Posted on 01/12/2022 11:46:15 PM PST by blueplum
Democrats are doing their best to advance President Biden's $2 trillion "Build Back Better" agenda. The bill is being heralded as an engine of economic mobility for American families, and includes things like paid family leave and universal pre-K, which would be firsts for America.
In making the case for these programs, progressives often draw on the Danish welfare state for inspiration, with its low levels of income inequality and high levels of mobility in income across generations... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a staunch supporter of Build Back Better, regularly points to Denmark as the model welfare state.
But Sanders and other progressive admirers of the Danish welfare state should note that despite generous policies, there is substantial inequality in child outcomes across social and economic classes in Denmark. Contrary to the views of progressives, despite the striking policy differences between Denmark and the U.S., these differences are not reflected in intergenerational educational mobility.....
... equality in access to public services does not guarantee equality of opportunity or equity, nor does it do anything about the fact that more advantaged families are better able to access and utilize programs, even when they are universally available...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Denmark taxed at 60% to pay for this welfare system. Try that here.
Sorry, forgot the VAT too
So Sweden’s not the model any more? Venezuela’s not the model any more?
I remember walking into a Danish grocery...around 2003 and here was the liquor area. A bottle of Jack Daniels would have cost around $15 in the US at the time (sales tax figured). Here was the same bottle (with the VAT already mixed into the price listed) for around $32 in local currency.
Someone break the news to Michael Moore and Sean Penn. Socialist states are always shining examples of economic justice to wealthy celebrities until they become dumpster fires. Then they go back to their drugs.
The Danish welfare model can work in small states, at the state level. Say in Vermont or New Hampshire.
Denmark has 5 million people in a flat land.
You can’t compare it to the whole of the USA.
Why not let one of the Democrat states experiment with it. People who like it an move there, others can move out.
Denmark isn’t socialist. There is capitalism strongly ingrained there.
But, as I said in my post above, we should have no problem with Vermont or new Hampshire trying this out at a state level.
What the author (and most Americans now) fails to admit is we can’t all be equal because we are not born that way. Genetics play a part, and yes so does parenting and environment.
Even within the same racial group you will have individuals born with more intelligence and drive, they will rise to the top. It’s biology.
The real indication of the failure of the Scandinavian models is the negative birthrate for decades; those people are disappearing and have no choice but to import immigrants. The high costs of socialism always reflect in negative birthrates.
Dansk Folkeparti, a populist party with an anti-immigration platform managed to reach more than 20% of the vote in the 2015 national election.
We went to Denmark about 5 years ago.
We actually ended in rather scary neighborhood next to downtown Copenhagen. The hotel had a lot of rather strict security measures which could be justified only by high crime.
My wife and daughter were almost mugged. Luckily the attacker ran away when I showed up! Pretty scary.
I have been in a lot of places, but frankly, our Copenhagen experience was the scariest.
There were some nice place there too, but I was quite surprised to see that.
How about the American Model, the one that begins with “We the People?”
Let’s give that one a try.
At the state level yes. If some blue state wants to incorporate some welfare socialism, let them. That’s the point of the united STATEs — people will vote with their feet
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