Wednesday, May 29, 2013

On financial anxiety, freedom, socialism, Denmark and the senator from Vermont

Vilhelm Hammershoi, 1864-1916


In Denmark, there is a very different understanding of what "freedom" means. In that country, they have gone a long way to ending the enormous anxieties that come with economic insecurity. Instead of promoting a system which allows a few to have enormous wealth, they have developed a system which guarantees a strong minimal standard of living to all -- including the children, the elderly and the disabled.
Senator Bernie Sanders 

Read the rest of the article here. 

8 comments:

  1. I just watched a documentary called Happy. Denmark is apparently a country witha very high rate of happiness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just recently found out that on my mother's side, instead of being German as we had thought our whole lives, we're Danish. Maybe it's time for a trip to check out our genetic roots.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like heaven. I think that Norway is very similar in many ways.
    I'm so cynical though, that I don't believe the Very Wealthy and All Powerful in this country are ever going to give up their "right" to their wealth and their power and thus-we'll never be able to have a system like this. And our citizens (me too) are too concerned with bullshit to try and change that.
    I despair. And do nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I read with frank envy. So civilized. To not have economic anxiety, I can barely imagine it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd like to spend a six-month hiatus there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I do love that man and the fact that his wisdom keeps poking up in different places and times in my daily life. I hope that it signals a shift to a more empathetic way of leading. I certainly will do my part to share it far and wide. Thanks for highlighting this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a radical notion. (Written with more than a hint of sarcasm.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. But how many great political and economic leaders has Denmark produced?!

    (I'm just yanking your chain. Of course I completely agree with you. I was trying to channel a Republican.)

    ReplyDelete