United States vs. Denmark, in 17 Charts By Matt Bruenig
GRAPH HEAVY AND SATISFYING
http://www.demos.org/blog/10/14/15/united-states-vs-denmark-17-charts
People claim we can't do this sort of thing here, but their arguments are fairly unpersuasive. There is good reason to think we won't do it here for political reasons and for reasons having to do with the fact that whites in the US generally don't want to improve the well-being of Blacks and Latinos, and this turns them off from high taxes and welfare. But if you put that political question aside, the policy side of things is not that complicated. IT'S THE RACISM, HILLARY!
The US is bigger than Denmark by a lot, but with its larger size also comes a larger national income. On a per-capita basis, the US actually has quite a bit more national income than Denmark (in 2005 $PPP). So we don't lack for the income necessary to fund a Denmark-like system.
The US has shown itself to have a good ability to administer tax systems. Unlike some large states where the central government has a difficult time exerting itself in the hinterlands, it appears the US government has been quite able to collect taxes from all over the country. It also has a lot of room available in its tax level (as indicated by the taxes section above).
Finally, the US has shown itself to have a good ability to administer welfare systems. As Michael Calderwood notes, the US Social Security Administration alone sends out 59.5 million checks per month, a number which is greater than the entire Nordic population combined (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). If anything, the larger size of the US should make it easier to implement Nordic-like systems because economies of scale should reduce the per-capita administrative costs of running the welfare programs.
Conclusion
So, in total, Denmark is a low-poverty, low-inequality, high-income, high-tax, high-welfare, high-innovation, high-employment country that has generous time off for vacations and newborns and has a relatively high amount of leisure time for workers. The US could easily move in the Danish direction, and it would be a big improvement for poor and working people if it did so, but given the toxic politics of the country, I wouldn't expect it any time soon.
= new reply since forum marked as read
