Tax on vehiches in Denmark (Dan H.)

DanHolohan

What a fascinating career!

What are your plans now, Fred? Thanks for being part of the site.

Fred Harwood_2

Plans

My wife and I have acquired a small retirement cottage in western Massachusetts, and have added an attached two-car garage and bed and bathroom above. I do as much of the work as the code permits. Of course, we have kept the single-pipe steam heating system, adding vintage radiators in the new areas, and upgrading vents, etc. After that, more travel.

I continue to study and write on economics and energy, and now have a governance role at AIER. Plenty to do, and four grandchildren, two here and two in California.

I have a love of vapor steam heating systems, and occasionally do a bit of pro bono consulting with problems usually in older homes in the area. Of course, TLA is my Bible.

DanHolohan

Thanks.

I wish you and your wife many wonderful, healthy years to enjoy. That's such a pretty place in which to settle down.

Christian Egli_2

A place named for the eponymous pastry has got to be sweet

Out of control schemes where very few get to have their stuff paid for by all others, like healthcare and many other benefit programs, are not solely the feature of so-called socialist Europe - we have lots and lots of them ourselves.

Frankly, these schemes are not the problem itself, after all, they simply are ways of purchasing things with some form of group advantage. The concept is endlessly applicable, we all use it in many forms, and like everything in life the outcome of such arrangements is not always perfect, often it is even disastrous.

For instance - eating costs - if I go to the bakery counter, I will only buy exactly one Danish. This is healthy because I control my appetite on the spot through direct eat / pay relation. Now, if I book myself into a "free continental breakfast" hotel, there is no end to how many pastries I can scarf down... Not you? The hotel buys the goods at efficient bulk rate, true, but the usage is out of whack and prone to very costly abuse. In a third situation, I wouldn't shamelessly eat the entire box of the office Friday Doughnuts before anyone else even got to the treats.

Funny thing how the size of the group and perceived anonymity modify personal behavior.

Same goes for heating costs, same goes for healthcare costs, same goes with insurance, etc...

Denmark has implemented many group schemes in the same way other larger countries have and they've been seemingly successful at it. It is a tiny country with a small cohesive population. It's only the size of a few counties... small enough that control and balance between all people involved remains free of too much corruption. Thus, Danes are happy.

Among Europeans, those living in the microscopic countries such as Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Monaco (and there are a few more) are all even happier. Just like in business, smallness brings simplicity and flexibility and Friday Doughnuts that don't get thieved by just one fly-by-night individual.

There is yet another similarity between those happy countries, they each have at their helm a royal family. Denmark has queen Margrethe. This neither adds nor removes any parliamentary and democratic processes, but, what it does do is ground the government with a built-in property rights sanctity - way better than our tiny mention in the fifth amendment. The same analogy holds for ownership which is so live and so directly represented in small businesses and so remote in large publicly held corporations, at worse, it is non existent in state owned enterprises and state run offices such as the license plate bureau.

Most European monarchies do not know of capital gains tax, nor property tax, neither have they gone through property confiscation spasms. The state revenues come from some income tax, lots of social benefit tax, lots of car tax, lots of sales tax, lots of permitting fees, all in all, tax forms that are linked to a fairer consumption aspect. (Nonetheless, Scandinavian sky high taxes have created a mass exodus of income earners to such havens as Switzerland. Competition is good. Chocolate is good.)

I remember reading a few years back, how socialists in power in the Netherlands wanted to create an imputed income tax (a particularly nasty form of property tax which exists in... Switzerland - can't win all the time), and how their queen Beatrix led the movement against it... cough cough, she doesn't exactly live in a modest home... but what's good enough for the queen is good enough for the people and all this aims at keeping politicians powerless. Other countries in Europe are the poster child and the basket case for all the opposite behavior.

Add the strong sense Danes seem to have for keeping the state out of the bedroom.

Add the tasty Danish.

And you've got a beautiful place.



For the sake of meaningless comparisons, it seems to me we have plenty enough high taxes here in the US, enough that there is nothing to be proud of. If anyone wants total social care, one only needs to work for companies such as GM, or work for the state. We all are well aware of the benefits and the horrors of working there - your choice. We also devolve scary amounts of power to the greedy state which it fights off of us. All and all, the best first place to look for beauty is in one's own backyard.

Here is a healthy difference I see that is truly remarkable about the US.

The US is not a police state whereas all of Europe is, so much so, that transatlantic justice systems complain about the blaring examples beaming out of Hollywood. Read me my rights! What rights? Reasonable articulable suspicion? Hahaha... open your trunk! Routine police checkpoints are... routine. So are indisputable traffic tickets by mail. Kids are trained from early childhood to stop for police inspection of their bicycles, their ID and their wallet - routinely and frequently. Why? No reason. And the criminal elements are not much picked on either. No beef.

Likewise, for buildings, orders to demolish one's home on simple telltale to the authorities by any neighbor go out like junk mail. The snitch never needs substantiation, the state needs no proof of any problem, it's the owner who must prove compliance before the demolish deadline. (Note, this is entirely similar to our frivolous lawsuits, just as costly, but... no fair, you have no protection and no insurance coverage to keep the state-powered steam shovel away)

In spite of the Hollywood message, gradually, our institutions are dangerously doing away with limitations of state power. Most notable would be the affirmative defense needed in EPA court, where the EPA need not prove anything, you need to prove you didn't commit the crime. Likewise, states with huge disregards to the constitution impose the same concept on restricting self defense: a crook gets hurt trying to harm you, and... you now have to prove you did nothing wrong, while the crook, his rights make him leisurely wait for you to prove he did something wrong. Something is rotten in the state of...

It's amazing, this affirmative defense stuff goes totally against the idea we have that we should be innocent until proven guilty. Yet, Europe is already all about being guilty until proven innocent. That, anyway you look at it, is not beautiful.

Keep your mouth stuffed full with Danish pastries - or keep your mouth shut, the result is the same, not much freedom.

**

Thanks Dan, for the wonderful stimulation you provide, and thanks for reading my oh-so-long-winded posts. A Danish kept me going. How delicious.

RojoHo_3

EU Citizens Are Officially Happy

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-02-26T165733Z_01_L26731576_RTRUKOC_0_US-EU-HAPPINESS.xml&src=rss

Uni R_3

What's your budget?

bill nye_3

Christian

Christian, you are one long-winded poster that I don't mind reading. My somewhat short attention span causes me to skip through other posts. But you sir always keep my interest and I know I have become a better person because of Dan, the wall, and the friends I have found here. Thanks

I have never left North America and I know most Americans like myself, blue collar guys, don't have much of a clue as to what goes on in other parts of the world. I find the diverse perspectives here very interesting.

Don \"Grumpy\" Walsh

Cheech and Chong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7gWB7IzxtU

Nick Ciasullo

Friends in Denmark

I had a girl from Denmark living in my house last summer. This July my daughter will go to Denmark for a month and live with that girls family. I have been speaking to her father for almost a year now. Their tax is a flat 40% + bonus taxes on cars and such, totaling out to about 50% (compared to our 40 - 45% total).

He was just telling me about how he bought a used Ford Mondeo (think much cooler looking Fusion) for about $15000 + $55000 in tax. Oh yea, that's what I'm talking about. All in all, the Danes don't complain about the taxes much, because they look at their shrinking National Debt, growing economy, and standard of living. They don't have Bag Ladies, and single parents don't suffer.

Still, I say I don't want that kind of tax, but it is only about 5 - 10% more than what we are paying here (don't forget to add your hospitalization, property tax, school tax, sales tax, etc.).

Nick

jp_2

TREK

buy american, buy a trek!

I've had 3, like them a lot. ps not all treks are american made though. front suspension is good enough. Or if you are more a city rider, a cross trainer. don't really know what one is big the city mt bikers seem to use them.

RonWHC

Perhaps a real life experience

w/ health care in Denmark, & Germany, will dispell some notions, & elicit further comments.

Grundfos (wonderful folks) aranged a clinic appointment for my sore throated, wheezing wife, while we were touring their facilities. Our wait, from time of call to the clinic, til the nurse called said wife's name, a little over 3 hours. Nurse took throat swabs. Yep. Me too. Tests were negative. She gave us the same song & dance the folks over here do. "Virus. It will clear up."

When I pointed out the wife has a history w/ this kind of problem, in came the blue jeaned, unpressed shirted, Doctor. Otherwise very professional. Stethoscope time. "Uh-oh. Bronchitis." Penicillin prescription & away we went. No charge. Covered by the system. Clinic clean & well organised. Every one waiting was seen promptly. And. Wife now has a number in the Danish Medical System. Folks in the pharmacy, down the road, were friendly & professional. Particulary when I presented the letter saying Grundfos would pick up the tab. Thanks Grundfos.

End of story? Nope. During our extended trip, as we toured the monuments, castles, towns, & villages, of Bavaria. The wife's condition deteriorated. What to do? A call to the German Interpretor @ the Hohenfels MP Detachment. "Go to the nearest Hospital Emergency Room."

A truly unique experience. Found said hospital. No ambulances. No sirens. No security guards. No Emergency Room Sign. A tortured conversation @ the front desk elicited a point to a corridor on the left. Left, through double doors, & we were in a large room - w/ no one there. At the other end of the room was a closed door. Taped to the wall next to that door was a handwritten sign that read "Emergency Room", in English. OK!

After a while a young man in a white coat came through the door we had entered. We stopped him & explained our problem. "Just a minute" he said, & went to, & entered the other door. We waited for about 30 minutes. Then the man (Doctor) re-appeared. He asked some questions & then told my wife she must remain at the hospital as a patient. "Why? Can't you examine and prescribe some medication?" The answer, "No. I can only prescribe medication for patients staying in the hospital." "Why?" "That is German Law."

He was kind enough to give us the address & directions to a clinic in a town close to Regensberg. Away we went. At 5:30 PM we walked into the clinic. A nurse saw us. "You will have to pay" she said. I nodded & showed her a fist full of Euros. As in Denmark, the clinic was neat, well staffed, & well organized. 6:00 saw us in the Doctor's Office. Well pressed slacks & shirt. He asked the right questions. Stethoscope again. Applied pressure at the right spots on her head. "Sinus infection" he proclaimed. We told him of our encounter in Denmark & what was prescribed. A smile lit his face as he said "wrong medicine & not enough." 19.90 Euros later, prescription in hand, & directions to the nearest open Apothek (Pharmacy), & we bolted for the door. 6:30 PM. Success.

Not really. We saw as we approached the Apothek that we were too late. Every Apothek in Bavaria, & I suspect all of Germany, turns out the lights, & locks the doors, not later than 6:30 PM. Same for all day Sunday.

Fortunately, that was Thursday. Double dose Friday. Singles on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday, made a truly miserable Lufthansa Flight, medically possible Monday afternoon.

That was our encounter w/ Medicine, European Style. Not comparing, or commenting, on the differences between how they do medicine, & how we do it. But now, I've seen some of the other side.

Bernie Riddle_2

entertaining prose

Christain. As Bill said I too read your lengthy passages with fervent attention lest I should miss any of the oh so subtle details you use to describe the different situations.

I can picture you stowed away in your garret grinding away on the keyboard periodically stareing out the six over one paned window reaching for the perfect pronoun or adjective to round off your sentences.

I also admire your commanding knowledge of how steam boilers function and remember many detailed wall postings in that regard humor and all added you are a great asset to the wall.

When I read "your" posts, another great wall writer comes to mind, in case you missed his endearing but oh so few visits here you could do a search of Noel Kelly "what feelings".

In any case Christain in short what I am trying to say keep the prose comming it is soooo enjoyable

Brendan

Christian Egli_2

The happy-o-meter is reaching level 10

Thanks Bill, thanks Brendan, the doughnuts did the trick to get my fingers on a roll, and your heartfelt compliments sure add a lot of sweetness. This HeatingHelp wall is no low-calorie diet.

Thanks again everyone.

Nick Ciasullo

The Danish Hit America

As I stated earlier, we had a girl from Denmark living in our house last summer. She was one of 10 Danes that came over. During a group trip to Philadelphia, I made all the kids get together and take a bite out of a Danish. I took a picture and named it "Cannibalism". Sadly, the Danes call it "Swedish Bread".

Nick