The 72-page document, entitled “The Opportunity Costs of Socialism,” places Scandinavia in the same basket as Venezuela and argues that “the experiences of the Nordic countries also support the conclusion that socialism reduces living standards.” What’s more, “even poor American households have better living standards than the average person living in a Nordic country,” the report states.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen couldn’t let the assertions go uncontested.
“I’m ready to enter a competition at any time with the Americans on who has the best societal model,” Rasmussen wrote on his Facebook page on Monday. “Because I know that Denmark would win every time.”
Nick Haekkerup, foreign policy spokesman for Denmark’s biggest party in parliament, the opposition Social Democrats, called the White House report “deeply worrying,” and used one of President Donald Trump’s favorite expressions to characterize the information in it. It’s “fake news,” he said in an interview with state broadcaster DR on Monday.
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“It’s laughable, and clearly intended for the mid-terms,” Michael Aastrup Jensen, foreign policy spokesman for Rasmussen’s Liberals, said of the report. “It’s quite obvious that its purpose is to discredit the positive view some U.S. politicians have of Denmark.”
