And none of this is that far off. Watch.
We spent some days at the show and then flew up to Denmark to visit with the good folks at Grundfos. They have an ultra-modern complex in a lovely setting, and we got to meet the son of the founder, who told us how his dad started the business in the basement of that little building over there by inventing a pressure pump that would help with the problems facing most Europeans following World War II. "Grundfos," in Danish, means "ground water" (I didn't know that; did you know that?).
There's a museum at Grundfos, and I got to see that original pump that would take water from the ground and pressurize it so that people could have a decent shower. Acres and acres of international manufacturing wizardry sprang from that one pump, and I get a kick out of seeing artifacts like that one. I enjoyed the hospitality and enthusiasm of these smart, hard-working Danes. Good folks.
As we drove from Copenhagen over the second-longest suspension bridge in the world, and into the core of Denmark we passed hundreds and hundreds of windmills. I asked about these, and was told that the farmers join together in cooperatives and put them up. They then harvest the wind like a crop, and sell it to the power company. To me, they're quite beautiful, these whimsical pinwheels that dot the land, and I love what they represent. I wish we had more of them in America.
The income tax in Denmark hovers around 50%, but then you never have to pay for school, or doctors and dentists, or your retirement. You're taken care of from cradle to grave, and it's all quite un-American. Grundfos has a special part of their factory where older employees, or employees who have become disabled, can still go to work if they want to work. They're given the easier jobs, and made to feel wanted and important.
And if you want to own a car in Denmark, you first negotiate the price of the vehicle, and then you have to pay a sales tax of 180%. If it's a motorcycle you crave, the tax on that will be 200%. Buy three, get one. All of this is, of course, also very un-American, and it causes most Danes to take to their bicycles. The bikes are everywhere and they all share them. Few bikes are locked. If someone takes your bike, you just take someone else's. It's all good. Just about every road has a bike path running alongside it, and there are big bike garages at the train stations, and even at the Grundfos plant.
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