[Vision2020] A Denmark Retrospective

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Greetings:

Finally, there is a breather for my report on my trip to Denmark and Sweden.  This was my low wattage radio commentary for this morning.

I'm also working on a response to Ed Iverson incredible column on a completely mythical Eastern Europe.  I believe his "contact" must have been reporting from Johnbirchistan!

Nick Gier

A DENMARK RETROSPECTIVE:
41 YEARS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS

I lived in Denmark for four years, one year as a Rotary Foundation fellow, one year as a university instructor, and two years on sabbatical.  I had not been back since 1986, so many fond memories flooded back as I saw Copenhagen out the plane window.

Much has changed over 41 years.  In 1966, there were 5 million pigs and 4.5 million people.  Now there are 15 million swine and 5.4 million Danes.  Danish ham and cheese make almost as much money as the shipping industry, the largest in the world.

I love riding trains, and it was great to see that most of the Danish rail lines have been electrified.  There is a beautiful new subway under central Copenhagen, and the suburban trains have sleek new cars and their lines have been extended significantly.  

A gorgeous 10-mile-long bridge now crosses the Baltic Sea to Southern Sweden and a 11-mile-long bridge now links Zealand to Funen, the latter also connected with a new railway tunnel.  (See images of the bridges at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/DKbridge.htm.) Gone are the old days when railcars were shunted on to ferries and an overnight ferry took passengers ($3.33 one way) from Copenhagen to Aarhus, the second largest city. 
	
When I was there in 1966, there was only one windmill generating power for a hippie commune in Jutland.  Now giant wind turbines dot the landscape and produce 20 percent of the nation's electricity.  The Danes' share of North Sea oil makes them energy self-sufficient with some left to export.

Copenhagen's famous walking street, the first and longest in the world, was my favorite hangout in 1966-67, primarily because the International Student Centre was located there. 
 
As a healthy 22-year-old male, I must confess that my virtue was not sufficient to prevent me from visiting the many porno shops along the walking street.  Even then, I could tell, overhearing all the English and German being spoken, that most of the customers were not Danes. By the time of my third stay in Denmark, all the porno shops had disappeared along the main streets of Copenhagen.

Denmark was the first country to legalize pornography in 1965, followed by Sweden in 1970 and Germany in 1973.  After legalization, Danish criminologists were able to detect a small but significant decline in sex crimes in their country. 
 
With regard to the connection between rape and pornography, a study showed that incidents of rape in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany remained steady at under 10 per 100,000 between 1964-1984, while the rape in the U.S. rose from 10 to 35 per 100,000 during the same period.

Danish politics started moving right with the election of the first conservative government in 1984. (Voter turnout in Denmark is an amazing 80-90 percent.)
Center Right governments have preserved the welfare state with only minor revisions.  

Parents now have to pay for part of their children's day care; those who refuse to look for a job no long get very generous unemployment payments; and the average tax burden has leveled off at 50 percent.

High progressive taxation has not, as some believe, destroyed the economies of the European welfare states.  In a recent study by the World Economic Forum on economic competitiveness, seven of these countries ranked in the top ten. Sweden and Denmark were third and fourth, and the U.S. had dropped to sixth. The Economist magazine has also rated Denmark as the least corrupt and most business friendly country in the world.

In 2007, percentage growth in GNP for countries on the Euro was 2.7 percent compared to the U.S. rate of 2 percent.  Denmark and Sweden still have their own currencies, which are just as strong as the Euro. Sweden's economy is growing at a strong 3.5 percent, while Denmark's rate has been 2.1 percent with a very low 3.3 percent unemployment rate.  

As I look back on my recent trip, I note that service in restaurants and stores is not as good as in the U.S. (perhaps it is the rule against tipping), and Danish mattresses, placed on beautifully designed beds, are really bad. 
 
Finally, after visiting Stockholm for the first time, I have to confess that it is, rather than Copenhagen, the most beautiful city in the world.