Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
Denmark: Highly Taxed and
Highly Content
Traveling through Denmark, I enjoy a constant barrage of experiences that
give me food for political thought. h is most highly taxed corner of Europe
likes its system. An exceptionally al uent society, it chooses to sip rather than to
gulp. It's a traditionally blonde corner of Europe that struggles with immigration
issues. And Copenhagen's famous hippie commune, now nearly 40 years old, is
standing strong against a rising tide of free market trends.
h ere's plenty in Denmark that Americans who travel as students of the world
can ponder in order to spice up their take on well-worn social and economic issues
back home. h is chapter delves into a few of the joys and challenges of Danish
life. It also serves as a practical example of how one European country embraces
that continent's more socialistic system and faces the immigration challenges that
I discussed in Chapter 3. h is snapshot of Danish life is a reminder that you can
glean powerful lessons even when you travel to more comfortable countries that
don't seem so dif erent from back home.
Everything's So...Danish
Wherever you travel, you encounter societies that are driven by a desire for
their people to live well. Denmark seems particularly adept at this feat. In
survey after survey, when asked whether they're content with their lives, the
Danes are routinely found to be among the happiest people on earth. With
each visit to Denmark, it's become my mission to i gure out: What makes
those Danes so darned happy?
Expensive, highly taxed, and highly ei cient Denmark confuses me. h e
al uence of Denmark's Scandinavian cousin in Norway can be explained by
their North Sea oil bonanza. But the Danes' leading natural resources are
wind power, pigs, and pickled herring. Considering the very high cost of living
here, the Danish lifestyle seems richer than their modest after-tax incomes
