Price of Copenhagen...how do they afford it?

[Anonymous]

They borrow money. That’s how.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US is a great place to be rich, and a terrible place to be poor.
Europe is a great place to be poor, and a terrible place to be rich.

The poorest US state (Mississippi) is about to surpass the richest EU country (Germany) in GDP per capita. All other US states are ahead of every European country. Just Mississippi needs to catch up!

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/01/03/the-poorest-us-state-rivals-germany-gdp-per-capita-in-the-us-and-europe

Then why is wealth inequality and standard of living for most Americans so low while Denmark, Sweden etc have barely any poverty or wealthy inequality

PP explained it.

Because the US sucks up the production of workers and gives it to the wealthy.

In Europe, GDP benefits everyone. In USA, GDP primarily benefits billionaires.

"A great place to be rich" is not a great place.

Maybe? Do you know not wealthy European families? They don’t appear better off to me. I will give them the fact they aren’t fat and are more attractive.

That's the point, isn't it?
How do you determine "better off"?
Paying less for corn syrup and soybean oil to make you fat and sick?
Having a larger car that you can sit in for hours every day on the beltway?
Having a bigger house for "privacy" because your country only builds walls out of paper mache?

They work similar hours and can’t outsource

Have a crazy high amount of mortgage debt that requires both parents to work

Fewer clothes and household goods

More dependent on public transport and only one car that’s older and less safe

Limited choice for higher education as it’s free but access is decided by the government and is limited

More difficult daily life where it’s more challenging to hire help, stores are often closed and life is more inefficient (going to the grocery store every day for example instead of having a larger home and fridge - that’s a PIA)

Can’t hire babysitters as it’s not common due to less disposable income

Being expected to stay home for *years* after having a child because you’re a woman and expected to be excited about the minimum wage the government pays you become a second class citizen at work. But when your time is up expected to return to work with a vengeance to pay that high mortgage.

Its so fun to watch americans disguise their envy. No scandinavian has ever thought ”i really wish I could leave my baby in day care at 4 weeks instead of having my job and a reasonable salary paid for 12 months”

And to the poster asking about the Euro- no christ both DK and SWE have their own currency. DKs is based on USD so now maybe less reliable but this is why people in CPH shop in sweden. Swedish krone is tanking and Malmö is nowhere near as expensive as CPH- for that you gotta go to stockholm.

Scandis dont really need to save for much- we dont pay tuition at college, we get a pension, healthy care is free, the usa ”dream” is a fantastical tail of slave labor that you people pretend if your own wish. Scandis dont need to keep up the Joneses- they dont exist and nobody cares.

We should let the invaders roll onto your white shores. Small, ethnocentric countries are passé.

[Anonymous]

My Scandinavian family has an incredibly high quality of life day to day, but they can't afford to take vacations like we do, and while baseline health care is leaps and bounds better than ours, any complex medical needs requires more time and bureaucracy to sort out, and it's less likely to be customized.

[Anonymous]

Well, I can tell you that my German friends take 6 weeks vacation all over the world.
And college including medical school, law etc are free, plus you get a stipend. That’s over 500k right there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a high quality urban lifestyle that lacks most of the excesses of American day to day life. Smaller houses, no cars, wasting far less food than us, much more reuse of items, smaller wardrobes, far fewer things like hair treatments and nail salons, and on and on. We consume so much more on a daily basis than the average Scandinavian. I say this as a city dweller in a tiny apartment with my family in the states and who still seems to live with so much "more" day to day than my Danish family members.

I echo this. I have a friend in Denmark. She has a very simple but lovely apartment for her family of 4. They do not own a car, they bike or use public transportation (or rent a car for a trip out of town if they must). Healthcare is covered, education and extracurriculars are covered pretty much from preschool onward, and there are no major limitations on sick days. They live a great quality of life. I haven't found Copenhagen to be outrageous at all when traveling with kids. I am staying at my friends extra summer house during my next trip but in the past we have always stayed at absolutely lovely family hostel that is much higher quality than most American hotels with wayyy better amenities and included breakfast. Even for a more "luxury visit" to say Billund- Legoland stuff, is not expensive compared to US amusement park prices and is probably better quality. If there was a job opportunity in Denmark, I would take it in a heartbeat!

[Anonymous]

They can do all that because they don’t have social baggages we have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at the size of their homes, their furniture choices, their kitchens. Look at their cars (or lack of cars). You have your answer.

It costs a lot of money to have a gourmet kitchen, a 3k foot house, two new cars, landscaping, travel soccer fees, competitive dance fees, and flights to Europe and the Caribbean. It costs less money to have a 1k foot apartment or row home, two bikes, no yard, and a tiny induction stove.

Do you think Europeans don't travel or do activities or cook?

They do! But in lots of places they pay less for childcare, healthcare, and yes have smaller homes and transit options which are healthy and more affordable.

[Anonymous]

They work similar hours and can’t outsource

Have a crazy high amount of mortgage debt that requires both parents to work

Fewer clothes and household goods

More dependent on public transport and only one car that’s older and less safe

Limited choice for higher education as it’s free but access is decided by the government and is limited

More difficult daily life where it’s more challenging to hire help, stores are often closed and life is more inefficient (going to the grocery store every day for example instead of having a larger home and fridge - that’s a PIA)

Can’t hire babysitters as it’s not common due to less disposable income

Being expected to stay home for *years* after having a child because you’re a woman and expected to be excited about the minimum wage the government pays you become a second class citizen at work. But when your time is up expected to return to work with a vengeance to pay that high mortgage.

Mortgage? Isn't it the same in the USA when you want to buy a home in a good area?
Public transport: huge advantage if you don't need to take the car for every single errand in daily life.
Stores are closed on sundays, so there is enough time to go to the grocery store.
The choice of education is just limited by the intellecutal skills of the students. Duckheads like POTUS won't get access to universities.
It's common to hire babysitters.
Parents are not expected to stay home. Part time working is more common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US is a great place to be rich, and a terrible place to be poor.
Europe is a great place to be poor, and a terrible place to be rich.

The poorest US state (Mississippi) is about to surpass the richest EU country (Germany) in GDP per capita. All other US states are ahead of every European country. Just Mississippi needs to catch up!

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/01/03/the-poorest-us-state-rivals-germany-gdp-per-capita-in-the-us-and-europe

Famously there are no rich people in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the size of their homes, their furniture choices, their kitchens. Look at their cars (or lack of cars). You have your answer.

It costs a lot of money to have a gourmet kitchen, a 3k foot house, two new cars, landscaping, travel soccer fees, competitive dance fees, and flights to Europe and the Caribbean. It costs less money to have a 1k foot apartment or row home, two bikes, no yard, and a tiny induction stove.

Do you think Europeans don't travel or do activities or cook?

They do! But in lots of places they pay less for childcare, healthcare, and yes have smaller homes and transit options which are healthy and more affordable.

Of course they travel but they aren’t regularly taking vacations with long flights (at least not most of them and not 2-3 per year). They can get to places by train and by short cheap flights way easier than Americans can. And of course they cook, my point was they don’t have 200k “chefs kitchens” with 15k Wolf ranges and 2 dishwashers and two paneled fridges and marble countertops. American kitchens are ridiculous status symbols.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US is a great place to be rich, and a terrible place to be poor.
Europe is a great place to be poor, and a terrible place to be rich.

The poorest US state (Mississippi) is about to surpass the richest EU country (Germany) in GDP per capita. All other US states are ahead of every European country. Just Mississippi needs to catch up!

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/01/03/the-poorest-us-state-rivals-germany-gdp-per-capita-in-the-us-and-europe

Famously there are no rich people in Europe.

Europe is not a monolith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the size of their homes, their furniture choices, their kitchens. Look at their cars (or lack of cars). You have your answer.

It costs a lot of money to have a gourmet kitchen, a 3k foot house, two new cars, landscaping, travel soccer fees, competitive dance fees, and flights to Europe and the Caribbean. It costs less money to have a 1k foot apartment or row home, two bikes, no yard, and a tiny induction stove.

Do you think Europeans don't travel or do activities or cook?

They do! But in lots of places they pay less for childcare, healthcare, and yes have smaller homes and transit options which are healthy and more affordable.

Of course they travel but they aren’t regularly taking vacations with long flights (at least not most of them and not 2-3 per year). They can get to places by train and by short cheap flights way easier than Americans can. And of course they cook, my point was they don’t have 200k “chefs kitchens” with 15k Wolf ranges and 2 dishwashers and two paneled fridges and marble countertops. American kitchens are ridiculous status symbols.

Exactly. This is the whole point of the thread. They cook a lot more than Americans do, on average (I'm guessing) and they manage to do so with much smaller kitchens. Ikea is a Swedish company and all about small space efficiency -- because that's ultimately the Scandinavian market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the size of their homes, their furniture choices, their kitchens. Look at their cars (or lack of cars). You have your answer.

It costs a lot of money to have a gourmet kitchen, a 3k foot house, two new cars, landscaping, travel soccer fees, competitive dance fees, and flights to Europe and the Caribbean. It costs less money to have a 1k foot apartment or row home, two bikes, no yard, and a tiny induction stove.

Do you think Europeans don't travel or do activities or cook?

They do! But in lots of places they pay less for childcare, healthcare, and yes have smaller homes and transit options which are healthy and more affordable.

Of course they travel but they aren’t regularly taking vacations with long flights (at least not most of them and not 2-3 per year). They can get to places by train and by short cheap flights way easier than Americans can. And of course they cook, my point was they don’t have 200k “chefs kitchens” with 15k Wolf ranges and 2 dishwashers and two paneled fridges and marble countertops. American kitchens are ridiculous status symbols.

Well look at the majority of americans, who do not have lavish kitchens, scrapping by. And they still don't seem to have half a great a life of all Danish, from working-class to royalty

[Anonymous]

It strikes me that if somebody from DCUM goes to an African country where people look, dress, interact and live very differently then they recognise that they have a different culture and values and don't necessarily question their choices.

But if the same person goes to a European country and sees people who pretty much look like them, they make all sorts of assumptions and judgements about them as though they also don't have a different culture and values.

Why are people questioning the choices, culture and values of Danes? They are not remotely like Americans.

[Anonymous]

Well, you have to consider lifestyle and culture which PP have mentioned. You cannot compare their lives to ours. We live in completely different worlds and cultures.

The kind of lifestyle we "need" and enjoy and want here in the US is really different from almost the rest of the world. You can be very happy on little if that's all you've ever known. But also, quality is important. Remember, quality is $$ here but quality is not as $$ in other parts of the world because they just don't have 100 options for one thing. Culturally, we consume, other people simply live

I always say - it's absolutely not just taxes. You think it's taxes that differentiate us from Europe but it's not. We pay "less" but get less in return. You have to look at apples to apples and if you do that, they actually get better ROI than we do on taxes. But more than that, it's lifestyle and culture for sure.