Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
Preaching to the choir here, but I wondered whether you had stumbled upon this newspiece or not. It went viral in Denmark and we all facepalmed basically. It's outright trash.
Link to video.
The claims in the video were countered by this pdf provided by the Danish ambassador.
http://usa.um.dk/~/media/USA/facts about Denmark.pdf?la=en
Let's go through her claims.
The top federal tax rate in Denmark is 56%
Yes. Although while a large part of the population pays this rate, many pay lower income brackets.
Also, a high tax doesn't matter when so many services are government funded and you're paid a hefty salary anyways. 56% sounds like a lot, but it's not a problem at all in practice. Look to the stats in the above quote to see economic performance, innovation and business friendliness.
180% tax on cars
This number is baffling to Americans. How do we even function as humans with so expensive cars? Thing is, cars aren't necessarily outside periphery provinces in Denmark, at all. Our public transportation is stellar, and outside that, people bike excessively, as all cities have dedicated bike lanes. I personally don't even have a driver's license, and don't plan to. It's a waste of money. And even so, Danes buy cars nonetheless when they need it.
3 in 98 municipalities have a majority of people working in 2013
This number is just wrong. I don't know where she got it. Look to the above stats to see the true numbers comparison ("75 pct. of the Danish working age population is working. In US it is 70,6 pct.". Understand that this is happening in spite of a massive social safety web and an effective minimum wage higher than the US.)
Maybe Fox is using a metric that includes the children, sick and retired?
School is completely state subsidized ("free") and students get a stipend that covers a lot of the base cost of living - nobody graduates from school due to no incentive to graduate. Also they all want to start cupcake bakeries
She doesn't substantiate this with any statistic. There has been problems with keeping graduation fast, as graduation time averaged about 6.1 years in 2015, where the standard masters covers 5 years. It's something that has been adressed lately, as you can see in this article from 2015 where some plans were introduced (that eventually failed): https://hechingerreport.org/denmark-pushes-to-make-university-students-graduate-on-time/
So I might give her that one, but you know what, I prefer that over my country either having its youth stupid or crushing it with debt. In 2012, Danish students graduate meaningfully more often than the OECD average, 92% vs 84%, often debt free. We're doing fine.
The cupcake point is ass.
"There's no incentive to work in Denmark"
And this is the core information Fox wants to force upon its viewers: that Scandinavia performs badly as its citizens don't want to work (and are in extension, selfish and morally bankrupt, meaning that socialism is the masses being selfish and morally bankrupt). To this, I just refer to the stats above.
So are you making this thread just to gush about your home country?
Not really. I'm doing it for altruistic reasons.
Thing is, the US ranks higher than Scandinavian countries in several fields, but at least there should be made an argument that the countries are comparable in performance. This is an especially important point since the US completely dwarves Scandinavia in regards to natural resources. And we're doing fine. When the US's performance is comparable with Denmark, and Danish life is happier and safer, where would you prefer to live? What model would you use?
I've read so many horror stories from US citizens being crushed by its system and its corruption by the wealthy. The stats back this up.
Vote Bernie.
Link to video.
The claims in the video were countered by this pdf provided by the Danish ambassador.
http://usa.um.dk/~/media/USA/facts about Denmark.pdf?la=en
Let's go through her claims.
The top federal tax rate in Denmark is 56%
Yes. Although while a large part of the population pays this rate, many pay lower income brackets.
Also, a high tax doesn't matter when so many services are government funded and you're paid a hefty salary anyways. 56% sounds like a lot, but it's not a problem at all in practice. Look to the stats in the above quote to see economic performance, innovation and business friendliness.
180% tax on cars
This number is baffling to Americans. How do we even function as humans with so expensive cars? Thing is, cars aren't necessarily outside periphery provinces in Denmark, at all. Our public transportation is stellar, and outside that, people bike excessively, as all cities have dedicated bike lanes. I personally don't even have a driver's license, and don't plan to. It's a waste of money. And even so, Danes buy cars nonetheless when they need it.
3 in 98 municipalities have a majority of people working in 2013
This number is just wrong. I don't know where she got it. Look to the above stats to see the true numbers comparison ("75 pct. of the Danish working age population is working. In US it is 70,6 pct.". Understand that this is happening in spite of a massive social safety web and an effective minimum wage higher than the US.)
Maybe Fox is using a metric that includes the children, sick and retired?
School is completely state subsidized ("free") and students get a stipend that covers a lot of the base cost of living - nobody graduates from school due to no incentive to graduate. Also they all want to start cupcake bakeries
She doesn't substantiate this with any statistic. There has been problems with keeping graduation fast, as graduation time averaged about 6.1 years in 2015, where the standard masters covers 5 years. It's something that has been adressed lately, as you can see in this article from 2015 where some plans were introduced (that eventually failed): https://hechingerreport.org/denmark-pushes-to-make-university-students-graduate-on-time/
So I might give her that one, but you know what, I prefer that over my country either having its youth stupid or crushing it with debt. In 2012, Danish students graduate meaningfully more often than the OECD average, 92% vs 84%, often debt free. We're doing fine.
The cupcake point is ass.
"There's no incentive to work in Denmark"
And this is the core information Fox wants to force upon its viewers: that Scandinavia performs badly as its citizens don't want to work (and are in extension, selfish and morally bankrupt, meaning that socialism is the masses being selfish and morally bankrupt). To this, I just refer to the stats above.
So are you making this thread just to gush about your home country?
Not really. I'm doing it for altruistic reasons.
Thing is, the US ranks higher than Scandinavian countries in several fields, but at least there should be made an argument that the countries are comparable in performance. This is an especially important point since the US completely dwarves Scandinavia in regards to natural resources. And we're doing fine. When the US's performance is comparable with Denmark, and Danish life is happier and safer, where would you prefer to live? What model would you use?
I've read so many horror stories from US citizens being crushed by its system and its corruption by the wealthy. The stats back this up.
Vote Bernie.
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