From a weirdly negative front-page story about Denmark in the Sunday New York Times.

In 2012, a little over 2.6 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 were working in Denmark, 47 percent of the total population and 73 percent of the 15- to 64-year-olds.

While only about 65 percent of working age adults are employed in the United States, comparisons are misleading, since many Danes work short hours and all enjoy perks like long vacations and lengthy paid maternity leaves, not to speak of a de facto minimum wage approaching $20 an hour. Danes would rank much lower in terms of hours worked per year.

The economist Dean Baker and other readers are still scratching their heads. Why does The Times find something ominous in the fact that Danes work fewer hours per year than Americans but enjoy a stabler economy, a higher employment rate and better quality of life in most measurable categories? Is The Times spooked by Denmark’s higher tax rates? By the very idea of a system that isn’t rigged to impoverish the working class?