Why Danes Are So Much Happier Than Americans
Americans may be deeply divided about what ails our country, but there's no denying we're a nation of unhappy campers.
Danes, on the other hand, consistently rank as some of the happiest people in the world, a fact attributed at least in part to Denmark's legendary income equality and strong social safety net.
Forbes recently cited another possible factor; the Danes' "high levels of trust." They trust each other, they trust 'outsiders,' they even trust their government. 90% of Danes vote. Tea party types dismiss Denmark as a hotbed of socialism, but really, they're just practicing a more enlightened kind of capitalism.
In fact, as Richard Wilkinson, a British professor of social epidemiology, recently stated on PBS NewsHour, "if you want to live the American dream, you should move to Finland or Denmark, which have much higher social mobility."
While we debate whether climate change is real and a tax on unhealthy foods is nanny state social engineering, the Danish are actually trying to address these problems head on.
Read More: http://www.alternet.org/food/152673/why_danes_are_...
Top Opinion
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Doc. J 2011/10/17 03:08:15+5After 3 years in Europe, I have concluded that there are many things we could stand to learn from Europeans.
However, the US is a lot like a teenager, it thinks it's as smart as it needs to be, and that there is nothing it needs to learn from anybody.
We might get past that in a couple of hundred years, IF we as a nation survive that long.
But that is "iffy" because teenagers have a way of making bad descisions that sometimes jepordize their very lives....(recalling a few of my own.).






















However, the US is a lot like a teenager, it thinks it's as smart as it needs to be, and that there is nothing it needs to learn from anybody.
We might get past that in a couple of hundred years, IF we as a nation survive that long.
But that is "iffy" because teenagers have a way of making bad descisions that sometimes jepordize their very lives....(recalling a few of my own.).
You would think that we would be able to find ground somewhere between isolationism and domineering world policeman.....
But again, like a teenager, we deal in extremes.
From your profile you are a very pragmatic individual.
Again, thanks.
http://ida.dk/english/comewor...
Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia consistently rank as the best places on earth, every time and every way such things are measured.
At times, race and culture are mutually exclusive. At other times, they're not. I believe Denmark's success is due in part to its homogeneous culture.
I knew I saw you somewhere..... j/k
BTW, they have just elected a center-left coalition.