When the Heritage Foundation and we agree on something, it's worth some consideration.
We agree that the Danish Flexicurity System of governance MAKES THE MOST SENSE. Why? Because Denmark is doing much better, all around, that the United States.
Let's start with an unemployment rate of 2.8% in 2008 which leaped to 6.1% at the end of 2010. Compare that to the US, at 5.8% in 2008 and between 9% - 10% in 2010.
What do the Danes get in return for the 50% tax they pay? Lots of things too many in America have been able to afford since the 1980s w/o going into debt.
Universal health insurance
Generous child-care and family-leave arrangements,
Unemployment compensation that typically covers around 95 percent of lost wages,
Free higher education,
Secure pensions
System of worker retraining.
Free market system
"Well screw that liberal, commie, soshlus stuff" the angry mob of teabaggers yelled.
And, in response, let's yell "Well screw you, you hate filled, bigoted, fact lacking, angry mob!"
A rant:
We are am so sick and tired of the idiocy of the Palinistas, the heartlessness of the faux religious conservatives, and sheer cruelty of Conservatives of all stripes who seem to enjoy heaping on the "unwashed masses". Or feel justified because, it they had just worked harder or prayed more they would be one of the "unwashed masses". Their smug self-righteousness is beyond the pale.
We are so angry at the continued suffering in Haiti and the vulture-like policies of big banks sponsoring and profiting from micro-loans given to peasants and paupersaround the world, and things like bundling life insurance policies.
I am beyond angry that my country sponsored torure in cahoots with Egypt's next leader if the US gets its way.
How many find themselves wishing that God would just strike down all the people that do things evil, murderous things like this to people. Keep in mind this story is from 2007!
Christian Science Monitor, October 10, 2007:
The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in the midst of one of its largest crackdowns against public dissent in a decade.
A plumber who was on his way home in late July after finishing a job in the poor town of Amrania on the western edge of Cairo, Mr. Gadallah was way laid by a group of local cops.
He was beaten and his cellphone and payment for his work were stolen, says his brother, Ghad. Then, his brother says, Gadallah insisted on filing a complaint at the police station where some of his attackers, whom he recognized, worked.
He was rebuffed and warned against pursuing the matter further. But, says Ghad, Nasser didn't heed those warnings. He filed a complaint with the prosecutor of Giza Governorate, which was backed up by the testimony of a witness who identified some of the police.
On Aug. 8, about 10 officers from the Amraniyah police station broke into the family's home, tied up Ghad and another brother of Nasser's, and tossed Nasser headfirst to his death from the family's third-story balcony while his 9-year-old son and his wife watched, according to a recounting of the incident by Ghad.
We are ashamed that the USA has the highest % of people in jail in the whole world.
We seethe knowing that filthy rich CEOs are allowed to use prisoners to make their products for peanuts and then export the products for profits overseas, while millions of people not in jail are jobless, losing their homes, have no health or dental care, and are living in tents or homeless.
Many are convinced that Greed has driven rich, powerful people in this country insane. And they are running this country!
And yet, these very same dead hearted people are paying lobbyists to write bills that affect our health and our children's ability to get a higher education.
Are we nuts, too!
It's possible. Perhaps most of us have short circuited from one stressor too many.
We have been under attack for 30 years by these horrible people using religion to promote proto-fascism and these ego maniacs that want global governance that we have lost it.
We live in fear of losing whatever we have managed to hang on to. We know that a simple twist of fate could leave us on the streets like millions of others. In the process, have we, too, lost our moral, spiritual, and socially responsible compasses.
Like the Egyptians we will reach a tipping point. A point when reality sucks more than the value of whatever we fear losing, we will lose the fear. And if and when Americans rise up, it's anyones guess what that could look like.
Our history isn't that rosy. The faux religious corporate elites have literally mowed down workers seeking fair pay and decent working conditions with guns and thugs wielding pipes, chains, and knives.
Our history sounds just like the thug attacks in Egypt. People with legitimate requests shot, attacked, and killed for having the courage to stand up and say ENOUGH!
Maybe our knowledge of that history convinces us to just find a cozy corner of the street to pitch our bodies until we die. Gazing at the stars is still free, I think.
What is our tipping point?
How many must become homeless, jobless, jailed, and/or enter the ranks of the nouveau poor (watch for comic relief, The Onion) before enough of us stand up and say ENOUGH!
How many of our children have to become lifelong debt slaves to get a higher education?
How bad does it have to get?
And, if we do reach a tipping point, who will be out in front of a revolt?
Peaceful demonstrators like we see in Egypt? Will they be mowed down by automatic weapon wielding, ginned up on faux religion and self-righteousness tea baggers egged on and paid for by the likes of the Koch Brothers?
How many times does the activist, right wing Supreme Court have to kiss the asses of their corporate overlords before we say ENOUGH?
When are we going to shut down the despicable lies? How far down the toilet will we let these zealots flush our society?
I'm just curious.
Why can't we provide FLEXICURITY, too?
Why can't we have a social democracy?
When the Heritage House and we agree on something, it is worth noting! They like flexicurity.
To Republicans, Tea-Partiers and talking Fox heads, Denmark must seem like a "socialist" hell on earth, a nation crushed by taxation and oppressed by the heavy hand of Big Government. Yet, according to OECD and other surveys, Danes are among the happiest people on earth, full of satisfaction with their lives.
Then how can "socialist" Denmark have what Forbes calls the world's best business climate?
Perhaps the Heritage Foundation can help us here...
About Denmark:
Yet it is still as "free" as the U.S. That's because, according to the Index, it significantly outperforms the U.S. in such categories as "business freedom," "investment" and "financial freedom."
Most striking of all, it has nearly the same high score as the U.S. in "labor freedom." "The non-salary cost of employing a worker is low, and dismissing an employee is relatively easy and inexpensive." Teabagger/conservative nirvana!
Danish unions and management have agreed to this labor flexibility as part of what they call "flexicurity." The security that compensates for the flex is, of course, high unemployment benefits (low compared to the US) that include free re-training.
The lesson to be learned from Denmark is that you can have both a competitive free market economy and a comprehensive welfare state with a strong union role.
So, cram these facts into your rock hard block heads. How many insane, homeless, nouveau poor people have to harm you and/or your children before you getting a clue:
Social Responsibility IS NOT Commie, Gulag Socialism.
Special tribute to this diary by Meteor Blades that I bumped into while researching Flexicurity.
Chalk up one hurrah for the jobless benefits victory
Also, there may be hope for 99ers here:
99 weeks? Get Unemployment Insurance Extension w/JOB TRAINING