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It is family, social and community networks that bring joy to one's life, according to Delamothe.
How happy would they be if the US didn't exist?World's Happiest Places
I thought this was interesting. According to Forbes Magazine, the ten happiest nations in the world are:
1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Netherlands
4. Sweden
5. Ireland
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. New Zealand
9. Norway
10. Belgium
I've seen other surveys that consistently rate some of these nations at the top of the list. Many surveys also rate several Central American countries very highly in terms of happiness (they were excluded from the Forbes survey, which only polled OECD countries). The least happy places in the world seem to consistently be Eastern European nations, the UK, and France.
What do you think makes a nation happy (or unhappy)?
How happy would they be if the US didn't exist?
Awwww, did I upset poor baby. Don't cry now little baby, it's okay.
How happy would they be if the US didn't exist?
I can't help it. Your unintelligent input hurts way too much.
Cry me a river. I dislike judgemental countries who never bother to get their hands dirty, while sitting as arrogant judges.
What do you think makes a nation happy (or unhappy)?
Low unemployment also contributes to happiness. "One thing we know for sure," says the OECD's Chapple, "not having a job makes one substantially less satisfied." Denmark's unemployment rate is just 2 percent, according the C.I.A.'s World Factbook. Norway's is just 2.6 percent. The Netherlands: just 4.5 percent. Many economists concur that a 4 percent unemployment rate reflects a stable economy. The U.S. unemployment rate is currently 9 percent.
Well, a definite prerequisite seems to be a large social safety net, as most of the countries there come from what some would call the failed European welfare model. From the link,
I think this would play a huge role, and I'd say stability and not knowing you're going to get laid off and lose the house is much bigger than the size of your car or other materialist concerns, as we seem to associate with happiness here. Also, it seems that in many European countries there is a greater seperation between work and home then there is in the US. I think we in the US have a major problem when it comes to how far we'll push people in order to squeeze out every ounce of productivity. Longer hours with less pay in order to keep your job, house, car, etc, would be unheard of in many of the countries in the top 10.
Of course, I would never give up my freedom to have low taxes so I can buy an SUV, even if my blood pressure will be through the roof from all the traffic jams I'll have to sit through everyday.
Interesting about UK/France being near the bottom though. Definitely something else at play. I'd say constant dismal weather would play a role if it was just the UK, but I'm pretty sure France gets a lot of sunshine.
Well, a definite prerequisite seems to be a large social safety net, as most of the countries there come from what some would call the failed European welfare model.
Joby said:I think this would play a huge role, and I'd say stability and not knowing you're going to get laid off and lose the house is much bigger than the size of your car or other materialist concerns, as we seem to associate with happiness here.
Joby said:Also, it seems that in many European countries there is a greater seperation between work and home then there is in the US. I think we in the US have a major problem when it comes to how far we'll push people in order to squeeze out every ounce of productivity. Longer hours with less pay in order to keep your job, house, car, etc, would be unheard of in many of the countries in the top 10.
Joby said:Interesting about UK/France being near the bottom though. Definitely something else at play. I'd say constant dismal weather would play a role if it was just the UK, but I'm pretty sure France gets a lot of sunshine.
I agree, but we should all work hard to generate capital that will trickle down to poorer nations.
I just think it is kind of greedy for Europe to sacrifice so much economic growth to make its people happy when people all over the world need more capital. What America does is much more selfless for the world in that way.
Well, a definite prerequisite seems to be a large social safety net, as most of the countries there come from what some would call the failed European welfare model. From the link,
I think this would play a huge role, and I'd say stability and not knowing you're going to get laid off and lose the house is much bigger than the size of your car or other materialist concerns, as we seem to associate with happiness here. Also, it seems that in many European countries there is a greater seperation between work and home then there is in the US. I think we in the US have a major problem when it comes to how far we'll push people in order to squeeze out every ounce of productivity. Longer hours with less pay in order to keep your job, house, car, etc, would be unheard of in many of the countries in the top 10.
Of course, I would never give up my freedom to have low taxes so I can buy an SUV, even if my blood pressure will be through the roof from all the traffic jams I'll have to sit through everyday.
Interesting about UK/France being near the bottom though. Definitely something else at play. I'd say constant dismal weather would play a role if it was just the UK, but I'm pretty sure France gets a lot of sunshine.
Stop trying to hijack the thread. If you don't want to address the subject at hand, kindly go away.
What do you think makes a nation happy (or unhappy)?
Let's reverse that.
How happy would America be if Europe didn't exist?
Answer is it wouldn't matter because America wouldn't exist.
The ironic thing is you are probably literally right. It was vague about how this was actually decided upon but I wouldn't be suprised if simply the existence of these large state social nets were taken as being a positive for happiness.Well, a definite prerequisite seems to be a large social safety net,
Perhaps, but there will always be some higher cause. Everyone in Europe and the Americas could work 18 hours a day...but most people don't want that and they'd be downright miserable. I'm certainly not suggesting that poorer nations don't deserve our help...but for most people, their first priority is their own life and their own happiness.
I just think that in a few hundred years when poverty is irradicated, the welfare state in Europe and socialist policies in undeveloped nations will be percieved as something that prolonged poverty as we know it today.
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