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Danes are free to move anywhere in EU, but for some reason they choose to stay in Denmark Maybe their minds don't revolve around taxes. I have been there many times, and they are quite happy. Yes, they have cars too, although many use public transportation.
Thats because the rest of EU has few good alternatives.
If you can only speak english, then you only have UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway as a choice. But Ireland has lots of unemployment problems and the UK has fierce competition for low wage jobs. They are also not too pretty, overcrowded, and taxes aren't that low. So, what about the rest of scandinavia. Norway is decently good, but living in Oslo is expensive and other areas are too remote for danes, and to be understood you have to start talking danish with Norwegian accent. So, what about Sweden? Sweden is actually quite hard to live in, it is very hard to find a place to live, the job market is poor, and there are several no-go areas. That is why their youth are going to Denmark and Norway to work.
Hence, people who do not speak fluent in a third language, doesn't have decent alternatives. But what about the people who can speak a third language? Well, southern europe has terrible economies and France and Belgium have just as high taxes as Denmark, but you will get less back. The only real alternative is Germany and Switzerland, but only a few has good enough German and enough experience to go there. So, for most Danes it makes sense to stay in Denmark, even if they can't afford a car.
The reason Danes are not leaving Denmark is not because Denmark is absolutely amazing, but there aren't too many good alternatives. It is hard to immigrate to US, Canada and Australia. And the alternatives in the EU are worse.
Norway is not dense at all and is quite large, so is Sweden, and mass transit works quite well there. This statement is just patently ignorant.
During his extensive travels in Europe, he must have not been to places like northern Sweden. I've been up there. It's basically like Alaska - forests, moose and lots of unpopulated land. The towns though still have walkable city centers, good bus systems and great bike infrastructure. Crazy, isn't it?
Norway is not dense at all and is quite large, so is Sweden, and mass transit works quite well there. This statement is just patently ignorant.
Even though Norway is not dense, Oslo is dense and that is why subway works there. If you are thinking about trains between cities , then it is important to mention it is heavily subsidized and it is still more expensive than taking the plane.
The rest of Norway is dependent on bus routes, and where I lived in the US they did have bus routes.
They're talking about countries that have a very active hunting culture with a variety of wildlife second to none but one would think they have the perception Scandinavians are all living cheek-by-jowel in stifling discomfort.
Cripes, it beggars the imagination as to how a population of 350 million can have such a preponderance of membership in the "I don't know nuffin" club.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Camlon
Thats because the rest of EU has few good alternatives.
If you can only speak english, then you only have UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway as a choice. But Ireland has lots of unemployment problems and the UK has fierce competition for low wage jobs. They are also not too pretty, overcrowded, and taxes aren't that low. So, what about the rest of scandinavia. Norway is decently good, but living in Oslo is expensive and other areas are too remote for danes, and to be understood you have to start talking danish with Norwegian accent. So, what about Sweden? Sweden is actually quite hard to live in, it is very hard to find a place to live, the job market is poor, and there are several no-go areas. That is why their youth are going to Denmark and Norway to work.
Hence, people who do not speak fluent in a third language, doesn't have decent alternatives. But what about the people who can speak a third language? Well, southern europe has terrible economies and France and Belgium have just as high taxes as Denmark, but you will get less back. The only real alternative is Germany and Switzerland, but only a few has good enough German and enough experience to go there. So, for most Danes it makes sense to stay in Denmark, even if they can't afford a car.
The reason Danes are not leaving Denmark is not because Denmark is absolutely amazing, but there aren't too many good alternatives. It is hard to immigrate to US, Canada and Australia. And the alternatives in the EU are worse.
Huh .... and yet despite the supposedly horrible economies and astronomical taxes on the wealthy, and the scarcity of late-model cars, European countries for the most part rank consistently much higher than the US on various scales of happiness.
Huh .... and yet despite the supposedly horrible economies and astronomical taxes on the wealthy, and the scarcity of late-model cars, European countries for the most part rank consistently much higher than the US on various scales of happiness.
Go figure.
No, they don't. Here is how people rank their life.
You need to be more careful when you evaluate happiness rankings. First off, some of them include irrelevant factors such as ecological footprint. Secondly, some of them are too old. That is not representative, because life satisfaction in the EU has declined a lot the recent years.
Here is an interesting post about the myth of low population density in the US in relation to rail
Quote:
Low population densities are often cited as the reason why high-speed rail would never work in the United States. While it’s true that typical American metropolitan areas sprawl far and wide, many larger cities are still relatively dense, and a surprising number of our states are as dense as some European nations. California, for example, has just over 90 people per square kilometer (234 per square mile), while Spain has 88 people per square kilometer (231 per square mile). Given the success of Spain’s rail system, it stands to reason that California would be fertile ground for high-speed rail.
It’s probably not a bad argument to make, and one that sheds some light on why the Obama administration directed money toward certain states for rail upgrades. Ohio and Florida—both of which unfortunately rejected rail funding—are about as dense as France, a world leader in high-speed rail.¹ Illinois, Virginia, and North Carolina sit one density level down, but are on par with Spain and Austria, both of which host high-speed rail. As a state, Illinois may be a poor example since 75 percent of the state’s residents lives in the Chicago metro area. But if you look at the wider region—from Milwaukee to Detroit to Toledo, with Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati not much farther away—you can see where the Midwest upgrades were headed.
Despite many regions with densities favorable to high-speed rail, only the Northeast Corridor hosts true high-speed rail, the Acela Express. It serves a relatively small fraction of the country. While the Northeast Corridor is most crowded in the U.S., many European nations have proven that high-speed rail can work at much lower densities—densities which are seen across the U.S.
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Maybe their minds don't revolve around taxes. I have been there many times, and they are quite happy. Yes, they have cars too, although many use public transportation.
