Heidi Astrup the face of Denmark's weak

One of the papers interviewed various people on the street during Tuesdays anti-you-know-everything demonstration in front of the parliament here in Copenhagen.

This particular interview with single mother and welfare recipient Heidi Astrup sprung out as exemplifying the mentality behind the “weak” that I’m funding out of my pay check:

I am here today because they are making cuts in the day care institutions. And I also have to turn each 25 øre (about a nickel, ed.) that I use. I think it is really tough. I can’t sit and drink a cup of coffee at a Café without alarms going off in the back of my head. I can’t afford it. It is like really, really hard to be an audience member in the party that the rest are having (“party” is Danish socialist code speak for boom times, ed.). I normally stay away from the center, because it hurts seeing all the stuff we can’t have.

The paper made sure to let us know that poor Heidi lives in a rented apartment in Sydhavn with her daughter. This is an old working mans neighborhood that is being gentrified at the moment.

I think anyone outside of Denmark would immediately see the problems that I have with her sob story. I know she want’s us to think of her as Hans Christian Anderson’s little match stick girl, but let me explain a few things.

Firstly Heidi’s daughter is in child care. Heidi is unemployed and receiving welfare, why the hell do I need to pay for her child care.

Secondly why is she even unemployed? No one needs to be unemployed in Denmark today, the companies are crying out for labor. I’m not just talking skilled either. There is tons of work out there in just about any field and for any skill level.

Thirdly if you want coffee Heidi, do what I do. Brew it at home! I don’t go to the Café’s as I refuse to pay $5 for a tiny cup of bad coffee. I know they are always filled with people in the afternoon with questionable employment status. So I figure that I’m at least contributing towards the Café’s indirectly via my %65 income tax.

I mentioned this at work and they said she needed to have her daughter in Child care so she was available to the job market. I don’t buy this, if she was truly available to the job market she would be working now. Secondly put her child into daycare when she gets a job. To this I was told it was difficult getting spots. Well cut the taxes and privatize the lot of them. That way the market will open new ones when there is a need.