Secular Café: Does the Danish welfare system go way too far?

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Does the Danish welfare system go way too far? Apr 21st 2013, 22:06 I believe that government should provide at least a minimum safety net for its citizens. For example help should be available for the disabled, the temporarily unemployed and the elderly, as well as the working poor if there are no requirements for a livable minimum wage. I also prefer a system where health care is affordable to all. Basic education and some vocational training should be free and higher education should be affordable with loans and scholarships available to all who are academically qualified and in need of help. I would consider that the basics of a decent safety net. Our US safety net is in many ways ineffective although it does provide a lot of help for many of our citizens. On the other hand, I was shocked to learn how far the Danish system goes. It does seem to make it easy to take advantage of the welfare system and in some cases make it more profitable to live off the welfare system rather than be a productive part of society. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/wo...html?ref=world Quote: It began as a stunt intended to prove that hardship and poverty still existed in this small, wealthy country, but it backfired badly. Visit a single mother of two on welfare, a liberal member of Parliament goaded a skeptical political opponent, see for yourself how hard it is. It turned out, however, that life on welfare was not so hard. The 36-year-old single mother, given the pseudonym “Carina” in the news media, had more money to spend than many of the country’s full-time workers. All told, she was getting about $2,700 a month, and she had been on welfare since she was 16. Quote: Parents in all income brackets, for instance, get quarterly checks from the government to help defray child-care costs. The elderly get free maid service if they need it, even if they are wealthy. But few experts here believe that Denmark can long afford the current perks. So Denmark is retooling itself, tinkering with corporate tax rates, considering new public sector investments and, for the long term, trying to wean more people — the young and the old — off government benefits. “In the past, people never asked for help unless they needed it,” said Karen Haekkerup, the minister of social affairs and integration, who has been outspoken on the subject. “My grandmother was offered a pension and she was offended. She did not need it. “But now people do not have that mentality. They think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded. And it has brought us a good quality of life. But now we need to go back to the rights and the duties. We all have to contribute.” How far should a public safety net go and does such a system dissuade some from working? Why aren't more Danes resentful of having to pay such high taxes in order that some younger healthy people can enjoy a nice lifestyle free of work?

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