A year before election our 2016 presidential campaigns are certainly unusual! The leading Republican candidates are much further right than previously and a socialist-democracy is one of two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination. It is startling to hear Bernie Sanders almost directly quote Grundtvig, when he speaks about income inequality: the United States has “too many who are way too rich, and too many who are way too poor.”
A highlight of the recent CNN Democratic party presidential debate featured a surprising discussion about Denmark when Sanders said Denmark represents the kind of democratic socialism he would like to see in the United States. “Francis Fukuyama uses the phrase”getting to Denmark” to describe an imagined society that is prosperous, democratic, secure and well governed.” In the opening chapter of Building the Nation, N.F.S. Grundtvig and Danish National Identity. Fukuyama writes: “Grundtvig and his movement are of interest because they present a case of a strong national identity being formed from the bottom up rather than by a top-down state builder using authoritarian methods.” Can that happen in the United States? Is it realistic?
Matthew Yglesias on wrote written a fascinating article on Vox.com, (October 16), mattyglesias matt@vox.com , “9 Questions about Denmark”where he states that while October 16th “significant success story, “ Danish public policy doesn’t line up neatly with progressive thinking in the USA. There are some surprises. Below is are excerpts from Matthew Yglesias’ analysis. I encourage you to study the entire article.
Denmark has higher taxes, less income inequality, and enjoys a high level of prosperity. Only Norway is the richer of the Scandinavian countries, but that is because Norway has tons of oil and gas. The Danes also rank “very happy” in the happiness index: according to Matthew Yglesias, slightly below Switzerland and Iceland in the 2012-2014 World Happiness Report. That may be because everyone is covered by a national health insurance system and can take advantage of subsidized child care and a college education. “Danish mothers [Sometimes shared with fathers] enjoy 13 weeks of guaranteed maternity leave at 100 percent of their ordinary pay.”
Income taxes on the Danish middle class average 35-48%. In addition to high income taxes, Danes also pay 25% “value added tax” (basically sales tax), 180% tax on car purchases; and a carbon tax of about $13 per ton of CO2. Consumer goods are expensive in Denmark. “Danes and Americans consume a similar quantity of taxes and services, but because of the high levels of taxation and spending, the nature of the consumption is different. People in Denmark enjoy more social and personal care services, have fewer cars and other consumer goods. But Denmark’s high taxes have not prevented it from being a wealthy, happy society.”
The author refers to Matt Bruenig who has studied the Danes’ disposable household income. “People in the bottom third of the Danish income distribution have more disposable income than people in the bottom third of the US income distribution, but for the more privileged the reverse is the case.” This gives an extra dollar higher value in terms of well being for people who are at the bottom of income distribution. This is only disposable cash income; there are also many free public services (health care, college and child care). To summarize, the typical worker in Denmark enjoys 150 extra hours of leisure time a year. A typical American has more disposable cash than a Dane, but considerably worse public services available to him, and considerably less leisure time.
Denmark is smaller and more homogeneous than the United States. But racial diversity is a factor. According to another 2001 study cited in the article, people in the United States tend to perceive the poor as lazy while Europeans overwhelmingly believe people are poor because they are unfortunate. That is quite a difference in attitude. Also, America is very open to low-skilled immigration. Denmark is much less open to low skilled immigrants
Right of center coalitions have governed Denmark for about 11 of the last 15 years. Matthew Yglesias states the current high level taxation is thought caused by significant tax cutting under conservative governments. Being a smaller country could deter a country from taxing the wealthy who could move away, but that does not seem to be a major problem.
An important difference: Danes care a lot about delivering services cost effectively and efficiently. The US tends to be sharply polarized between liberal coalitions with strong labor interests and a conservative coalition that simply wants to cut spending and service levels. “The Danish political economy places a greater emphasis on identifying and eliminating waste, which improves the quality of public services and fosters greater willingness to pay for them” In the United States, conservatives prefer eliminating programs instead of trying to improve them and liberals are too often satisfied with simply funding programs rather than seeing that they run efficiently and effectively.
I can’t help but think of questions and comments I received when visiting Denmark in 2013 such as, “Why is it people in the US don’t want to provide health care for people who need it? And “I am happy that my neighbor’s children can have a college education. How can people in the United State pay so much for education? Everyone should have a good education!]
As powerful as the wealthy are in the United States, I am very doubtful we will ever get all the way to Denmark, but we might begin to move in that direction. It is partly an issue of individualism and community. Denmark has Grundtvig; others are looking his way. ji
Matthew Yglesias on wrote written a fascinating article on Vox.com, (October 16), mattyglesias matt@vox.com , “9 Questions about Denmark”where he states that while October 16th “significant success story, “ Danish public policy doesn’t line up neatly with progressive thinking in the USA. There are some surprises. Below is are excerpts from Matthew Yglesias’ analysis. I encourage you to study the entire article.
Denmark has higher taxes, less income inequality, and enjoys a high level of prosperity. Only Norway is the richer of the Scandinavian countries, but that is because Norway has tons of oil and gas. The Danes also rank “very happy” in the happiness index: according to Matthew Yglesias, slightly below Switzerland and Iceland in the 2012-2014 World Happiness Report. That may be because everyone is covered by a national health insurance system and can take advantage of subsidized child care and a college education. “Danish mothers [Sometimes shared with fathers] enjoy 13 weeks of guaranteed maternity leave at 100 percent of their ordinary pay.”
Income taxes on the Danish middle class average 35-48%. In addition to high income taxes, Danes also pay 25% “value added tax” (basically sales tax), 180% tax on car purchases; and a carbon tax of about $13 per ton of CO2. Consumer goods are expensive in Denmark. “Danes and Americans consume a similar quantity of taxes and services, but because of the high levels of taxation and spending, the nature of the consumption is different. People in Denmark enjoy more social and personal care services, have fewer cars and other consumer goods. But Denmark’s high taxes have not prevented it from being a wealthy, happy society.”
The author refers to Matt Bruenig who has studied the Danes’ disposable household income. “People in the bottom third of the Danish income distribution have more disposable income than people in the bottom third of the US income distribution, but for the more privileged the reverse is the case.” This gives an extra dollar higher value in terms of well being for people who are at the bottom of income distribution. This is only disposable cash income; there are also many free public services (health care, college and child care). To summarize, the typical worker in Denmark enjoys 150 extra hours of leisure time a year. A typical American has more disposable cash than a Dane, but considerably worse public services available to him, and considerably less leisure time.
Denmark is smaller and more homogeneous than the United States. But racial diversity is a factor. According to another 2001 study cited in the article, people in the United States tend to perceive the poor as lazy while Europeans overwhelmingly believe people are poor because they are unfortunate. That is quite a difference in attitude. Also, America is very open to low-skilled immigration. Denmark is much less open to low skilled immigrants
Right of center coalitions have governed Denmark for about 11 of the last 15 years. Matthew Yglesias states the current high level taxation is thought caused by significant tax cutting under conservative governments. Being a smaller country could deter a country from taxing the wealthy who could move away, but that does not seem to be a major problem.
An important difference: Danes care a lot about delivering services cost effectively and efficiently. The US tends to be sharply polarized between liberal coalitions with strong labor interests and a conservative coalition that simply wants to cut spending and service levels. “The Danish political economy places a greater emphasis on identifying and eliminating waste, which improves the quality of public services and fosters greater willingness to pay for them” In the United States, conservatives prefer eliminating programs instead of trying to improve them and liberals are too often satisfied with simply funding programs rather than seeing that they run efficiently and effectively.
I can’t help but think of questions and comments I received when visiting Denmark in 2013 such as, “Why is it people in the US don’t want to provide health care for people who need it? And “I am happy that my neighbor’s children can have a college education. How can people in the United State pay so much for education? Everyone should have a good education!]
As powerful as the wealthy are in the United States, I am very doubtful we will ever get all the way to Denmark, but we might begin to move in that direction. It is partly an issue of individualism and community. Denmark has Grundtvig; others are looking his way. ji
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