Tag: Denmark

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folly international affairs regulation

Denmark’s Cows Must Die

Denmark, climate change,global warming, methane, cows, bureaucrats

Sorry, cows. The planet comes first.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression. No order has been issued requiring Danish farmers to kill their cows. The state is merely requiring that they feed the cows poison.

The purpose of the wonder-​additive, Bovaer, produced by a company called Elanco Animal Health, is to limit the methane that cows produce as they digest their food. Then, says Elanco, the amount of methane that the cows emit — by a method too indelicate to mention — will be reduced 30 percent. Elanco must have done some kind of testing to figure this out, I suppose.

What is the point, though? Why does anybody want to accomplish this?

Well, the central planners who mandate such things believe or say they believe that even a smidgen less methane in the air will enable them to fine-​tune the global climate thus wise and so and thereby, something something something, a perfect optimization. Well, not perfectly perfect, not until all the bovines everywhere are gobbling Bovaer. Denmark is not the only country pushing the drug though.

Alas, some Danish farmers are being obstreperous, complaining that their cows are getting sick: lethargy, diarrhea, miscarriages, drops in milk production. Etc. Some are even dying as result of the additive.

It is sad. But I’d rather have a few dead cows than a dead planet with nonstop hurricanes and tornadoes. And that’s what’s gonna happen if we don’t find a way to inhibit the cows’ … methane emissions.

This is Common Sense!! I’m Paul Jacob.

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Accountability education and schooling folly general freedom moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies responsibility too much government

Eternally Postponing Responsibility

responsibility, Denmark, education, welfare, socialism, Bernie Sanders, freedom

There is a common sense element to economics. We ignore it at our peril. So let’s take a cue from the Democratic Party’s current and de facto leader, Bernie Sanders. 

Turn to Denmark for a model.

The Nordic state has what Bernie wants: higher education “free for all.” But there are … costs involved. 

It turns out that “some Danes, especially older citizens already in the labor force,” explains Business Insider, “say the extra freedom can eliminate a crucial sense of urgency for 20-​somethings to become adults. The country now deals with ‘eternity students’ — people who stick around at college for six years or more [not to mention advanced degree work] without any plans of graduating, solely because they don’t have any financial incentive to leave.”

Hardly a shock. Young Danes would not be the first to see in college life what satirist Tom Lehrer identified as the prolongation of “adolescence beyond all previous limits.”

Give young people an incentive to suck up resources year after year, and some will certainly take you up on that.

It’s hard to counter, too. The Danish “eternity student” problem remains even after taking policy steps to discourage it. 

Business Insider ends its report by quoting an expert who insists that “motivation to succeed in your studies is in no way linked to whether you’re paying for your tuition or not.”

Yup, that’s what proponents of “free” education keep telling us. But there is more at play here.

Responsibility is on the line. Adulthood is about responsibility. Free tuition is about postponing responsibility.

Do we really want to go further in that direction?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Categories
free trade & free markets tax policy

Denmark to Citizens: Drop Dead!

That might as well have been the headline of the Spiegel Online article. What else could Der Spiegel mean by the words “Health Be Damned: Denmark Hopes Cheaper Soda Will Boost Economy” except that Denmark’s government is endangering the lives of citizens merely to promote their prosperity and to respect their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Letting individuals again govern their own beverage intake, unimpeded! How is that not tantamount to shoving them over a cliff?

On the other hand, if you live in Denmark, enjoy soda, and dislike being harassed for doing so — thank goodness for tax competition.

Steep new taxes on drinks like beer and soda have been sending Danes across the border for these items. They have long shopped in Germany anyway, but the “sinful drink” taxes have inspired an increase in the international jaunts. Research by a Danish grocers’ association suggests that over the past year, members of some 57 percent of Danish households have zipped over to Germany to buy beverages onerously taxed at home. Denmark officials therefore plan to phase out the new taxes.

The government has already abandoned a notorious “fat tax” on foods with saturated fats. It seemed that Danes disliked the higher prices and unemployment caused by the tubby tax.

At least for now, then, Denmark officials have declared defeat on key fronts in the paternalistic war on soda, fats and liberty.

So, take heart, victims of America’s nanny state! The incursions are reversible.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.