Gaze Upon the Danish Dream of Freedom

[marmar]

via truthdig:


Gaze Upon the Danish Dream of Freedom
Posted on May 28, 2013


Unlike the Danes, American society has abstracted freedom from its prerequisite of economic security. Vermonters learned of enviable Danish freedom in a series of town meetings this month with one of their senators, Bernie Sanders, and Peter Taksoe-Jensen, the Danish ambassador to the U.S.

“Large crowds came out to learn about a social system very different from our own which provides extraordinary security and opportunity for the people of Denmark,” Sanders wrote of the meetings in an editorial in The Huffington Post on Sunday.

Most Americans are gripped with “a massive amount of economic anxiety,” Sanders continued. “Unemployment is much too high, wages and income are too low, millions of Americans are struggling to find affordable health care and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider. “While young working families search desperately for affordable child care, older Americans worry about how they can retire with dignity. Many of our people are physically exhausted as they work the longest hours of any industrialized country and have far less paid vacation time than other major countries.”

Not so in Denmark. There, “social policy in areas like health care, child care, education and protecting the unemployed are part of a ‘solidarity system’ that makes sure that almost no one falls into economic despair. Danes pay very high taxes, but in return enjoy a quality of life that many Americans would find hard to believe,” Sanders wrote. Taksoe-Jensen told his American audiences that although Danes have a difficult time becoming obscenely wealthy, no one is allowed to be poor, Sanders noted. Minimum wage is twice what it is in the United States, and people who are unable to find jobs and care for themselves have a basic guaranteed income of $100 per day. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/gaze_upon_the_danish_dream_of_freedom_20130528/

[ruffburr]

1. There is-

No reason that this country could not attain these goals other than corporate greed and crooked politicians, So in conclusion i would like to point out that the reason we here in america are eating a big shit sandwich (the more bread you have the less shit you have to eat) is because of entrenched Greed in the makeup of our pol's , corps and banks, Can we end this farce now please?

[clarice]

2. No thanks. nt

[xocet]

3. Bizarre comment.... n/t

[clarice]

4. How so ? nt

[noiretextatique]

5. the trouble with too many americans

we are used to the diminished expectations of government that the rw has been pushing...forever. icelanders bailed out the people and put the bankers in jail, and their economy is booming. too bad corporations own our government...and media.

[mcranor]

6. Tell us more, Clarice.

What, in your estimation, is wrong with Denmark?

[BlueMTexpat]

7. Denmark also produces some great TV series.

For example, "The Killing" (the original Danish series, not the US replica) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(Danish_TV_series) and Borgen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgen_(TV_series) and one can learn a lot about the Danish political and social system by watching.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. And some ones that are a bit more criticised:

So it seems a little surreal to be back in Denmark now to talk to the same broadcasting company about their new show, called Blachman, in which a woman is required to stand naked in front of fully-clothed men and to remain silent as those men talk about her body.

"It's not reality TV!" protests the show's inventor and host, Thomas Blachman. "And it's poetry, not porn."

Yet it makes uncomfortable viewing. Blachman, shirt carefully unbuttoned, sits with a fashion designer friend of his and stares at a woman's pubic hair.

"I'm not really keen on shaving and waxing," he comments, before remarking to his co-host that the woman has nice feet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22706896

[BlueMTexpat]

11. Somehow, I doubt that one will get anywhere near the same reception.

Blachman sounds like a real POS.

OTOH, what woman in her right mind would go along with this type of degradation?

"Empowering?" NO way!

[SunSeeker]

8. K&R

[xchrom]

10. du rec.