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Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

FrozenMoonage

(7 posts)
2. That's misleading
Wed Mar 11, 2020, 08:49 PM
Mar 2020

This article is super misleading

Yes, the Danes have a high amount of individual economic freedom, and corporations are also not bogged down by regulations themselves. So yeah the economy is far from planned.
HOWEVER, free markets and the economic freedom of the individual are completely different.
The reason the PM can say accurately that, "[The Nordic Model] is a successful market economy with much freedom to pursue your dreams and live your life as you wish." is mainly because the individual is given much more freedom to act within a market than you'd find in America. This is mainly because of the robust labor unions found within Denmark which encompass a wide range of professions from manufacturing workers to lawyers.

It's with these trade unions that the Danish people are able to hold corporations accountable and demand a fair slice of the pie.
The Danish economy boasts "market freedom" in a much different way than the American version of "market freedom"
In America, our ideas of a free market manifest as a market in which corporations are allowed to do whatever they want. Market Freedom in America allows for corporations to pay starvation wages and to amass an inordinate amount of wealth while not contributing to the community. American market freedom is the freedom to exploit others and force workers to develop a dependency on the corporation they work for. American market freedom is the ability for huge corporations to consolidate a market that works within the interests of profit motive, not for the interests of the people working under them.

On the flip-side, Danish market freedom is the freedom to pursue any profession you want with the govt funding of higher education (colleges, trade schools). Danish market freedom is the ability for workers to organize and demand that if a corporation is thriving, the people working for it thrive as well. Danish market freedom is the ability of an individual to be able to leave their job if they don't enjoy it and find another without worrying about losing their employer-provided health care.

The Danish Govt itself levies high taxes (55% income tax) but actually uses those taxes to provide govt jobs that work to benefit everyone (Hell even the people employed by the govt have their own labor unions, so even then the public parts of the economy can't be "planned" without workers consent), and they use it to fund useful safety nets for everyone so people don't starve or die from preventable medical emergencies. The Danish govt also acts as an impartial entity between the capitalist class and the working class, acting as a completely neutral mediator because of the govt's long reaching reforms to limit corruption/bribery in govt. Unlike in America where most our senators have a paper trail of corporate lobbying in which they effectively serve as oligarchic puppets.

Biden doesn't really embody any of those things. Bernie does.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

But to reach that goal, guillaumeb Mar 2020 #1
Sanders knows what the Scandinavian model is. Hortensis Mar 2020 #7
That's misleading FrozenMoonage Mar 2020 #2
Your take is more true to the reality of Denmark... TomVilmer Mar 2020 #3
Bernie intentionally hides the taxes part dansolo Mar 2020 #4
Yes, we pay for all our nice security in Denmark by tax... TomVilmer Mar 2020 #5
not really FrozenMoonage Mar 2020 #6
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