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I Fear For The Future Of America

[b][u][quote]"Denmark...The Happiest People in the World"[/quote][/u][/b]

For those of you who believe that Socialism is the answer to our problems, please read this. It comes from a school teacher in Denmark...The Happiest People in the World"

I am a school teacher from Denmark making about $61,000 a year.
We get free education. You don't have to pay for a doctor, the hospital, and students even get paid to study. It all sounds so great....Right?

Oh BTW. I forgot to mention.....nothing is ever free.
The lowest personal income tax in Denmark is a minimum 40 percent.

Also we pay a sales tax of 25%, and on top of sales tax the government applies further (Generally hidden) duties and fees, applied to almost everything, making it really hard for lower-class people to get by, causing them to be deeply dependant on government handouts.

A gallon of gas is about $10,00. Tax on a car is 180 percent, which brings a car value a bit over $20,000.
in the United States (e.g,,Honda Accord) up to an astounding $50,000 dollars in Denmark.

Denmark is the highest taxed nation in the world----Taxed an average of 80% of every earned dollar. Caused by excessive taxation, Danes also have the highest private dept in the world. Very few will ever own a car or a house here, banks generally do....hypocritically, the very same bankers that the collectivists despise. Anyone who makes over $80,000 annually pay a personal tax of 68%. This means that all people with higher earnings have either have found ways to evade taxes, or left the country, often bringing their companies with them, making employment scarcly low.

Denmark's suicide rate has averaged 20.8 per 100,000 during the last 5 decades,with it's highest level of 32%. The American suicide rate averaged only 11.1 during the last five decades, and has never exceeded 12.7. Danes are deeply deprived, driven by severe narcissism, and so more than 11 percent of adult D....the supposed happiest people in the world...are on antidepressants. Well of course Danes are happy: they are medicated to be!

Everyone wants the American Dream. In Denmark's neo-communism no one will ever own or accomplish anything.

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FORMERLYbatovn · 56-60, M

AWESOME post!!! Thank you!! I am so sick and tired of an entitlement generation thinking that is the cure all and that its the best deal out there. Thats just ignorant. Tell me ONE time in history where Socialism EVER worked. Nothing is free, Hitler and Mousilini were both Socialists. Nothing is free.....SOMEBODY will pay for it!!! The media has brainwashed people in America to think the way that they want(you can argue that point 1000 ways but its true) We are more divided then we were in the 60's, we are financially as a country worse then ever before. Obama is teh first president to have had the "loan equity" or whatever it was called lowered NOT ONCE but twice!!! Wake up people......the governemnt just investigated the government and found the government didnt do anything wrong. Trump may not be a great option, but at least he has not been labeled by the FBI as a liar, criminal and committed treason and acts of espionage. ARGUE what you want.......WHY they didnt charge her is just another in the long list of the law doesnt apply to Billary

carpediem · 61-69, M

@blind Poor you. You're the only person who went through college? Poor you. You're the only person struggling to start a family? Poor you... no one ever has had to pay for college before? Poor you...

Capitalism will fix this because the very reason you can't get a decent enough job to cover these expenses is because the economy is burdened with over taxation and rising health care costs. With that sort of head wind, it's been difficult to boost the economy.

94 million Americans are out of the work force. We keep adding debt and making it too difficult to do business, more will be forced out. With all those people now not having expendable income to help generate economic activity, the entire country drags on with lack luster growth.

I'd be upset if I were you too. All that money spent on college and they didn't teach you this? No wonder.

lov2smile · 36-40, F

BATOVN,

Perfect....

[i]The government just investigated the government[/i]

[i]Trump may not be a great option, but at least he has not been labeled by the FBI as a liar, criminal and committed treason and acts of espionage. ARGUE what you want.......WHY they didnt charge her is just another in the long list of the law doesnt apply to Billary[/i]

lov2smile · 36-40, F

Socialism has never worked in the history of the world. Just because you are mad at the rich or the politicians or a system that hasn't been kind to you, please don't sell our country out to a failed system.

SW-User

1. Citation free
2. Random person with no background in economics or psychology making specious claims
3. Random person can't spell, implying they are not detail oriented in researching and presenting their conclusions

All of that was implied in my initial response but it's not your fault you didn't pick it up since it wasn't explicit. The Danish system isn't perfect and is worth looking at critically, as is the US late stage capitalist system. Poorly executed essays about how socialism is literally killing Scandinavians based on shoddy evidence and tenuous connections is not the way to productively analyze any aspect of a society.

FORMERLYbatovn · 56-60, M

Find me ONE documented and factual case where Socialism worked and was an overwhelming success. You cant find one!!!!!!!!

lov2smile · 36-40, F

Auberon89,

You sound like an intelligent person, but I'm flummoxed as to why you want us to repeat the failures of countries that have already tried socialism.

Please, I get it....Police, fire, library, In all honesty you seem to rely on those examples to expand your argument of socialism.

I know, I know...incrementalism. That's how the left works. I'm not trying to be offensive, but that really is the case.

lov2smile · 36-40, F

Auberon89,

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

carpediem · 61-69, M

@blind You have, or at least had, the opportunity to improve your condition in the US. I agree, that opportunity has been dramatically eroding over the past decade. They don't have that in socialist countries. I'm working harder too. Time to change the direction of the country. Capitalism made the US the powerhouse it is. We need more of it, not less.

blindbob · 41-45

@carpe, lovely how you threw in a bunch of assumptions

a) my "opportunity" to improve cost me thousands in student loans that i'm still paying off and because i'm still paying it off, i can't buy a house, start my family, etc
b) who says life has been dramatically eroded in the past decade, why not the past 20 years?
c) capitalism will fix this; and how?

lol

carpediem · 61-69, M

Wrong guy Aub. I'm not using stats nor analysis. And... I'm not putting up a debatable point. I'm agreeing with the ascertains of the story line. I'm a capitalist. I don't need Johnny Think Tank to tell me what I feel, what I experience and what I can see with my own eyes. I run a business and deal with realities all day everyday. Maybe Johnny should consult with me.

SW-User

Your lived experience is certainly valid, but holding it up as evidence of the complete failure of an entire hemisphere of political and economic thought is irrational and irresponsible. That's why citations, evidence and clearly structured arguments based on more than one person's anecdotes are necessary for these kinds of discussions.

blindbob · 41-45

well i make that much money anyway, except i also have to pay taxes, pay off student loans, car loans, medical debts, help my aging parents, and work my butt off with less vacation days and no maternity leave. i couldn't even get approved time off when i had surgery.

yeah their system seems so terrible. riiight.

FORMERLYbatovn · 56-60, M

Auberon.......thats a good brainwashed little man.....pick out a spelling error in the story and COMPLETELY ignore the idea and reason that it was written. You are the EXACT reason why we are in the fix we are in, because people focus on minor issues and they blow off the important facts, because it makes them uncomfortable

carpediem · 61-69, M

[quote]US late stage capitalist system[/quote]

That tells me everything I need to know. The goal of the left is to end the system that made us great and move towards socialism. We all know it, few admit it. Thanks for being honest. That is the very reason I am voting for Trump.

carpediem · 61-69, M

ok... captain exclamation point was funny. So I'll give you that Aub. But living the experience is the very reason one decides who to vote for, not some talking head. Citations are not as important as you may think.

Doomsdaysmores · 41-45, M

I've read this before. Assuming the numbers are accurate, it's pretty damning for socialism as a whole. Too bad those that are all in for socialism will simply ignore any facts they come across...

Doomsdaysmores · 41-45, M

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/scandinavian-miracle-brutal-truth-denmark-norway-sweden

An article worth reading, but I don't expect it to do much more than get some nasty comments

SW-User

Your citation-free essay on the complex confluence of the welfare state and suicidal depression written by a random Danish "schoolteacher" who can't spell 'debt' is very convincing. 😊

lov2smile · 36-40, F

carpediem ,

Thank you for that intelligent response.. Some people just refuse to listen. You can lead a horse to water, but we can't make him drink

SW-User

Maybe you would be less flummoxed if you didn't view moderate challenges to elements your worldview as part of some monolithic leftist strategy. You talk about not wanting to repeat the mistakes of history but vilifying anything on the left no matter how moderate due to fears of encroaching communism was a very popular political strategy in 1930's Europe and it did not lead to a very positive outcome. I'm not for jettisoning the free market, just for being rational, measured and vigilant against extremism of any stripe.

SW-User

Whoah, settle down, captain exclamation point. You know that socialism is practiced here too, right? It's just another tool in the economic toolbox and you use it to the extent that it is needed to bolster your numbers of healthy, educated citizens to be consumers and members of the workforce and you dial it back as needed if too much innovation is stifled. You guys seem to think that socialism is, I don't know, Ivan Drago or something. Ease off the right wing extremism a little. 😊

carpediem · 61-69, M

Wonderful post. People don't like looking at the facts. Just the part that says "free stuff here".

carpediem · 61-69, M

@lov2 Also, some horses drink too much and too fast. Symptomatic of other problems not easily diagnosed.

carpediem · 61-69, M

@auberon You picked out a misspelled work? That's it? That's the bitch? LMAO

SW-User

I was referring to the flaws in the original post. At what point, specifically, did I ask you for citations? I already acknowledged that lived experience was valid, just that more is needed to see the whole picture. I don't see where belittling either "Johnny think tank" OR "Jenny business owner" out of hand really serves any positive purpose.

lov2smile · 36-40, F

Auberon89,

This teacher is [b][i][u]living[/u][/i][/b] the experience. I with held her name for privacy purposes.

I don't have an economics or psychology major either, but I know what I'm [b][i][i][u]Living[/u][/i][/i][/b] through in this country

SW-User

When you are using statistics and economic analyses to support your point, citations are absolutely necessary to show where you got your numbers from and from whence you derived their broader meaning.

yesmewhy · 51-55, M

I had the honor and pleasure of working with the danish homeguard troops some of the best i have ever worked with these guys and gals are all volunteers not paid talk about love of country

carpediem · 61-69, M

Aub.. not sure you know this, but those are fictional characters. I see the big picture. Thanks for your input. Changing the channel now. Surely TED talks are on...

blindbob · 41-45

nice try. i'll give you another chance.

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