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Happiness is on the Wane in the US, UN Global Report Finds (theguardian.com)
From a report on The Guardian, shared by five anonymous readers: Happiness in the US is declining and is expected to continue on a downward path, with Donald Trump's policies forecast to deepen the country's social crisis. The US has slipped to 15th place in the World Happiness Report 2017, produced by the United Nations. The world's economic superpower is well behind top-ranked Norway, although it remains above Germany in 17th place, the UK in 19th, and France in 32nd. Norway knocked Denmark off the top spot as the world's happiest country, with Iceland and Switzerland rounding out the top four. The report's authors stress, however, that the top four are so close that changes are not statistically significant. The next tier of countries are regular leaders in international happiness surveys: Finland is in fifth place, followed by the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden. The world's "unhappiest" countries are all in the Middle East and Africa: war-stricken Yemen and Syria feature in the bottom 10, with Tanzania, Burundi and Central African Republic making up the final three.
I'd expect this trend to continue for at least the next 4 to 8 years, depending on how the 2020 elections go. Perhaps even longer than 8 years, depending on how much damage is done to the average citizens' lives due to selfish and thoughtless policy decisions and legislation.
with Donald Trump's policies forecast to deepen the country's social crisis.
Gosh I'll be so sad when all the illegal Mexican rapists are deported!
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Happiness in the US is declining and is expected to continue on a downward path, with Donald Trump's policies forecast to deepen the country's social crisis
This line should tell you everything you need to know about the related article.
Look, I get it. Your candidate didn't win and it's upsetting to you. However, throwing little hissy fits every chance you get only serves to reinforce WHY folks had the temerity to vote for trump; the behavior of Hillary supporters ( and, let's face it, Hillary herself ) soured her support outside of her base.
Obviously a lot of people are pretty happy that Trump was elected, and are encouraged by his positions and actions. So the nonsense that happiness is expected to trend downwards is...exaggeration at least.
Note: I'm not a Trump or Hillary supporter. Can't stand any politician, although I will say Trump has been more amusing than I could ever envision Hillary being. The literal crying from Hillary's camp on election night was particularly hilarious.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
But I'm happy I still have to work!
All joking aside, it is very interesting that Nordic people are very happy.
As a moderate conservative, I was happy with Obama and would've been happy with Hillary. None of the 16 Republican candidates in 2016 made me happy, which was why I switched my political registration to Democratic in late 2015. Now we're stuck with sore loser Donald Trump, who is neither a conservative nor Republican, and, until a few short years ago, was a Clinton Democrat. Sad!
A culturally homogenized society is happier than a very diverse one where conflicts is bound to happen! NO WAY!
In other news water is wet...
"Happiness" is a pretty subjective concept. From the "World Happiness Report 2017" (yes, I read it):
"The USA is a story of reduced happiness. In 2007 the USA ranked 3rd among the OECD countries; in 2016 it came 19th. The reasons are declining social support and increased corruption (see Chapter 7) and it is these same factors that explain why the Nordic countries do so much better."
Soo... From 2007 to 2016 the USA declined from 3rd to 19th. It's not "on the wane" as the post suggests, It's been free falling since 2007.
It is well known homogeneous cultures, with as little income disparity as possible, report highest levels of contentedness.
The "most diversity makes things best" line of reasoning is never based in reality. Of course - the people screaming at the rest of the country for more diversity - Seattle and Portland - are some of the least diverse cities in the nation.
until I discovered how unhappy I should be.
Probably a misogynist too, right?
And yet the cure is available online: https://www.youtube.com/playli...
#DeleteFacebook
And it is very interesting that America was happier before mass immigration of asians and brown people.
Happiness in the US is declining and is expected to continue on a downward path, with Donald Trump's policies forecast to deepen the country's social crisis.
Make America Grim Again - or something like that...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
But, we chose the entertaining choice! How could we not be entertained? Trump is the only person I can think of that would be more absurd as a president than William Shatner when in-character.
I think the problem might be the same with someone trying to make a sequel of the 1950's, without understanding it, and trying to fix that by just going completely over the top in terms of ambition, trying to make up for a completely broken budget process. It's entertaining in a sense - but sort of a sad entertainment.
The folks that supported trump did seem to do it out of a sense of ironic satisfaction rather than actually something they wanted.
Turns out though, it's not a sequel to the 1950's, it's actually a sequel to the Robber Barons, it just couldn't be marketed that way, because that's only ever been popular with a small audience.
Ryan Fenton
FUCK OFF with this bullshit
The markets are optimistic, no one is denying that
Happiness follows
And your polling methods are purposely flawed.
Burn in hell
Then again, if you get too homogeneous, you end up with hereditary diseases (i.e. asheknazi jews like me), or their intellectual parallels (i.e. every little crappy town out there, and to some extent the reason that the Seattle and Portland people are so disconnected from reality).
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
If you read the actual report (figure 2.3, Changes in happiness from 2005-2007 to 2014-2016), you see that pretty much every first world nation except Germany and South Korea, and Norway and Switzerland (barely - within the confidence interval) have gone down in happiness, not just the U.S. The U.S. isn't even the first world nation with the biggest drop (Italy is, with Spain close behind).
A more fitting headline would've been "Happiness is on the wane in developed nations. Which might actually help explain the rise of nationalism in recent elections.
but he makes me really, really happy to be Canadian!
That's it. YOU want something, then YOU pay for it.
Or, maybe they just found a nice balance between capitalism and socialism, unlike the rest of the world.
Here in the USA, we are taught to "work hard and play hard", which is a recipe for getting worn out both physically and mentally. We have to keep up with the Jones' both at work and at home.
The "work hard and play hard" mantra could be said to be from the "protestant work ethic", or could be from plutocrat propaganda, being that working hard and playing hard gets the plutocrats the most profits: employees that work their asses off, then get home and spend their asses off on the plutocrats' hyped products and fashions.
Table-ized A.I.
Yes. It couldn't you be confusing cause and effect or correlation is not causation. Seriously, the way to increase happiness is to decrease great economic disparity and to maintain significant cultural uniformity. Oh, and you have to have enough actual resources per capita that you're not constantly struggling with maintaining your civilization--*cough*Japan*cough*.
Put in that context, it's clear why Ireland, the US, and Japan rank where they are. Oh, and of course, the whole "Happiness is on the Wane in the US" is just trolling. You get bumped up/down one spot and act like it's a big deal? Whatever.
Switzerland, with its four official languages, isn't exactly the picture of homogeneity.
Even with climate of extremely cold winters, top 5 are all countries from cold climate. Yet countries that are gifted good climate are well behind. Looks like folks appreciate more what they got if it is scarce.
Remember when Slashdot used to be News for Nerds, News That Matters?
Pepperidge Farm remembers....
Per usual for this report they use non-normalized data for things like generosity and life expectancy.
Prices for everything have gone to the moon as a result of the enormous money printing. We need a new recession/depression to correct things. Or they could just undo the 80%~ of fake currency they "printed."
"It's not Amateur Night on Planet Earth anymore, things have gotten terribly, horribly real,"
Poor people are living longer, earning more, eating more, all over the world. There are fewer large wars.Sure there's a few existential problems around, but you are living in a very successful century so far as homo sapiens is concerned.
Yeah, ever since Kennedy died... It's been all downhill since then
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Dunno about that.... Canada has *roughly* the same amount of cultural diversity as the USA, and is consistently placed near the top of these kinds of lists.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Happiness is on the ween.
It could be that a nice balance between socialism and capitalism is only possible when you reach a certain level of cultural homogeneity. -We could probably go in circles discussing this for hours...
Rather than argue about which side is the most evil/bad/mean/incompetent, let's agree the culture war in the USA is intensifying, which is a big source of tension in the USA for both sides. Remember, Texas talked of secession after Obama's election win.
Progressives want bigger gov't-backed safety nets and education opportunities, and conservatives believe that the private sector will make everyone's boat float higher if the gov't gets out of the way such that they don't need a safety net. (And there's also climate change, abortion, pollution, etc. etc.)
I believe heavy-trickle-down is kaflooey* in modern times, but realize I'm not going to change conservative minds on that such that both sides are stuck at an impasse, thinking the other side is getting in the way.
Perhaps it's time to split the USA rather than waste resources and anger on gridlock and seesaw politics.
* The benefits of increased economic activity from lower taxes and deregulation almost always have flowed UPward since about 1980, not outward. Automation, offshoring, and the death of unions changed things toward the 1% compared to pre-1980. Trickle down ain't work anymore; the TD model is broken and leaking oil.
Table-ized A.I.
Parent needs to be modded excessively intuitive and intelligent (been so long since I've had mod points I can't remember the categories).
Every problem Portland, OR has is directly related to forced attempts at diversity. Right up and including being a sanctuary city
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Asspained libtards everywhere.
Has to do with Russian Nazis destroying our infrastructure and our government at every level.
It will get worse for a few years, as anyone who survived Nixon could tell you.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Sure not the UN, rather your ability to exercise logical thinking. I don't know if she's called Adolf though.
So...the UN is telling us that the way to increase happiness in your country is to make it whiter and less diverse, then? Was the lead author a guy named Adolf, perhaps?
Actually, ethnic diversity has increased considerably in Norway in recent years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Of course other nations don't support President Trump.
Unlike so many past administrations, he's actually putting the interests of the USA before those of foreign nations! Imagine that!
Obviously this won't end well for countries that have been leeching off of the USA to fund their defense capabilities for several decades now, for example. They'll lose this source of significant and easy funding, and this won't make them happy. So we should expect them to bitch and complain.
This also won't end well for the countries that have benefited from imbalanced trade pacts that disadvantage the USA. When these trade agreements are renegotiated, if not eliminated completely, then these other countries will have to play on an even footing again. This won't make them happy. So we should expect them to bitch and complain.
He's also very unlikely to throw anywhere near as much, if any, money at leftist "development"/"aid" organizations working in undeveloped regions. The USA shouldn't waste any more money on the countries of Africa, for example. Billions upon billions of dollars have been thrown at them for decades, with nothing to show. This lack of money won't make them happy. So we should expect them to bitch and complain.
He's also indicated he'll properly enforce the nation's borders, making it harder for illegal aliens to enter the USA, obtain money through illicit and criminal means, and then remit it back to their home nations. Cutting off this flow of tainted money won't make them happy. So we should expect them to bitch and complain.
It's a good sign that there's so much international opposition to his policies. That indicates that they are, in fact, working to benefit Americans rather than everybody else. This is exactly what the USA needs after so many decades of being exploited by foreign nations.
America is beyond protestant work ethic. America is just powerful feeding on less powerful people until the host dies.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Makes sense. Diversity is forced upon us and divides societies.
Canada has French and English speaking groups, and they get along fairly well. I'm not sure if that's a diverse enough "test", however. What are some mixed-ethnic countries that seem to be getting along fairly well?
Table-ized A.I.
That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?
Or
Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?
Or the final option we have left:
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
so article talks of many countries, some with greater happiness drop than U.S.A., but oooo it's Trump's doing for USA?
tards
If people had a Yasmin Pires or Andrezza Lyra at home, people would be a lot happier!
unless you are in the top 10% in income (I am myself one) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... If you are in the bottom 2/3 you are going to have a hard time.
I'm sure he'll get around to all of that when he gets back from his taxpayer funded golf trips.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I think it's funny that when my neighbors parents were visiting AZ (from somewhere in northern New York) they incessantly commented how bad it was here and how all the people were racists against Mexican (this was back right before SB 1070)...but then basically disowned her for marrying someone who was 1/4 Mexican. The hypocrisy is so rampant that people don't even try to hide it any more or even know when they are.
Did some quick looking, to say Canada has roughly the same amount of cultural diversity as the USA seems....misinformed. 90% of Canada comes from either Europe or Asia. Another 4.5% is aboriginal. That leaves roughly 5% for the rest of the world. The US white population (counting latino) is smaller as a percentage than just Canada's European descended population.
With so many ghetto-blastiing nibbars, narco.MEX bangerboiz and Obamacare muzzi-wog terrorists floating about, no kidding that Anglos are pissed. Time to resolve the issue ..... you need a postcard palsy ?
Say what you want, but those "horrible" white guys got the US to where it is in terms of wealth and power in the world....and well, ever since we've been putting them down and trying to diverse EVERYTHING...well, the US is declining in power, wealth and happiness in general.
You don't have to be Einstein to put things together.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
The USA will rise again. Unfortunately, that's because the damage Trump et. al will do will damage lots of other countries so they sink. Basically, everyone will get more unhappy which will make the USA look less bad.
Slashing the State Department budget coupled with a crazy hike in military spending... you'd have to be stupid not to see that Bannon et. al. mean to lead the United States into war.
Please visit Geneva. Because of the concentration of international organisations, it's one of the most diverse place in the World.
There is close to 1/3 of foreign living or cross-border working in Switzerland.
Switzerland certainly enjoy a stable political system in the World since 1848, and this is the most important point to me. The process of getting a new president is done every year in less than one hour without any glitch. Compare that to almost all others "democratic" counties, especially this time...
Civilized E Protesting & Uncivilized E Protesting !-> Civilized ^ Protesting != Civilized.
Anyway, it's going to be kinda hard staying happy when the elderly neighbors get taken away on stretchers for lack of preventative care. A tax break ain't gonna be much of a balm for that.
Someone had to do it.
Oh, in case you missed it, we have a new POTUS now, one that owns golf courses, not just lives at them. There is a difference.
Cite some sources. Also, are you talking about immigration, or are you talking about ethnic roots. You don't even discuss trends. Your "quick looking" isn't terribly helpful. Also useful to a discussion about "happiness" might be how ethnic identities are perceived or maintained. Does the society lean towards a mosaic or melting pot? And how relevant is that? Seems a little more complicated than "quick looking" allows for. If you don't have the time to add actual data to a conversation, (like me), why not ask some good questions instead?
There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
and a huge cut in public services for everybody else. This isn't rocket science. Elections have consequences. 22 million will lose health care under Trump (getting a paltry $3000 tax credit in it's place). There are massive cuts to science programs coming. The EPA is getting slashed. Water will be less clean, and in poorer cities contaminated with lead. Air will be dirtier. Kids will get asthma. These things will happen. It's got nothing to do with Red/Blue. It's just what happens when you deregulate. Those regulations weren't made to spoil anyone's fun. They were made to solve problems.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
he's actually putting the interests of the USA before those of foreign nations
Sure, if our interests are cutting education funding, cutting the EPA, cutting elderly food programs, cutting women's rights, cutting healthcare, and increasing racism and military spending. Nothing will make America great again like a generation of stupid kids, sick and hungry people, and weapons.
So much for that ignorance being bliss thing.
Racists will always find a way to see thing from an angle that justifies their hatred.
I'll show you another angle: If you could measure the level of happiness of individual cells in your body, you'd probably find that the happiest of all are cancer cells.
They are the most prosperous, well fed, fastest reproducing cells in the body. They monopolise all the resources and let the rest of the body take care of their waste.
But we all know how that story ends.
Dunno where you got your figures from... but as of about 2011, about one out of every five of the population of Canada are a visible minority, compared to roughly one out of every four of the population in the USA. Canada has also been increasing in diversity in recent years far faster than the USA has, so it is likely that we will discover very soon whether that 5% difference in ethnic diversity is actually a significant factor.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It is well known homogeneous cultures, with as little income disparity as possible, report highest levels of contentedness.
Of course. Tell that to the Japanese...
Why, APK, I didn't know you had it in you. Despite your imaginative punctuation and your inevitable postscript, you've made a Slashdot post that expresses an opinion that isn't either batshit crazy or trivially falsifiable, and has absolutely no mention of hosts files.
I worry that this accomplishment actually says more about our current political climate, though. Is it a sign of the end times?
Someone needs to die fighting darkies. And they won't have the last name Trump.
I haven't looked hard yet, but do they ever break this down by states, within the USA? (A skimmable source for it would be nicest.) If they do, that would be more interesting, useful, and relevant to summarize in news, given how the US constitution has reserved most powers to the states.
A Free, fast personal organizer for touch typists: onemodel
Or, maybe they just found a nice balance between capitalism and socialism, unlike the rest of the world.
For very socialist values of balance, at least here in Norway. According to the world bank we have third lowest Gini coefficient in the world, meaning our income is extremely evenly distributed by international standards. There is not a lot of really poor nor very wealthy people, with notable exceptions of course but looking at income stats if you divide into 10% slices the 80-90% slice make just under twice as much as the 10-20%. The best paid executives in Statoil, our huge mostly state owned company the CEO makes about $1.7 million a year. If you go to a similar foreign oil giant like say Schlumberger the CEO makes $18.6 million a year. Working at McD you earn ~$15/hour the first four months if you're 18-20, after that or from day one if you're older ~$18.50/hour. And you don't need health insurance or a 401(k) on top of that, the public healthcare system and public pensions are entirely adequate. Granted you can't directly compare prices, but you live okay on one "minimum wage" job. So at McD you make $35k/year and your average doctor makes $95k/year, the tax system makes the difference even less in practice. But we want it. And a very high percent of the population works, that helps. It's still an odd country.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Every single illegal immigrant is a criminal. Also: Mariel boat lift shows historical precedent for countries trying to dump criminals on other countries.
The wikipedia page. The US is roughly 72% white (all classes of white including non-Caucasian whites), and Canada has roughly 74% descended from Europeans alone. I've noted where my figures came from, care to do the same?
I think the cancer cells are more comparable to uneducated, unskilled people from cultures where the kill gays and own women. JS.
Don't bother. Those racists tend to think a town of 10,000 is a "big city" bc they can't fire their rifles through the double wide trailer's wall to let some air in.
No. Illegal immigration is a civil infraction not a crime. That's why they go to detention centers not jails. And it's also why, and this is probably the main reason we do this, they don't get a government paid attorney.
Republicans like almost everything about America in the fifties. Everything that is, except the taxes that made it possible. The top tax rate was 90% on (the portion of) income over a (inflation adjusted about a) couple million dollars per year.
The 1850s seemed great to them too.
Diversity makes things best comes from a long history showing it to be true. Why do you think Arabs were the first to build guns? They traded with Chinese merchants to produce gun powder. Two very different cultures met and a whole new era was born. This is also how modern math was created. Flash forward with the creation of the atomic bomb and our journey to the moon. Both accomplished with lots of ideas coming from lots of different places and cultures. Diversity isn't perfect but it does promote the fastest evolution along with rapid development.
Blaming your fake problems on immigrants has never been helpful and it has been tried again and again in this country. The Italians, the Irish, the Chinese, the Africans, they have all had the same stupid tired rhetoric thrown about.
I'm pretty happy Trump won. :D
As mentioned in my post below, my "quick search" was Wikipedia. Before you go off and bitch about Wikipedia, they go in depth on their sources, if you have any problems with them, please explain why they're wrong. I will not accept a simple "it's wikipedia so it's wrong". That's just as intellectually lazy as my (admittedly) lazy wikipedia search. But wikipedia does cite its sources and I don't personally know enough to refute those citations. And the numbers are from ethnic roots of the overall populations of the US and Canada.
It is well known homogeneous cultures, with as little income disparity as possible, report highest levels of contentedness.
The "most diversity makes things best" line of reasoning is never based in reality. Of course - the people screaming at the rest of the country for more diversity - Seattle and Portland - are some of the least diverse cities in the nation.
We could fix that by giving them their wish and deporting the criminals there. It might wise them up while simultaneously giving them their much desired diversity. I live in Southern California and anyone who thinks that more immigrants is a good thing hasn't seen the end game like I have.
Oh for sure. Only good can come of Trump's presidency. I am sure things will be so much better for the ordinary citizen any day now
If his policies are so good, why will he only be a one-term president?
Go see how the white people who are "diverse" because they're speaking languages from 30 miles apart are treating the first nations, and you'll realize that your assertion is 100% horseshit.
And your statement is proof that the DNC is dead. The arrogant billionaires appointed Empress Hilary, and never noticed that the blue collar democrats realized she had no values in common with them.
Oh, you mean the kind of society that Mike Pence and other Christian extremists want to take america back to ?
It is due to Republicanism. 3 Months worth enough to fuck the entire planet.
There are plenty of places where taxes are relatively low, cost of living is low, and good jobs do exist. New Hampshire for instance is very liberty-friendly particularly thanks to the migration of liberty-minded people to the state from around the country. The states actually making progress in a variety of areas of bringing more freedom to the state and handing control back to the individual. From eliminating restrictions on crypto currency companies from banking regulations to eliminating permit requirements for conceal weapons (NH already had open carry anyway). Cutting taxes here is a bit harder- but it's also a reactively low tax place. There is no income tax, no general purpose sales tax, and property taxes remain lower than many other high tax big government states like NY, NJ, MA, and CA. If you want less government check out the Free State Project's effort to migrate liberty-minded persons to the state. Things free staters support: end to copy"right", end to driver licenses, end to taxes, end to government schooling/wellfare/etc, pro decentralization (ie crypto currencies), etc. We have a no victim no crime mentality (vehicular registration, drivers licenses, license plates, etc should not be mandatory). What you do to your own body is your business (drugs). The only crimes that should exist should be those surrounding fraud, coercion (threat of violence), violence (ie environmental for instance, non-consensual violence, like in most cases hitting another person with your first, etc), and theft.
Only a person that bases their happiness on them getting their way all the time and goes mental when they don't would believe this SHIT. If you try your happiness to politics you will always be and always were miserable. Trump said during his ENTIRE FUCKING CAMPAIGN that he was going to increase military spending. So guess what? He did and now all the people that didn't support him, who apparently were too fucking busy telling everyone how opened minded they are while saying it's their way or the highway, must have missed him saying that and are crying from the roof top like it's some smoking gun. I am sure these people are miserable have hundreds of conflicting opinions bouncing around in their heads.
...then happiness will shoot up quickly.
Rebalance trade so Americans aren't forced to compete with sweatshop labor and happiness with increase.
It's not that difficult.
Word verification: keyword
Unlike so many past administrations, he's actually putting the interests of the USA before those of foreign nations! Imagine that!
You must be fucking kidding. The only interest the US government has always had is only its own interest, an interest that also not necessarily is in line with the best interest of the majority of its citizens I might add.
Or do you believe other countries are happy with the US toppling their democratically elected governments or 'bombing their country back to the stone-age'?
I would happily contribute to Trump's wall; while he's working on that he should also start one at the northern border.
As long as americans stay inside, I'd be happy to pay my part.
"Source of significant and easy funding?" So you're going to finally stop subsidizing Israel's war efforts? Hey, that could certainly incentivize Israel to finally make peace instead of faking it just enough to keep people thinking that maybe there's a hope in hell that Israel wants peace.
As for Trump's claim that Germany needs to pay the US more for defence, Germany doesn't pay the US for defence. Trump doesn't understand how NATO works. Same as he doesn't understand the difference between truth and lies.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I'm sure he'll get around to all of that when he gets back from his taxpayer funded golf trips.
It is funny that the people that complain about Donald playing golf are the same people that complain when he stays at his desk and gets stuff done.
Personally, I think the more time he spends playing golf the better.
There was a famous meeting while Eisenhower was president to discuss sending American troops into Vietnam following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. He cut the meeting short and left because he had a golf game, and the troops never went in. If LBJ was more dedicated to his game, the Vietnam War might have been avoided a second time.
And the figures you quoted are even more similar to eachother than what I can recall hearing about. I remember 80% in Canada, and 75% in the USA... Instead of a 5% disparity between the two countries, however, you are suggesting there is only a 2% one. This makes them even more similar... nearly to the point of being unobservable with regards to the amount of diversity one would encounter in the two nations without very close study, which was the underlying point I had made that was originally disputed.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
...and higher birth rates than countries the UN considers happier. Not sure how the UN is figuring this, but if it is the same way they choose delegates to their human rights commissions, I'm not sure who would trust its accuracy.
You need a grain of salt or two with these kinds of statistics. Comparing happiness between countries/cultures/languages is extremely tricky, because two cultures may not even have or use the same words/concepts to describe happiness. One country may take the question as "are you satisfied" and another interprets it as "are you experiencing pleasure", for instance.
http://www.jpe.ox.ac.uk/papers/what-can-we-learn-from-happiness-surveys/
(You might have slightly better luck measuring a trend over time within a country however.)
I put that as a question because perhaps you are just living in a bubble. Why not ask researchers and thought leaders on the other side of the aisle thoug?
Trump isn't the cause, he's a symptom. People feel threatened, they get tribal and mean... and they tend to do stupid things that make the problems causing them to feel threatened get worse.
Are you saying that the smart thing to do was vote for the continuation and status quo of Hillary? Who exactly is being stupid? Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result each time is insanely delusional.
Trump was elected over economic fear. Fear of the 1% (whose frankly ludicrous levels of wealth get thrown in our face by the media daily... and those aren't even the richest tier of people), fear of foreigners stealing our jobs.
Not exactly. Immigration and borders were at least as big of an issue. An issue that politicians were promising to address since I was a kid in the 70s and have yet to do anything about (except make the situation worse (see Visa expansions)). I say bullshit about fear of the 1%, because it was more about being pro-American after 8 years of anti-American rhetoric, and 8 years of wars. TPPIP was shit for Americans, we saw the releases and discussed them here. Like H1Bs they are crap for Americans and a boon to foreigners. Cancelling those deals is not anti-Foreign, because the deals were made to benefit the foreign. Cancellation simply levels the field a bit.
So... vote in Trump to keep out the foreigners and stop the 1%ers in Washington. Which damages the economy and it turns out the kind of guy you vote in to the top position actually wants to line his own pockets and those of his (significant) supporters... the 1%.
Sure, that was a part of it. Then you grab your crystal ball and start making predictions which have no basis in fact. President Trump already lost a ton of wealth because of the oligarchs disliking their loss and his win. You know, those same oligarchs that several University studies stated were controlling the US instead of "We the People".
It's a global problem because the same socioeconomic forces are driving the same mob reactions around the world.
No, it's a global problem because the same oligarchs trying to spoil the US have been working time in numerous countries across the world. The push back is against a group pushing for global authoritarianism, not global liberty. If it was the latter, people would probably be happy. It's not, as we can see by damage in virtually every way from Europe to Africa to the Americas. The oligarchs get richer, and everyone else has become poorer. The oligarchs sit beyond the law, and everyone else continues to lose liberty.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
It's interesting that the report suggests that the closer you live to the poles (i.e., the farther from the equator) the happier you are in general. Did they include anyone living in Antarctica? I wonder how they would compare ;-)
I'm willing to bet a month's pay that all posters who critisize the methodology of this survey or otherwise question its value are americans.
Guess that's probably correct for the Progressives at the UN. They are very good at projection.
For classical liberals, conservatives, and most libertarians I'd say happiness is on the rise.
It is funny that the people that complain about Donald playing golf are the same people that complain when he stays at his desk and gets stuff done.
Personally, I think the more time he spends playing golf the better.
90% of it is because it is now on our dime. 10% is because of how it shows Trump as a hypocrite and fraud.
Personally, I'd be happy if he retired. Today.
There was a famous meeting while Eisenhower was president to discuss sending American troops into Vietnam following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. He cut the meeting short and left because he had a golf game, and the troops never went in. If LBJ was more dedicated to his game, the Vietnam War might have been avoided a second time.
Or if America had stepped up, Eisenhower would have cut the length of the Cold War in half, and instead of a bunch of dead Kennedys we would have had the glasnost occur on the Moon. Cancer would be cured, and your average house would be twice as huge.
For Want of a Nail can be played either way.
This is how the Republican / conservative group operates.
Everyone, except the 1%, is supposed to suffer their whole life..
Bing.
End of thread...
Well, you can prove anything if you get to make up the categories, but seriously, lumping Europe with Asia? 60% of the world's population lives in Asia, and 15% of the world's population lives in Europe. So it's hardly amazing that if one of your categories comprises 75% of the people on the Earth that there there doesn't appear to be a lot of diversity. Your friends could include a Pakistani, Tibetan, Uygher, Eskimo, Finn, Scot, Basque and Serb and they wouldn't be a "diverse" group.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
as outlined perfectly here: https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/_landings/contract/O-TRU-102316-Contractv02.pdf
Your argument relies on an arbitrary selection of the criteria, namely the top 10. If you expand it to the top 20, all countries which are not far behind the leaders, there are several quite diverse countries including the US and UK.
Pretty much all anti-immigration/white supremacy arguments are just this kind of abuse of statistics.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Your reasoning needs some more statistical rigidity.
If a large part of the foreigners in Switzerland live in Zurich, then that still doesn't mean the majority of the Swiss people live there...
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Since the genocide on the native Indians, hypocrisy is enshrined in the American psyche.
Americans have no choice than to be hypocrite, the amount of collective cognitive dissonance resulting from accepting their (ancestors') crimes would be too much to handle. So it has become the main feature of American thinking, acting, arguing and, most notably, foreign policy.
All the world can clearly see it except for the Americans themselves, they just wouldn't be able to cope...
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Of course these are not the only factors, if even the decisive ones...
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Yugoslavia before Germany and USA started fomenting war there?
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
What? no entry for N. Korea?
They would obviously be #1 because the people there are literally dying to show us all how happy they are.
Mike Pence wants to implement Sharia and kill all the gays ?
Wow....he's terrible !
See subject & "here 'tis" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEp1nO9Circ/ - ask Derek Simard (Coren22).
* I'm what you'd call an "Agent of the FREE..."
( :) )
APK
P.S.=> This tape will destruct in 60 seconds... apk
You're just bitching around and actually not contributing much to the discussion.
If you don't have the time to add to the conversation then by all means don't. Or limit yourself to replies that are more positive.
Or not, if you're hard headed...
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Correction: The US was MUCH more happy in general before the charter on the FED and income taxes was accepted. After that it continuously went down hill.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Cancer cells aren't 'happy', they are confused.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
I suggest you look at the makeup of the Population of really quiet happy New Zealand
I'm confused... was this a compliment? ;)
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
90% of it is because it is now on our dime.
Hogwash. If that was true the people complaining about Trump's golfing would be the exact same people that were complaining about Obama playing golf, and that is not true at all.
10% is because of how it shows Trump as a hypocrite and fraud.
Then you should complain about his hypocrisy rather than his golfing.
But here's some free advice: You should complain about neither. Trump's supporters don't care about his golfing or hypocrisy any more than Obama supporters cared about his birth certificate. If you want to change people's minds, you should criticize his policies rather than his hobbies and personal faults.
Earth civilization sounds like an interesting idea in concept, but do you think it will ever be feasible?
It also depends on what group you were in terms of happiness. Blacks, for example, had it pretty tough in many parts of the country due to segregation and discrimination. You were basically happy if you were white and male. Women were expected to stay at home while the man worked. Generally women didn't go to college and there were few methods for women and minorities to get ahead.
One thing that drastically improved people's lives were labor unions for blue collar jobs. That's where things like the 40 hour work week, time and a half and many other benefits came from. Labor unions peaked in 1954 where almost 35% of all workers belonged to a union. The labor unions significantly improved the standard of living for all workers, even those who didn't belong to unions. Combine that with the 90% tax bracket and the fact that the pay difference between the CEO and the line worker was significantly lower than it is today. Back then you also got a pension plan from the company you worked for. Later, however, laws were relaxed and companies skimped on their pension contributions then switched everything over to 401Ks and IRAs.
Decades ago the tax system was also quite different. There was a 90% tax rate, for example. Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...">historically the minimum wage was higher when one takes into account the purchasing power.
After World War II the GI bill sent millions of people to college which also significantly improved the lives of many people.
My grandparents, who sadly passed away around 2000 had gone through the great depression and world war 2. My grandfather was born in 1906. They said the "good old days" weren't that great.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
I still don't understand why happiness is assumed to be inherently worth pursuing.
The answer I got was that it is true by definition. Sounds like circular reasoning to me. Not convinced.
My tentative take is behavioral. The brain is wired with reward mechanism built in, as a legacy of our reptilian ancestors. Our primate new brain tend to rationalize it as "pursuit of happiness" but in the end of the day we're automatons programmed to seek out certain stuff. There is no inherent value in Happiness and it only exists as a mental construct amenable to a whole lot of external factors.
So how is a decrease of happiness necessarily bad? It's just an adaptation mechanism and any attempt to attach an artificial value judgement to it is doomed to failure.
Those who value greed more than happiness, will be unhappy. Sad but true and note they will make all those around them unhappy too, that greed attacks the happiness of others.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I find it hilarious that people like you want to complain about everything Republican and ignore your own party. FWIW I'm an independent and not affiliated with any party. I voted simply for the lesser of two evils this year. I have no sympathy for the Democratic party, and the lumps they are continually taking are well deserved. The Democratic party has become the party of the 3rd wave feminists, terrorist sympathizers, and openly socialist who despise the US Constitution and our form of Government.
Stay in the Democratic party, I'm sure they have a way to play to your identity too. Until of course you are no longer useful to them.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Let me just add, I hope Shatner, and perhaps even Mike Meyers give Justin Trudeau a run for his money in whatever year the next PM election takes place.
Having said that, Trudeau actually attempts to comport himself as a statesman, even if he doesn't always succeed, unlike 90 percent of ALL political bodies on the planet that even pretend to be civil. And most of those are some of the most uncivilized places of all if you pare away the veneer. Does anyone have to wonder why it rhymes with 'sneer'?
This is out-and-out trolling. This has no business being shown as if it was news. And the responses that are marked as "Interesting" are just further flame bait. The claim that Trump is responsible for unhappiness, has no backing of any kind and is simply ludicrous. Maybe "News for nerds, stuff that matters" should be replaced with something else. This isn't news, isn't for nerds, and doesn't matter.
Do you know why people bring up his golfing and expensive trip to the "winter whitehouse"??
It is because he is a big hypocrite, that whined and moaned about Obama's occasional vacations or golf trips and the expenses caused by it and yet what does he do??
He does it so much that by one single year he will have wasted more tax payer money on his leisure activites than Obama did during his entire two terms.
If he had kept his mouth shut about Obama, then no one would have really brought this up.
Blondes have more fun. Thus the happiness in Nordic countries. Happiness in the US is decreasing because the illegals invading the US are anything but blondes.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Isn't part of Portland's problem that they're all wet? The weather, I mean.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
One can only hope the self destructive feedback loop will completely destroy liberal news media, Demonrat Party and safe place regulars.
Is the word "individual" unknown to you?
It is perfectly acceptable, and indeed preferable, to reject your forbears if they were evil.
Morality is an individual issue. It is NOT hypocritical to reject your ancestors, their actions and yours are mutually exclusive.
"Collective thought" is an oxymoron.
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oblig. godwin
So what. Trump has said America can't be paying for Everything, we're in debt. Let all the other countries take all the refugees and pay for all the problems of the world.
Instead of arguing about something not that important, what part of that actual point is wrong?
I'd say it was peaked in the early 60's...and Kennedy slashed taxes....remember Camelot as it was described?
I'm not saying it was perfect....no, blacks should not have been segregated and all, BUT...the black communities in themselves, seemed to be much more at peace and harmony within their own....you didn't see the widespread hard drug use, the unwed pregnancies, nor the gang behavior.
They pretty much also had "normal" sounding names...something that is now used to discriminate against them presently. That wasn't the case back then, other things were, but not a name on an application alone, like it can be today.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
A month ago we are all frozen. Nice to have the rain again.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Could've fooled me. The most rigid and unreadable people I've ever met. Always stuffy, always money-focused. It could be selection bias though, as my interactions have been mostly corporate in nature.
Not to mention the cut in the chemical safety board. Expect that increase of weapons spending to include an increase in Americans accidentally killed by those weapons.
But sure safety is #1. He tweeted so therefore it is.
What's wrong is that Trump thinks that individual countries pay into some sort of "NATO fund", and that the US deserves more payments from that imaginary fund. He's a fucktard who's giving Kim Jong Un a race for the title of Craziest Wannabe Tyrant with Bad Hair. And he's winning.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Or, maybe they just found a nice balance between capitalism and socialism, unlike the rest of the world.
For very socialist values of balance, at least here in Norway. According to the world bank we have third lowest Gini coefficient in the world, meaning our income is extremely evenly distributed by international standards. There is not a lot of really poor nor very wealthy people, with notable exceptions of course but looking at income stats if you divide into 10% slices the 80-90% slice make just under twice as much as the 10-20%. The best paid executives in Statoil, our huge mostly state owned company the CEO makes about $1.7 million a year. If you go to a similar foreign oil giant like say Schlumberger the CEO makes $18.6 million a year. Working at McD you earn ~$15/hour the first four months if you're 18-20, after that or from day one if you're older ~$18.50/hour. And you don't need health insurance or a 401(k) on top of that, the public healthcare system and public pensions are entirely adequate. Granted you can't directly compare prices, but you live okay on one "minimum wage" job. So at McD you make $35k/year and your average doctor makes $95k/year, the tax system makes the difference even less in practice. But we want it. And a very high percent of the population works, that helps. It's still an odd country.
How would one go about immigrating to Norway? And may I subscribe to your newsletter?
Just not to have it in a statistically significant way.
Which countries are the happiest? The ones the UN likes the best.
Well look at that! The happiest countries align with the UN!
Women were expected to stay at home while the man worked. Generally women didn't go to college
Now they don't stay at home and go to college. Incidentally, Women's happiness is also trending down.
Aww, Kim's hair isn't bad. When compared to President Cheryl it's actually quite stylin'
Comments on this article seemed like a circle jerk of Trump haters, making me think this was editorial upmodding. Well congrats, Trump is the new ultimate scapegoat, or straw man, depending on how you look at it. Direct your ire at him, and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or what has been happening for the past thirty years.
We've been in a race to the bottom for too long, with a government that has been captured by corporate interests, while a media ensures that we stay distracted and at each other's throats with a strategy of 'four legs good, two legs bad'. We're training our foreign replacements for the jobs not already being outsourced, finding ourselves unable to pay for our kids education, going bankrupt paying healthcare costs, and generally looking forward to working till we drop dead rather than retiring, for a variety of reasons. We've been relegated to being a 'human resource' suitable only for maximum exploitation, and the next generation only has a life of indentured servitude to look forward to, if they are even lucky enough to have a job.
But hey, who cares about that we can pour ourselves another tall sparkling glass of Koolaid while coming up with a new creative euphemisms for the meat puppets putting on a show for us.
I would just like to mention that happiness depends on the mentality of its residents, too. We are not all the same. Some people are just more prone to depression than others, cope with work differently etc. It is not just the amount of money that influences the level of happiness, far from it, actually. What I'm saying is that even if we all had the same government and wealth, the levels of happiness would differ, possibly even look the same.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
they would have brought it up. if you believe otherwise, you're delusional. I had someone yesterday berate me for not being properly angry at Trump. Not that I agreed with him, but that I wasn't sufficiently upset.
It's like HUAC all over again.
So, you dislike his xenophobia by hating the Americans.
The fact that you cannot see any irony in this is, well, not surprising at all.
he's actually putting the interests of the USA before those of foreign nations
Sure, if our interests are cutting education funding, cutting the EPA, cutting elderly food programs, cutting women's rights, cutting healthcare, and increasing racism and military spending. Nothing will make America great again like a generation of stupid kids, sick and hungry people, and weapons.
If I go into a business arrangement with a partner, and he makes money and I make money, it is a win-win. Even if he does not have the larger investment, but he makes good money, should some of his benefit be taken away? Think Nafta, Mexico, Canada.
Canada buys all it's winter fruits and vegetables from the USA. It buys American cars. Does Trump know or understand what is fair trade? You need to look at the annual balances and decide if trade is fair or is not fair. Measure as well, the jobs created in each country.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
they're profiting from it. This is why the left want single payer. Get the middle men out of it and just pay the bloody doctors.
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What he's doing makes me happy!
Me, too.
I couldn't be happier watching his muslim ban fail. Watching his healthcareless plan fail. Proposing budgets that will never pass. Watching him make an all-around ass out of himself.
I couldn't be happier.
No, "individual" is not unknown. I'm just afraid that there aren't that many individuals that think like you, or at least the majority of American citizens doesn't.
The absolutely hypocritical statements by the current and most past governments' people suggests that the majority of the voters is as hypocritical as I described in my previous post. That's why I call it 'collective psyche'.
Well, granted, I didn't formulate it exactly as 'American collective psyche', but that's what I meant to say.
Maybe a more or less valid definition of 'American collective psyche' would be the average of the American psyches...
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.