Unbelievably bad deal for Greenlanders. Not only would they get slightly less subsidy (fewer public services, more private cash), but they have to accept US cost disease for healthcare, higher ed, infrastructure, etc? - ThreadSky

stephenjacobsmith.com • 14 days ago

Unbelievably bad deal for Greenlanders. Not only would they get slightly less subsidy (fewer public services, more private cash), but they have to accept US cost disease for healthcare, higher ed, infrastructure, etc?

Reposted from Helen Kennedy

I missed this yesterday. Trump is considering offering all 57,000 Greenland residents a stipend of 10 grand a year to join the United States. That would cost the US $570 million a year. (Gift link 🎁)

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...

Comments

skis-n-reads.bsky.social•14 days ago

Maybe the worst offer in history!

sockpuppetpundit.bsky.social•14 days ago

They wouldn’t necessarily be citizens, either. And we know what the US government does to non-citizens.

capemaydave.bsky.social•14 days ago

US passport vs Danish passport.

Hmmm

seanmeredith.bsky.social•14 days ago

He offer is not worth the paper it’s written on.

kitncaboodle.bsky.social•14 days ago

Where's the "we should spend money at home" crowd?

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

Trying to take over Greenland apparently, because we aren’t offering them much!

dirtydancing2hn.bsky.social•14 days ago

I spent $6k last year on medical care with an income of $23k—and that’s with ACA benefits.
If get a job that paid more I don’t qualify for income based repayments on my $88k in student loans, increasing payments to $14k/yr.

cathasach.bsky.social•14 days ago

And they'd get extra screwed because they'd be subject to the Jones Act and their prices would skyrocket.

fischer.bsky.social•14 days ago

cost of the jones act would probably be huge for a small population that can’t grow its own food

mendelshanks.bsky.social•14 days ago

Not to mention the fact that Trump is just a fucking liar and will stiff them on the deal the first chance he gets.

mister-sterling.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is ridiculous. And this doesn't include statehood. Greenland would be a colony, let's be up front about it. And taking Greenland would cost the US billions.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•14 days ago

They would also get visa-free access to the US, presumably? That might be more valuable than the paltry $10 grand a year. A lot of them might just move here.

pcrritesgood.bsky.social•14 days ago

They can move to Denmark or probably the EU if they want, which are both way better / more valuable to them than the US.

sashaaickin.bsky.social•14 days ago

Also, wouldn't giving everyone $10K extra tend to have an inflationary effect that would cancel out at least part of the increase in income? Combine that with higher tariffs that you get from moving from the EU to US, and that 10K might get you a pretty small increase in buying power.

bahnhof.cz•14 days ago

if they have that with the EU through denmark, you have to assume for most of them greenland is actually the choice, however crazy that may feel

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

That’s Biden economy thinking.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•14 days ago

I think this is a great point. They could already move to Denmark if they wanted to. Whoever lives in Greenland must just really like being in Greenland. https://bsky.app/profile/bahnhof.cz/post/3lmkc63m7ks2v

princetonyimby.bsky.social•14 days ago

It will be interesting to see if $10K / year moves the needle. It seems low, but, I think it might be enough. People really are that basic. I think we are going to be shocked how many people consider Trump's upcoming tax cuts as being more valuable than having a functional federal government.

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

It’s not low, it’s negative! He’d just be shutting down the Greenlandic government and giving them $10,000 to try to buy healthcare, higher ed, and infrastructure on the private market.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•14 days ago

It's not a deal I would take! But I think people like to git money!

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

He’s talking about replacing the $600 million Denmark gives the Greenlandic government, not taking over the subsidy payments and then giving them each $10k on top. The logic only makes sense if you have a DOGE-like belief that the government lights money on fire, which I suspect Greenlanders do not.

markabraham.bsky.social•14 days ago

10 grand USD is now worth much less than it was last week, and may soon be next to worthless as more investors realize that investing in an autocracy is a bad idea.

mpzrd.bsky.social•14 days ago

Basically how Native American reservations got liquidated and many Tribes dispersed. Their assumption is that individual greed wins against community solidarity. A solid plan for an era of poor moral education.

pjeanne97.bsky.social•14 days ago

Absurd “deal” - and he wouldn’t pay

mainer93.bsky.social•13 days ago

I would think healthcare alone would be 120k a year. His proposal is shit.

doctoracularf.bsky.social•14 days ago

I just went through needing a CT scan and getting radically different estimates from 2 imaging places. It's worth more than 10k to never have to deal with that

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

It’s actually very impressive how efficiently the Danes are running that place, sustaining 57,000 people on the world’s largest island in such a remote place with such weak economic advantages for only $600 million a year. Trump is nuts if he thinks the U.S. can run it for anything under $5 billion.

bahnhof.cz•14 days ago

they seem to have almost 4bn gdp, so it's not like they are totally dependent on it, the trade access for the fish must be more important

Also the subsidy is in the danish krone, it's 600m usd because of the current weak exchange rate, 570m would probably outbid it just until recently, lol

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

Who the hell are they gonna sell the fish to? Not Europe!

bahnhof.cz•14 days ago

Honestly at this point the only serious consideration anyone should give to this plan is for the danish military to consider how to defend it. I am so tired of it.

stephenjacobsmith.com•14 days ago

Honestly hilarious that Trump thinks he can buy Greenland for $570 million a year. America could spend that much changing the locks and signs in the first week.

jacobgarchik.bsky.social•14 days ago

Can we spend $10k a year to join denmark? Better deal than the Portugal golden visa.

mpegrose.bsky.social•14 days ago

bad deal- actual stupid proposal - yearly health care insurance is more and then add in co-pays and drugs- not to mention public services😂

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