Denmark, land of the Welfare program, has decided to make cuts

quote:

---

When a European government raises the pension age and makes cuts to welfare programs, it’s usually because of dire finances. In Denmark’s case, it’s because of ideology.

Greece, Italy and other highly-indebted countries are regularly urged by officials in Brussels to find ways of reducing public spending or making their labor markets more efficient. But of Denmark, the European Union's commission said in its most recent report: Competitiveness indicators “don’t point to major challenges;” employment has “remained strong;” and the “risks to Denmark’s fiscal sustainability are low in the short, medium and long term.”

---

quote:

---

“We want to promote a society in which it is easier to support yourself and your family before you hand over a large share of your income to fund the costs of society,” the government of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote in its manifesto.

It’s all part of a Danish drift toward the political right heralded at the start of the millennium by another Liberal Party premier named Rasmussen, Anders Fogh. The push to reduce levies in one of the most taxed societies in the world received new impetus in November, when two free-market groups joined the Liberals’ minority government.

---

quote:

---

Generating the resources needed to fund the tax cuts requires higher revenues, lower spending, or a combination of both. The government believes that the best way to achieve its objective is to get more people into the workforce.

---