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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.
<sarcasm>Gosh I'll be so sad when all the illegal Mexican rapists are deported!</sarcasm>
FTFY
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!
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...
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.
Don't worry. You'll get used to living back in your home country eventually!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
until I discovered how unhappy I should be.
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
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!
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.
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.
"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!”
It's been free falling since 2007.
No comment on who was the American President for 89% of that time...
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Dude, you're on an aging, mostly white discussion board devoted to technology: If you want to troll slashdotters, say something about how it's important to cut research funding.
"I'll be so sad when they cut funding for useless nuclear fusion research, LOL, we don't need another chernobyl. We should spend the money on copyright protection instead, crack down on linux ripping off windows!"
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'
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A
If you need a federal government to make you happy, I think your problem is far deeper than just who was elected President.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
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! --
There's NO evidence they commit more crimes than the average population, and even less by some estimates. Most come here to work; they can commit crimes in their home country better because they know the language, if crime were their goal.
The crime angle on that is a Fake Problem. Bad Trump.
Table-ized A.I.
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
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.
BAN MEXICAN RAPIST CARDS!
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
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
A federal government can't make you happy, but they're certainly able to make you unhappy.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
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.
No, average population, period.
If T wanted to reduce crime in general, which should be the logical goal, he should ask, what's the best way to reduce crime per federal dollars spent? I've seen no evidence that spending more fed dollars on JUST illegal immigrants is more effective than spending on it on general law enforcement, such as more FBI staff, systems, and/or more cops.
He's just obsessed with "outsiders" as a personality quirk. It's not based on any sound crime-solving monetary/resource allocation logic or model. I don't think he'd have the patience to review any such study or model with a critical eye. By all appearances, it's his gut tribalism instinct driving his decision process, not math, models, and logic. You are welcome to demonstrate he has given crime-fighting resource allocation some real thought...
Table-ized A.I.
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.
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...
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
That's completely and utter non-sense. The U.S. Federal Government's primary reason to exist is to enable the pursuit of happiness. They help build roads which allow you to move from place to place, they create law enforcement frameworks so you have consistency across the union.
In more recent history they cleaned up the rivers and lakes that were so polluted they would catch on f'in fire. This hate of government bs is what got us where we are with our current President. It is stupid, government can does certain things well, there are certainly things it should not do as well. That is why we have a legislature and a Supreme court and even a President.
I hate this I got mine so screw everybody else crap. We are by far the richest country in the world and yet we are gonna make our children go hungry because we somehow can't afford to feed them? We are gonna kick millions off healthcare and discourage younger people from obtaining insurance and penalizing them if they get the balls to get try and get it so we are gonna kill more and more hospitals as uninsured people show up again.
By definition they have committed more crimes than the average population by entering the country illegally.
It's not a crime to enter the country illegally, unless you have been previously deported. This, BTW, is why lawyers and other people who are picky about accuracy when it comes to legal issues call them "undocumented immigrants", rather than "illegal immigrants". That's not just a kinder or more politically correct phrasing... it's the most accurate description.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
There's NO evidence they commit more crimes than the average population, and even less by some estimates. Most come here to work; they can commit crimes in their home country better because they know the language, if crime were their goal.
The crime angle on that is a Fake Problem. Bad Trump.
Actually by definition anyone who is here illegally is a criminal. But ignoring that there is still a *huge* amount of imported crime. The usual lie is to group all immigrants together when looking at crime since the legal ones generally do commit fewer crimes. The legal ones pull down the average. The MS13 gang, ~70k strong in the US, is largely a product of illegal immigration. But keep preaching that they are all here to helpfully mow your lawn and have no downsides.
Immigration can be a net win (ie educated law abiding types) or a net loss (low skilled or illegal) depending on how you play the game. But lying about how many deaths illegals cause by drunk driving (shockingly high numbers) and crime in general won't help that discussion.
You assume we know who and where the perps are. We don't. And going after perps who are here illegally is no easier than going after perps who are here legally. The goal should be to get the most perps per fed money spent, not to target group X over group Y for the heck of it. That would be like the highway patrol going after only Ford speeders and not Chevy speeders. It's both inefficient and discriminatory.
Your "law and order" statement seems to be referring to "sanctuary cities". Cops have found they get more cooperation from the population if they don't ask citizenship status of witnesses and victims. There's your "law and order".
Ahah! So it's not really about crime itself, but a political power battle to you. Your true colors are shining through. Whether true or not, that's a change in topic from crime.
If you really want to reduce illegals, then audit businesses for their employment practices. However, biz bribes GOP not to, calling it "excess business regulation". T and GOP are hiding this from you, and distracting you with crime talk.
Table-ized A.I.
And your statement is proof that the DNC is dead.
The DNC is alive and well and looking forward to 2018, which might be a huge problem for the RNC if the Republicans do/don't repeal ObamaCare.
The arrogant billionaires appointed Empress Hilary [...]
Hillary was elected, not appointed.
[...] and never noticed that the blue collar democrats realized she had no values in common with them.
Have you seen the Trump budget proposal? Blue-collar Democrats AND Republicans are going to get rimmed to pay for right-wing priorities that have no basis in reality.
"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'
I didn't say there were no downsides, only that the average is not demonstrably higher. Before T claims that illegals commit more than average thefts and violence, he should FIRST get evidence.
If as a politician I claim that group X causes more problems than group Y, I should first collect and present good evidence, not guess out of my keester.
Once T did actually give a source of such claims: his "border guard friends" told him. That's barely more scientific than a divining rod. My friends tell me you are a demon spawn; should I deport you?
By the way, I'm not against cutting back the quantity of illegals in the country, it's just that T is doing it wrong (per sister message).
Table-ized A.I.
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 ;-)
Trumps flavor ability right now is higher than the DNC
Classic tea party response. Most people are going to find Trump very sour-tasting in the near future. Trump's favorability is still sinking and lower than the DNC.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/03/20/trump-approval-rating-low/99409570/
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/democratic-party-favorable-rating
The Dems are caving left and right on Trump's appointees, and there is no reason to believe this will stop any time soon.
Last I read that Trump was still trying to find 500+ people out of 320M people who haven't said a negative thing about him to fill all those vacant government positions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-filling-staff-positions-2017-2
Per CNN, in 2014 there were about 250,000 illegal immigrants who committed crimes and were either in jail or deported after committing a crime. That represents about 13% of all those in prison. Even though illegal immigrants are about 4% of the total population. So their rate of criminal action to population is about 3 times higher than the average population.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
More on this: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...
Table-ized A.I.
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.
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.
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'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.
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.
Wow. Just wow. It's hard to find a more biased source than the oh so diverse Huffington Post. [prntly.com] They're even worse than MSNBC.
A biased source would Breitbart or Fox News. See how much trouble Trump's gets into after tweeting something from those sources?
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.
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Isn't part of Portland's problem that they're all wet? The weather, I mean.
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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
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.........
Neither first lady nor Secretary of State are elective offices.
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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.
Taxes to high? Give more. For the most part anyway, I'm for the Nun's Loophole to come back (and with President Trump, it just might).
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Consistency across the union makes no sense when economically we're 11 different nations with distinctive spending habits.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Senator Clinton served eight years (2001-2009) in the Senate before becoming Secretary of State. She also won the primary elections for the 2016 Democratic nomination. She's certainty more qualified than the current occupant of the White House.
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.
8/8 gr8 b8 m8.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
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.
Ahah! So it's not really about crime itself, but a political power battle to you. Your true colors are shining through.
And I'm saying this is why the Dems are so recalcitrant about stopping any flow of 3rd worlders into the US. Because they vote Democrat. Imagine if there were a magic portal from Fundieland, where productive safe white fundamentalist Christians were being persecuted and killed by evil atheists. So if we started taking Fundieland refugees and shoveling them by the millions into California, changing the voting demographics there to Republican, I guarantee all of this "refugees welcome" crap would turn around really fucking fast.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Gee let me think. Fuck congress. Happy now?
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
If I'm baiting, then that just means you were/are baiting too.
Do you know what a strawman argument is?
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
You still changed the subject away from crime itself.
Both parties have been laxidasical on the issue, but for different reasons. I will agree a good many Democrats view them as a future source of votes, but as I mentioned nearby, businesses also see them as cheap abusable labor, and lobby GOP to look the other way. GOP only gives the issue lip service, and STILL does in terms of business inspections. When W had both houses, GOP stonewalled on reform and did nothing. Democrats also proposed a bill to increase border guards, but GOP invented silly excuses, including budget reduction, to turn it down and showed no interest in renegotiating a revised bill.
Table-ized A.I.
Which countries are the happiest? The ones the UN likes the best.
Well look at that! The happiest countries align with the UN!
GOP establishment get money from donors who want cheap labor. That doesn't do shit for GOP voters. Yes, the GOP establishment did nothing about illegal immigration. The GOP base was really, really pissed about it, and elected Trump, the first Republican presidential candidate in a long time to actually promise to do the thing that's (depending on the poll and how you ask the question) got the approval of 55-65% of Americans: build wall; deport illegals.
There are lots of reasons for wanting to do this:
1. Protecting borders is the most basic function of government (law and order).
2. Some illegals commit crimes, and they shouldn't even be here. The government refusing to deal with the problem is betraying the citizens. When Jamiel Shaw Jr was gunned down by an illegal mexican who'd been deported 3 times telling his dad "well they're not all criminals" is cold comfort.
3. Illegals are exploited by greedy businessmen for profit, and drive down wages for everyone else. Especially bad for our poor blacks and legal hispanics.
4. Illegals consume public resources paid for by citizen taxpayers.
5. 80% of central and south american women and girls who cross the border illegal are raped during the process, and that sort of thing is frowned upon.
6. Open border allows for easier drug, gun, and sex trafficking. The profits from this fund monsters like the Zetas, turning Mexico into a blood drenched hell hole. Not a good thing to have next door, and the violence spills over the border.
7. They fucking vote Democrat.
These are all really good reasons to oppose illegal immigration, but Dems (both establishment and voters) will ignore or make excuses for 1 through 6 because 7 while the GOP establishment ignores 1 - 2; 4-7 because 3. Trump (and Trump voters) make no excuses and dropkick the illegals back over the border.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Re: #2 - It's not ignoring the problem; what you proposes creates 2 new problems to solve 1. Bad trade-off choice. You just seem to be robotically quoting political slogans/memes rather than show a comparison of choices.
I generally don't disagree with 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 but do question 4. Most pay the same taxes as citizens.
As I've mentioned in nearby posts there are more sane ways to reduce illegals (more border guards and biz audits), but neither T nor GOP are interested in anything that offends their biz donors & friends. They'd rather F with families than offend the precious 1%. Typical GOP.
By the way, a wall isn't going to stop drug trafficking. It's pretty easy to get drugs under or over a wall. A 7 year old can do it.
Table-ized A.I.
Correction, I generally don't disagree with 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7.
In general, GOP does nothing about it beyond lip service, and T does it ham-handed. Perhaps you could try to argue ham-handed is better than nothing.
Table-ized A.I.
As I've mentioned in nearby posts there are more sane ways to reduce illegals (more border guards and biz audits) but neither T nor GOP are interested in anything that offends their biz donors & friends. They'd rather F with families than offend the precious 1%. Typical GOP.
Trump has already added thousands of BP and ICE agents, and nationwide E-Verify is part of Trump's immigration plan that was on his campaign website (the site has since been updated for the administration rather than the campaign or I'd link it). So one of the things you recommended Trump has already done and the other is part of his campaign promises, but that requires legislative action and right now Congress is doing other things. We'll see what happens.
By the way, a wall isn't going to stop drug trafficking. It's pretty easy to get drugs under or over a wall. A 7 year old can do it.
But a wall with sensors and more BP agents will definitely help, no?
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Perhaps you could try to argue ham-handed is better than nothing.
Yes, that's essentially the fundamental premise of the Trump movement. What we have is multinational corporations that own the politicians and 90% of the media. There's some dispute between the interests of citizens and the interests of multinationals/foreigners, and on every single issue the politicians take the side of the foreigners/multinationals and then the media propagandizes the public as to why this is somehow "moral." It's really not, it's just the financial interest of the elite. What a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" should do is say "no, fuck you" to the foreigners and multinationals. This is all Trump is doing and it's got the media, the left, and the GOP establishment apoplectic.
Illegal immigration is bad for citizens/workers, good for business/foreigners. No, fuck foreigners, deport illegals.
Shady muslims bad for citizens, good for foreigners. No, fuck them, ban terrorist muslims.
Trade deals bad for workers, good for business/China. No, fuck China, protect workers.
Repeat on each issue. That's basically it.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
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'm not confident T will fix more things than he breaks. Your opinion is probably different on that.
Table-ized A.I.
No he hasn't. They were already backlogged in hiring before the election. Training and background checks take roughly 2 years. Congress will have to fund it by then if they continue.
Yes, it has to pass Congress first. Wishes are common, signed bills are not. Business will complain to GOP, and businesses have a lot of pull with GOP. GOP will likely water it down.
In general, Democrats were never against such. GOP blocked such bills before just to hurt O politically. GOP may block it for budget hawk reasons, you never know.
We'll see. In the end even if such legislation is successful it won't likely change anything noticeable for average citizen anyhow. The illegals were workers and consumers just like the rest.
Table-ized A.I.
But it's nationalistic, right? So nationalist, and socialist? Somebody should start a political party like that.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
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
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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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.