| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Correct spelling can be a matter of life and death Thread poster: Tom in London
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:22
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | Finding a good dentist | Feb 3, 2016 |
It isn't easy to find a good dentist. They come in all shapes and sizes. I recently changed my dentist. I chose a busy practice on a busy street in a non-posh part of the city where they won't be checking how much money you have before they suggest a treatment plan.
It's also a good idea to choose younger dentists, because dental science has been making very rapid progress and there are lots of new technologies.
Here in the UK, the dentist will explain how much each treatment... See more It isn't easy to find a good dentist. They come in all shapes and sizes. I recently changed my dentist. I chose a busy practice on a busy street in a non-posh part of the city where they won't be checking how much money you have before they suggest a treatment plan.
It's also a good idea to choose younger dentists, because dental science has been making very rapid progress and there are lots of new technologies.
Here in the UK, the dentist will explain how much each treatment is going to cost. For basic treatments, such as a checkup, most of the cost is covered by the government and you only pay a small amount. For more complicated treatments, such as air-jet cleaning, you pay more. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:22
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
I'm indeed very happy not to live in Denmark.
Me too. The national mood seems poisonous. Denmark's recent anti-refugee legislation is a disgrace. I was there recently but henceforth I intend to stay away from that benighted country.
[Edited at 2016-02-03 18:11 GMT]
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The question is who is supposed to pay for the wave of migrants, out of which 60 % are simply illegal migrants, typically from North Africa, who've just tagged along to profit from the chaos. Should only taxpayers pay for them, or should migrants contribute when they have the means to do so? There are no easy answers to this. Germany, Switzerland and Sweden already make them contribute.
The UK has only received very few migrants per ... See more The question is who is supposed to pay for the wave of migrants, out of which 60 % are simply illegal migrants, typically from North Africa, who've just tagged along to profit from the chaos. Should only taxpayers pay for them, or should migrants contribute when they have the means to do so? There are no easy answers to this. Germany, Switzerland and Sweden already make them contribute.
The UK has only received very few migrants per capita: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911 , being naturally shielded behind the Channel. Had it received numbers similar to those of Germany, Sweden or Denmark, there would have been a fierce debate in the UK about who was supposed to foot the bill. It is expected to cost Germany €50 billion in 2017. There have already been calls for increased taxes in Germany because of this.
I blame Merkel for opening the floodgates and letting everybody in completely uncritically. It has put immense pressure on the Scandinavian countries and made Schengen partially collapse. Accepting the nearly two-thirds who are not genuine refugees obviously has done no good for the population's acceptance of the genuine refugees. Germans around here are generally very critical of Merkel's policy.
The non-refugees are also typically the ones who are misbehaving, again doing no good for the real refugees. When the governments involved try to deport them as failed asylum seekers, some of the North African authorities refuse to accept their own citizens if they don't sign that they voluntarily accept deportation.
But we could use endless space to discuss this without reaching a firm conclusion.
As for Danish culture, one of the parts I dislike the most is their infamous Jante Law and all its consequences. Google it to know more. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | taxes and economic freedom | Feb 4, 2016 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
I often wonder why Denmark comes out so near the top in surveys and ratings about happiness and economic freedom when I know it holds the world record in tax, often practices oppressive methods when it comes to tax
It seems intuitive to me that high taxes and strict enforcement would correlate with economic freedom. How are you going to establish substantial and widespread economic freedom without actively redistributing and redirecting wealth (i. e., putting it to sensible use for the common good) by way of taxes? But I suppose different people have different notions of "freedom".
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Michael Wetzel wrote:
It seems intuitive to me that high taxes and strict enforcement would correlate with economic freedom. How are you going to establish substantial and widespread economic freedom without actively redistributing and redirecting wealth (i. e., putting it to sensible use for the common good) by way of taxes? But I suppose different people have different notions of "freedom".
Freedom to me means being able to start businesses with as little regulation as possible (some is necessary), as little bureaucratic meddling as possible, to be able to trade with whom you want and keep as much of your own money as possible etc. It does not mean "welfare" to me. Why would I would to work only to hand most of my income over to the state (which often squanders it anyway)?
There is strict enforcement and oppressive enforcement going beyond what the law says, and the two are not the same.
Redistributing wealth is not an aim in itself, only a necessary evil to pay for common facilities and those who are ill, unemployed etc. If you exaggerate redistribution, more and more of those who produce wealth will leave, and not enough will start businesses, and the country will no longer be able to pay for itself. France is an excellent example, while Denmark somehow is able to keep functioning despite its oppressive taxes, but you also see that when for example a Swede and a Dane invented Skype, they ran their company out of Luxembourg, not DK or S (also a high-tax country); such new economic activity is often kept out of such high-tax countries. You need to generate wealth before you can redistribute it.
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Thomas T. Frost wrote:
...when for example a Swede and a Dane invented Skype, they ran their company out of Luxembourg, not DK or S (also a high-tax country); such new economic activity is often kept out of such high-tax countries. You need to generate wealth before you can redistribute it.
... and as long as that is possible, big companies have the freedom to basically pay as much tax as they like, while the small folk will be prosecuted if they don't comply with the tax laws of the country they happen to be in.
The problem is not whether a system is too opressive - the problem is that there are differences between systems, and that big fish can choose in which tax system they pay their taxes. A freedom that many of us don't have. I don't want to know how much tax money Amazon, Skype and the like would contribute to the countries they actually get their profits from - if they were forced to pay taxes there. Worse, they are sometimes actively encouraged by governments to pursue this behaviour, because they promise to generate a few jobs in return (which, especially in case of Amazon, are many times precarious short-term contracts or similar and contribute even more to the deterioration of the country's social systems. In many cases, countries are better off without such kind of new economic activities.
Oh, don't get me started...
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