Exactly. Here it is built into people's expectations. The funny thing is that people talk about high taxes (but only as a passing discontentment). I suspect that taxes will be somewhat reduced in the future, within 10 years, in part because of some emigration from Denmark. But people also realize how good they have it with the government programs so the tax issue is not really a source of frustration as it is with the privatization of the US post office system for the libertarians!
Even in the UK, a colleague at Cambridge said how much it cost for day care (2000 GBP a month) that even two academic incomes found it very challenging. I suppose the one question for this list is where or what the politics of this is. People basically want stability, employment, security, and safety for kids, and a relatively stress free environment. You reduce consumption, work hours, slow down processing time, and thus expectations I think you tend to have a relatively easy going environment. Denmark, despite its very individualistic individuals, in the end are taught to be social beings in the collective sense of the word, very much in the likes of the Japanese, who will hammer a nail that sticks out. So this kind of political culture is generally absent in the US. Mostly the academics and some like-minded people talk about it. The system does not permit it. Anthony On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:36 AM, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Nov 7, 2008, at 12:02 PM, Anthony D'Costa wrote: > >> So what are the signs of social democracy (despite certain flaws)? >> free education through university; free day care; heavily subsidized >> after school programs; free health care... > > My god - it would take the equivalent of a revolution to get this in the > U.S. > > Doug > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 24, 3 DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: +45 3815 2572 Fax: +45 3815 2500 http://uk.cbs.dk/arc www.cbs.dk/india xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
