daggaz wrote:Spend some time in any Scandinavian country before you all go declaring the infallacies of a socialised economic and political system. It most obviously works, and I have to say, it feels really nice as well.
Minimum wage here is 20 bucks an hour (and rising due to the current American financial system) and business is booming. There are plenty of jobs everywhere. If anything, raising the wage just attracts more workers to the force, which is a good thing. And that money gets spent. Increasing the circulation of money is a good thing. And it goes directly into the hands of those who need it most. Helping people is a GOOD thing. There are a lot of good things about socialism that are innaccurately described in the mainstream view over there.
Those economics courses are heavy on the political end of things, for obvious reasons. There are contested issues and divides in the lines of thinking. Wars are waged over these differences. To think this doesn't have a discernable effect on your education is rather naive. Chomsky wrote quite a good piece on it, I thought, in "Understanding Power."
Anyhow, I worked for years in the states at minimum wage. It sucked. Now I live here and pay taxes thru my nose but I have more personal wealth than ever before anyways, and life is grand. You couldn't pay me to go back to the American system at this point, even tho I do miss my family. The difference is that big.
I don't know Daggaz. While your personal story is almost inspirational, and by the way, congratulations on your success, I find it very, very hard to be moved by your one anecdote. Especially when you toss it amongst the crowd of anecdotes of people living under socialistic socieites.
Denmark is a very, very small country with a population of only five million that boasts near religious homogeneity (with a VAST majority fo the population being Evangelical Lutheran) and a tiny population growth rate of 0.00311. It enjoys many unique political advantages due to its geographic location and the willingness of the EU and US to provide support and defense, and an interest in the well-being of the state.
It does not compare very strongly with the stories of many other socialistic states in history past - the USSR, Cultural Revolution China, amongst others.
I try not to confuse a grand success story of a small country in a naturally, politically, and historically advantageous position as a realistic solution to any other country in the world.
Especially because much of Denmark's (and the rest of Europe) success depended upon the willingness of the United States to liberate Europe, assist in rebuilding, and provide for its security after World War II.
Teflor does. Teflor does not.