Fox Business Host Gets Earful From Denmark

Trish Regan made an unflattering comparison, then clarified
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2018 8:35 AM CDT
Denmark Takes Exception to a Fox Business Slam
A view of Copenhagen.   (Getty/fotoman-kharkov)

Insult the Danes, and expect the Danes to return fire. Fox Business Network host Trish Regan learned this after she held up the nation as an example of the dangers of socialism with the most unflattering of comparisons, reports the New York Times. "Denmark, like Venezuela, has stripped people of their opportunities," said Regan. "Nobody is incentivized to do anything because they’re not going to be rewarded." That set off a social media storm in the nation, with Finance Minister Kristian Jensen leading the way with a tweet showing how Denmark ranks 11 places ahead of the US in employment stats. "We are working much more than Americans and at the same time ranking as the world's best in Work-Life-Balance," he adds. "You should come to Denmark if you dare be confronted with facts."

As for the big comparison, "Venezuela is a socialist dictatorship. Denmark is a free, regulated market economy," he said, per the Local. Other government officials chimed in, and a former government minister issued a rebuttal in this video, reports Business Insider. In a followup video, Regan clarified: “I was never implying that conditions in Denmark were similar in any way to the current tragedy on the ground there in Venezuela," she said. "I was merely pointing out ... that socialism is not the way." Jensen, for his part, took that as a victory. "Thanks to all who helped put pressure on Trish and Fox to have them correct their claim," he wrote, with translation from the Times. In Regan's defense, a Danish media exec says taxes in Denmark are too high, and thus "the reward of making an extra effort for oneself or for society is very diminished compared to other countries." (More Denmark stories.)

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