were permitted to on public works.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.