Denmark:A Case Study in Social Democracy

[Bubblehead1980]

This is why we must not allow the US to go this way.....




http://mises.org/daily/1274

That is the Obama legacy, don't ya know. During his campaign in 2008 that is what he was saying.

[TLAM Strike]

No country has as many highly educated people as the USA and no country has as few people with only 9 years of education.

Hmmm I just looked up the (High School) graduation rates of Denmark and the US.

Denmark: 47.3 in 2007
United States: 36.5 in 2007

But I guess its easier to graduate from a Danish school since they only do 9 years while we have to do 12. So either we have fewer people with only 9 years of schooling since 12 is mandatory or so few of our students reach 9 years...

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Hmmm I just looked up the (High School) graduation rates of Denmark and the US.

Denmark: 47.3 in 2007
United States: 36.5 in 2007

But I guess its easier to graduate from a Danish school since they only do 9 years while we have to do 12. So either we have fewer people with only 9 years of schooling since 12 is mandatory or so few of our students reach 9 years...

Looking through other statistics they've provided, it appears this is not the only thing they've not gotten correct:

But from 1960 until today, the number of crime reports has increased by 500 percent, to more than 500,000 per year. And if we look at violent crime, the picture is even grimmer. The number of violent crimes in 1960 was approximately 2,000; it is approximately 15,000 today. This is an increase of more than 700 percent, and it is still rising steeply.

Actually the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute notes that Denmark has 491,000 crime reports on average per year, not "over 500,000". Furthermore, their violent crime rate is not anywhere near the one this mises.org article claims. On average each year, there are 56 murders, 16 kidnappings, 500 rapes, and 3,238 robberies. And as far as prisoner numbers go, they have only 3,435 prisoners currently- ranked 107th in the world.


http://www.nationmaster.com/country/...mark/cri-crime


Now as far as what the Danish Statistical Yearbook from 2002 says (this is the source the author of this "case study" cited for these particular statistics), I'd like to see a copy. Something is very wrong with their numbers, if this is what they really claim.

And, for the record, Denmark is not a Social Democracy- nor has it ever been one. It's a Constitutional Monarchy.

It's a Constitutional Monarchy.

So does this mean Obamas secret plan is to install a monarch?
He is after all a sneaky black atheist muslim communist from asia and africa who isn't american so you have to watch out for his nefarious plans.
I bet he is going to install rev wright as a new king and thus at one fell swoop turn the country not only into a monarchy but a theocracy too.

[MGR1]

Dread to think what that lot would make of the UK.

Mike.

[DarkFish]

Despite its reputation as a showcase of political utopia, 40 percent of its adult population live on government transfer income, full-time, all-year.

and what exactly does "full-time, all-year" mean? Does it mean they sit at home watching TV while the state pays the bills? Or does it mean they do work for a low pay and get extra funds provided by the state? The article doesn't say.

In 1960, 91 percent of all women 30 years of age were married. Today, fewer than 50 percent are.

So what?! Jeez, is this guy a priest or something? What the heck does it matter if people marry or not? "Family support functions" my hind quarters! My parents never married but they've been happily living together for the last 25 years.

If we next look at the crime level, the Danish Statistical Yearbook 2002 shows reported crimes from 1935 to 1960 to be stable: about 100,000 crimes per year. But from 1960 until today, the number of crime reports has increased by 500 percent, to more than 500,000 per year. And if we look at violent crime, the picture is even grimmer. The number of violent crimes in 1960 was approximately 2,000; it is approximately 15,000 today. This is an increase of more than 700 percent, and it is still rising steeply.

So now let's compare Danish crime rates with the US ones:
Danish/US
Murder: 4.03/5.51
Rape: 9.32/32.05
Robbery: 59.14/144.92
Aggravated assault: 23.68/323.62
Burglary: 1868.06/728.42
Larceny: 1224.71/2475.27
Motor vehicle theft: 604.18/414.17

So Except for burglary and vehicle theft, rates in the US are much higher.

Let's now look at education. Many people believe that if education were not provided by the government, only rich people could afford it. Let us compare Denmark to the U.S., where public funding of especially higher education is not nearly as readily available as it is in Denmark. According to the report "Education at a Glance" from the OECD, 15 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 64 has a bachelor degree or more in Denmark. In the U.S.A., it is 26 percent—nearly twice as many. In Sweden, the number is 13 percent, and Norway 16 percent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index
Denmark = no. 3
USA = no. 20


So in response to your

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

This is why we must not allow the US to go this way.....

I can only say; this is why European countries must not go the US way

[Schroeder]

Good one DarkFish.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by DarkFish

So now let's compare Danish crime rates with the US ones:
Danish/US
Murder: 4.03/5.51
Rape: 9.32/32.05
Robbery: 59.14/144.92
Aggravated assault: 23.68/323.62
Burglary: 1868.06/728.42
Larceny: 1224.71/2475.27
Motor vehicle theft: 604.18/414.17

So Except for burglary and vehicle theft, rates in the US are much higher.

What I find very interesting about the statistics is not the rate of crime, but the type. Denmark has higher rates of theft and crimes against property, while the US has higher rates of violent crime against persons.

Hmmm I just looked up the (High School) graduation rates of Denmark and the US.

sorry to burst your bubble on the education front, but if those were high school graduation rates the table would read .....
"Secondary education graduation rates"
Those are the tertiary graduation rates which of course is derived from the latin meaning the schooly thing after high school

[Cohaagen]

Originally Posted by MGR1

Dread to think what that lot would make of the UK.

Mike.

Cherry-pick horror stories and unflattering/manipulated/made-up statistics, safe in the knowledge that they're reinforcing already negative views, rather than attempting to persuade through robustness of argument, held by people who have likely never visited the place in question, have no interest in it beyond its use as a stick to beat the opposition with, and probably can't even find said country on a map? Perhaps with the aid of an unknown, ultra-marginalised hobby-horse crank (eg. Daniel Hannan) with many axes to grind, presented as an expert on the side of prevailing opinion? Or, failing that, fabricate stories about "death panels" and "Sharia Law" (both outright lies, the latter a particularly dangerous one, yet still accepted as fact by a worrying number of Americans).

Every now and then a proposal comes up to have a dedicated Politics forum on Subsim. It would be simpler to rename GT "The US Politics Board".

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Cohaagen

Cherry-pick horror stories and unflattering/manipulated/made-up statistics, safe in the knowledge that they're reinforcing already negative views, rather than attempting to persuade through robustness of argument, held by people who have likely never visited the place in question, have no interest in it beyond its use as a stick to beat the opposition with, and probably can't even find said country on a map? Perhaps with the aid of an unknown, ultra-marginalised hobby-horse crank (eg. Daniel Hannan) with many axes to grind, presented as an expert on the side of prevailing opinion? Or, failing that, fabricate stories about "death panels" and "Sharia Law" (both outright lies, the latter a particularly dangerous one, yet still accepted as fact by a worrying number of Americans).

And that, folks, is how you hit the nail on the head.

Originally Posted by DarkFish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index
Denmark = no. 3
USA = no. 20


So in response to your
I can only say; this is why European countries must not go the US way

Well done, DarkFish.
Additionaly, this is a double hit on USA's education system.
It takes danish students 9 years to put Danmark at #3.
It takes american students 12 years to put USA at #20.
That's 3 years worth of wasted time, materials, and tax money.
To achieve a lower result!

What % of USA's citizens can even find Danmark on a map?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Snestorm

What % of USA's citizens can even find Danmark on a map?

I can.

0.000000003333 so far.

[nikimcbee]

Danmark

on a side note, I allways find it funny when people complain about the US school system. Who controls the US school system?