"Starting pay...at McDonald's in Denmark is about $22 an hour...[with] six weeks of paid vacation a year, life insurance, a year's paid maternity leave and a pension plan. And like all Danes, they enjoy universal medical insurance and paid sick leave."



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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Well, let's see how the Americans and Danes stack up. First, Danes are taxed like hell. The average Dane is subjected to a 45% rate. So that leaves the McDonald Dane making around $12/hr. The average McDonald's employee here gets $9/hr and wouldn't pay a dime of federal income tax. But we are not done. With burger flippers and everyone else making so much more, the cost of living is higher in Denmark, roughly 27% higher. Thus, the spending power adjusted wage of our Dane is $9.45/hr. So, with that extra $.45/hr, Danes can live like kings over there? Sure, they get those fringes. So do our guys. U.S. McDonald's employees get Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Occupational Accident and Life Insurance, McDonald's 100% 401 (k) plan and Performance-based bonuses, flexible Hours, Employee Discount, Job Training, and Tuition Assistance, family Medical Leave and Maternity & Paternity Leave. So there is really not much, if any, difference. Plus it gets freaking cold in Denmark. We're better off here.

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I :heart; Q

Paging maintenance engineer associate pigblo:
clean up on aisle six!

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It's a democratic hoax

That schitt better change when we have all branches. If not, Release the Trumpites!.

Get a passport, get on a plane and see what's out there. More than $20 burgers. Flippers. Getters.

Haha. Your paradise will get you nothing.

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I :heart; Q

Sorry to burst your bubble, progs. But there is no free lunch. You will always be losers, even if the up the minimum wages.

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I :heart; Q

Except if you got enough money to buy the Repugnican party.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...gure)%E2%80%8B.


Why Danes are smug: comparative study of life satisfaction in the European Union

Danes are unrivalled in satisfaction with life. The University of Leicester recently published the World Map of Happiness (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared..._06_happiness_map.pdf) with Denmark as number one. For more than 30 years this country with five million inhabitants has ranked first in Eurobarometer surveys (europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm). More than two thirds of Danes are "very satisfied" with their lives according to these surveys. In no other Eurobarometer country has this proportion exceeded a half, and for most of the countries the proportion is less than a third (figure)?(figure)..

Socialism works just fine folks. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Edited: 01/13/2021 at 07:41 AM by RustyTruck

I was celebrating my birthday yesterday and wanted to chime in on this but was a bit impaired. So, here it goes:

I went to Denmark in December, 2019. I was there for 10 days visiting friends and spent most of my time in Helsignor, a city about an hour north of Copenhagen and the home of Hamlet's castle. It's a cool 1,000 year old city with pedestrian only streets lined with cheese shops, wine shops, restaurants and old world charm.

I didn't see a single McDonald's.

They have a living minimum wage. Home ownership is robust and the real estate market is comparable to the metroplex where I live, Charleston, SC. Your mileage may vary. Go to a restaurant, the prices are virtually the same. Go to a grocery and buy a 6 pack of good local brew, about the same. Go to the liquor store, vodka is vodka. Gas is twice as much, but the only time we really drove was to & from the airport and to a neighboring town to sightsee. Trains & busses are cheap, clean & reliable.

My friend is a college professor and his wife is a website designer and combined they probably earn about $120k per year. They live in a 1800 ft^ house with a small yard and a distant view of the sea. They have a daughter who goes to college in the UK. They have a dog and own one car, a Citroen.

Their real estate taxes are about double of what I pay. My taxes on my 600k home were $2,200 last year and the same goes with the property tax on the car. His payroll taxes are at about 35%. Her taxes are more complicated, but at about the same. She tells me when she gets paid for a gig, she'll take about 35% and stick it in a savings account a pay her tax every quarter. They have excellent healthcare of which they pay nothing.

Retirement is will come in about 20 years and there will be a pension. Being a professor affords a little more vacation than other professions and they usually take two trips out of the country per year, with every other year coming to the US.

When I was there I saw a total of 2 policemen: one at the airport and another at the ferry terminal to cross to Sweden and I think he was there just to get a coffee at a kiosk. I realized this only after I returned home and saw deputy sheriffs lurking behind an overpass and local cops at the causeway and state troopers on the ride from the airport.

I thought about how safe I felt in Denmark. The police presence here seemed very visible and yet was I more secure? I also didn't see a Danish frigate or destroyer in the sea, F-16s overhead or guys in uniform wandering around.

Maybe they can have clean & reliable public transportation, great healthcare, decent wages and an excellent quality of life because they don't pack their budgets with all of this paramilitary gear? Perhaps their consciousness is their wealth.

And with all that money we pay for military and "defense" the nation's Capitol building was able to be sacked by the Oak Ridge Boys and a guy in a Chewbacca bikini; but I digress.

Denmark represents what can be done through social democracy (as opposed to full on public ownership of all productive means under full socialism). But it requires us to place collective value on general quality of life over personal greed.

In consideration of the carceral state - it's a feedback loop; police and prisons are a profitable enterprise, and a lot of money is rolled back into making sure there's a demand for the "product".
People commit crimes because they lack basic needs and are denied a dignified life under capitalism. If work paid a living wage, and everyone had access to education, housing, and healthcare, crime would all but disappear.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

No, nothing wrong with Denmark. Not my cup of tea from a gov't point of view, but it's not bad either. Booze is on the high side for my taste, but not as bad as Norway or Sweden. Happy birthday, btw.

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I :heart; Q