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Why Finland And Denmark Are Happier Than The U.S. (Original Post) Uncle Joe Sep 2021 OP
Well they don't have Texas or Florida Walleye Sep 2021 #1
To my way of thinking, this sentence by a poster on YouTube best sums it up Uncle Joe Sep 2021 #2
That's it Walleye Sep 2021 #4
+1000 smirkymonkey Sep 2021 #13
Denmark Is Where I Want To Go When My Parents Pass Away SoCalDavidS Sep 2021 #3
I do believe if we had a strong national health care system, our un-vaccinated rate Uncle Joe Sep 2021 #5
It's The People & The Politics SoCalDavidS Sep 2021 #8
Better learn Dansk before you go DFW Sep 2021 #6
Yeah, That's A Kicker SoCalDavidS Sep 2021 #7
Take a 2 month trip there, get to know the place first DFW Sep 2021 #9
in my combined time in ebeltoft, denmark, i heard 1 ambulance siren. never saw a cop car. pansypoo53219 Sep 2021 #10
I wouldn't expect anything else from Ebeltoft DFW Sep 2021 #12
i think i encountered a drug dealer in arhus. pansypoo53219 Sep 2021 #19
No, I wouldn't expect so DFW Sep 2021 #20
we did spend a lot of time on the 'highways'. no cops there either. did spend some pansypoo53219 Sep 2021 #22
Thanks For The Info SoCalDavidS Sep 2021 #15
I've never been to Denmark, but I've been to Finland, and the people we met couldn't have been nicer Rhiannon12866 Sep 2021 #11
No wonder DFW Sep 2021 #16
I don't remember ordering anything, they just presented us with food, LOL Rhiannon12866 Sep 2021 #21
Thank you for that! smirkymonkey Sep 2021 #14
Be careful what you wish for! DFW Sep 2021 #17
Hah! I love that! smirkymonkey Sep 2021 #18

Uncle Joe

(58,284 posts)
2. To my way of thinking, this sentence by a poster on YouTube best sums it up
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 10:10 PM
Sep 2021


"The Nordic countries are societies. America is a business."

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
13. +1000
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 05:00 AM
Sep 2021

Yes, and it's so depressing. Life here becomes more and more alienating with each passing year. I sometimes wonder how we have not all gone completely mad.

SoCalDavidS

(9,998 posts)
3. Denmark Is Where I Want To Go When My Parents Pass Away
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 10:11 PM
Sep 2021

I can't wait to GTFO of this Shithole of a country, but won't leave while my parents are still alive. They're in their 80's.

I really like the left leaning politics in Denmark. And they did a good job during the pandemic. Unlike this shithole.

Uncle Joe

(58,284 posts)
5. I do believe if we had a strong national health care system, our un-vaccinated rate
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 10:18 PM
Sep 2021

would be much lower.

SoCalDavidS

(9,998 posts)
8. It's The People & The Politics
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 11:09 PM
Sep 2021

Perhaps the reason we don't have a strong system is because we're so screwed up, and some 40% of the population have their heads up their asses.

The MORON factor is far higher here than in many countries. Certainly a country like Denmark wouldn't tolerate or coddle such BS like we do here. When it came time to lockdown over there, they did what was necessary, rather than act like BABIES.

DFW

(54,295 posts)
6. Better learn Dansk before you go
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 10:27 PM
Sep 2021

Though the Danes all learn English as their first foreign language, they no more want immigrants who speak only English than the USA wants immigrants who speak only Danish.

SoCalDavidS

(9,998 posts)
7. Yeah, That's A Kicker
Thu Sep 2, 2021, 11:05 PM
Sep 2021

But I feel like if I put my mind to it, I could learn a substantial amount, and enough to get by for the rest of my life.

From what I've read, they appreciate someone who has put in an effort, and I imagine they treat foreigners with far more respect than many people do in America.

DFW

(54,295 posts)
9. Take a 2 month trip there, get to know the place first
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 01:19 AM
Sep 2021

Antagonism against foreigners is on the rise there, though maybe not as bad as in Sweden.

The language is not difficult per se. The grammar is standard Scandinavian, i.e. fairly simple, and the words are (mostly) standard Germanic, though their numbering system is so convoluted as to make the French feel off the hook. 56 is expressed as ”six and half-a-twenty down from three times twenty.” However, Danish pronunciation is considered, with considerable justification, by Swedes and Norwegians to be a throat disease, and takes a lot of getting used to. My Scandinavian language is Swedish, and with that, I can understand about 85% of a conversation with a Norwegian. With a Dane, that drops to about 20%, although it is essentially the same language, and I can read over 90% of it.

Finland and the Finnish language are from another planet, by the way. There is a tiny Swedish-speaking minority there, mostly on the west coast, that speaks a funny antiquated Swedish. Swedes think they are sort of quaint. Other than that, the Finnish language is relic from who-knows-where in Asia, and has nothing to do with Indo-european languages at all. The Finns aren’t like the Scandinavians, either. Figure they are sort of like the heart of Chinatown in San Francisco. They share the same space, but that is where the cultural similarity ends. Political reality over the last few centuries has created some tiny Finnish-speaking areas outside Finland, but they are tiny. One is Estonia, just across the water. The other is the area around Vibory, which Stalin decided to hold on to after the Second World War. Apparently, he must have held a grudge when the Finns were able to hold off his first invasion some five years earlier.

pansypoo53219

(20,955 posts)
10. in my combined time in ebeltoft, denmark, i heard 1 ambulance siren. never saw a cop car.
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 02:12 AM
Sep 2021

everybody seemed happy. an elderly epal from DK had so many benefits + health issues, but no fear of medical bankruptcy. made sure his apartment was safe. TAXI rides home from hospital since he had no car.

DFW

(54,295 posts)
12. I wouldn't expect anything else from Ebeltoft
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 03:21 AM
Sep 2021

A town of 8000 people on the east coast of Jylland that is barely even a suburb of Århus is not going to be hotbed of excitement. Like the locals might say, "det sker aldrig noget der." I've been to Århus, and even that is not exactly Manhattan by the Kattegat.

As for the system, it's the same thing like here in Germany when my wife was stricken with cancer twice. The health insurance system paid for her whole hospital stay (about a month in each case), subsequent outpatient treatment, and a month in a rehab spa in the Black Forest including train fare from Düsseldorf to Offenburg and back.

However: my wife is a German citizen, who worked in Germany her whole life, and paid into their health care and (miserable) pension systems out of her salary all her working life. That is how these systems work. Nothing is "free" over here no matter how much certain propagandists want us to believe it. The hospital staff are not all volunteers, the farmers that grow the food served there do not deliver it without getting paid, the taxi drivers do not work pro bono, and nor do the doctors or the professors that taught them. The system is set up to be financed by Germans (or, in your friend's case, Danes) contributing into the German (or Danish) system to help Germans (or Danes) in need when they need it.

An influx of foreigners--it doesn't matter if from the USA or Syria or Nauru--who never paid a cent into the system upsets the supply chain as well as the money math if they suddenly show up and expect everything for free. When I moved here to Germany to take up permanent residence, I checked out the health insurance situation. Since my employer and salary were all still in Texas, if I wanted German health insurance as a recent immigrant from the USA, I had to apply for it. I went in for an interview, filled out their form, and was quoted €2500 a month (about $35,000 a year) for health insurance. That was for my only available option, "Privat," which means I paid up front, and they decided what to reimburse, and what not. Like I said, nothing is free here. So, I kept my Blue Cross (which denies practically ALL claims, even when I'm in the States) just so that I could say I had SOMETHING (required for my residence permit), and my German medical bills have thus far been way below $35,000 a year, usually not even a tenth of that. After all my years here, even if I get some drastic illness and need a quarter million dollars of treatment, I'm still ahead of the game.

pansypoo53219

(20,955 posts)
19. i think i encountered a drug dealer in arhus.
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 09:53 PM
Sep 2021

he was very polite about my not taking a picture of him. i did get the top of his head tho. lol. no sirens in arhus either.

DFW

(54,295 posts)
20. No, I wouldn't expect so
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 11:24 PM
Sep 2021

Århus is a real city but a very small one. And their airport is far from town, i thought it was halfway to Germany!

pansypoo53219

(20,955 posts)
22. we did spend a lot of time on the 'highways'. no cops there either. did spend some
Sun Sep 5, 2021, 08:38 AM
Sep 2021

time in copenhagen. i guess the touristy areas don't need cops. but everybody seemed happy. except the drunk we saw yelling at a granny sculpture in 03' during iWaq 2. spray painted no war. maybe why.

SoCalDavidS

(9,998 posts)
15. Thanks For The Info
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 11:08 AM
Sep 2021

I would definitely take a long trip there before making any decision that monumental.

I don't think Sweden would be a consideration. I was not fond of their response to Covid last year.

Rhiannon12866

(204,779 posts)
11. I've never been to Denmark, but I've been to Finland, and the people we met couldn't have been nicer
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 02:21 AM
Sep 2021

And Helsinki is a historic city, plus they have a lovely countryside, too. However, I did not recognize one thing that I ate...

DFW

(54,295 posts)
16. No wonder
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 03:40 PM
Sep 2021

Instead of a salad made with local ingredients, you would have had to order a "salaatti, joka on valmistettu paikallisista raakaaineista."

If you want silverware, you have to ask for "hopeaesineet." It's a wonder the Finns ever get around to eating anything at all!

Rhiannon12866

(204,779 posts)
21. I don't remember ordering anything, they just presented us with food, LOL
Sat Sep 4, 2021, 05:08 AM
Sep 2021

And, after looking at everything, I still had no clue what anything was and I didn't want to insult these nice people by asking.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
14. Thank you for that!
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 05:03 AM
Sep 2021

It gave me hope that there is a pleasant and peaceful way of life somewhere in the world.

I studied in Europe (Vienna) for a semester in college and I was so much happier living over there than here. I would love the opportunity to live there (Europe) again.

DFW

(54,295 posts)
17. Be careful what you wish for!
Fri Sep 3, 2021, 03:45 PM
Sep 2021

Coming here to study for a semester is one thing. Moving here and coping with European bureaucracy is quite another!
Take it from one who did just that.

Always remember the four European legal systems:

French: everything not forbidden is permitted
German: everything not permitted is forbidden
Russian: everything is forbidden, including that which is permitted
Italian: everything is permitted, including that which is forbidden

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