I'm a citizen of Denmark, the distant land of socialism, where everybody is happy and healthy.

Forget the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, and all those power mad Marxists who got it wrong.

Denmark is a model to follow. There's just one problem. It's a fantasy.

For it to be true, Denmark would have to be a socialist country. But it's not. If it were,

it would have gone Venezuela a long time ago. Sorry to bring all the new fans of socialism

with bad news. But that's the reality. Yes, it's true that Denmark has high taxes and the high

level of government spending. Key features of a socialist mentality. But in almost every other

respect, Denmark is a full-on, free-market capitalist country. And it has some of the strongest

protection of individual property rights in the world. And it's a particularly easy place to open

a business. According to the World Bank, there's less bureaucratic red tape in Denmark than in any

other country except for New Zealand and Singapore. And the labour market is less regulated than

in most countries. Here's something you probably didn't know. There are no minimum wage laws in Denmark.

It's not surprising then. Or maybe it is surprising, giving all the misinformation out there,

that Denmark ranks consistently as one of the top-ranked free-market economies in the world

by the Fraser Institute in Canada and the Heritage Foundation. So if Denmark is not

a socialist country, what is it? The answer is pretty straightforward. It's a small capitalist

country about the size and population of Maryland, whose citizens pay orders and taxes in exchange

for orders and benefits. Well, what's wrong with that? You might ask. Only this. For the government

to pay out such benefits, you need citizens to make enough money to pay the necessary taxes.

And that's only possible through a free market economy. Let me explain with some Danish history.

Denmark, like its Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden and Norway, made a remarkable economic

recovery after the Second World War. The combination of a highly productive workforce and get this,

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