Esplanade Park in Helsinki. Finland, is the happiest country in the world, according to the newest World Happiness Report. Credit Martti Kainulainen/Lehtikuva, via Associated Press.
According to The World Happiness Report, Ustates has plummeted to 18th on the list. If you really want to be happy and feel secure, you need to go Nordic. Finland made the top of the list.
Finland was ranked number one on the World Happiness Report, compiled by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The country was joined by other Scandinavian nations—Norway, Denmark, and Iceland—in the top four, followed by Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia.
All these nations are based on strong social welfare structures, and look, people are happy! Looks like that evil socialism has a lot going for it. Turns out that when people feel secure, they tend to be happier and much more laidback.
“I think there really is a deep and very unsettling signal coming through that U.S. society is in many ways under profound stress, even though the economy by traditional measures is doing fine,” Jeffrey D. Sachs, an editor of the report, told the New York Times. “The trends are not good, and the comparative position of the U.S. relative to other high-income countries is nothing short of alarming.”
The drop followed President Donald Trump’s first year in office, during which the majority of Americans reported disapproval of the country’s top elected official, and hundreds of thousands protested his regressive policies on immigration, women’s reproductive rights, and gun control—as well as widespread concerns that the president is blatantly profiting off his position in public office.
The past year also saw reports of America’s widening wealth gap, with the average upper middle-class household holding 75 times more wealth than low-income families.
While other countries have focused on social welfare of all their citizens, Ustates has been in the process of removing rights and the very last shreds of social programs. We’re in the middle of dismantling education, nazis are running rampant all over the place, and you never know when you might be walking into a nightmare massacre. Sounds like a shithole to me.
The World Happiness Report ranks countries according to per capita GDP, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and corruption levels.
Going by that alone, seems Ustates should be at the bottom of the list.
Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped for the second year in a row in 2017, with researchers suggesting that the opioid addiction epidemic and inequality are related to the decline.
I expect no health care has a lot to do with that one, along with a hefty percentage of the population living in food deserts and being unable to eat well.
Reigning political ideologies in the highest-ranking nations contrast sharply with that of the U.S., noted the researchers.
The countries in the top 10 tend to “believe that what makes people happy is solid social support systems, good public services, and even paying a significant amount in taxes for that,” said Sachs.
Yep. I’m more than happy to pay taxes, when they are used for the common good. That’s supposed to be the bloody point of taxes.
Every top-ranking country also ensures that every citizen has access to free or affordable healthcare, while millions of Americans remain uninsured despite the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Oh, there it is. Yep, other countries seem to have all figured out that having healthy citizens is to their benefit. That strikes me as simple common sense, but not here in Amerikka, no. I’m quite surprised we ended up as high as 18. Now I can’t get this song outta my head:
Via RawStory.
How many of those top countries are in constant states of imperial war? Huh? USA!
By the way did you ever notice how some Americans like to say “socialism is bad because centrally managed economies don’t work!”? How are these scandanavians able to pull off ‘socialism’ and ‘regulated but otherwise competitive economy’? It’s inconceivable! They are cheating!
How unbelievably nice it would be to live in a country which was not war based.
Marcus, #1,
Even then, centrally managed economies can and do work. It’s how Russia and China managed to achieve the massive economic growth they both saw in the mid Twentieth Century. They are riddled with problems, and their implementation in both Russia and China was nothing short of an authoritarian nightmare (hey, both of those countries have long histories of authoritarian rule going back centuries! Fancy that!), but to say they don’t work is ignoring the history right under our noses. Where do they think that all the wealth that the Russian oligarchs snatched for themselves in the early 90s came from? Stored away in secret Tzarist bank accounts in 1917 to be disbursed to the ruling elite again once the communists were out of the picture?
I also think we shouldn’t let people get away with saying that the American economy is doing fine now. It manifestly isn’t, for everyone except the vampire capitalists at the very top. I don’t know who this Jeffrey D. Sachs is, but he’s doubtless part of that class.
Caine, Can I just leave this here please
https://satwcomic.com/every-time
You certainly may. :)
Norway does outrageous things like putting it’s oil revenues (taxes, exploration licenses etc) in a Sovereign Wealth Fund that aims to be available to smooth their transition from an oil based economy. It’s worth $1 trillion and owns 1.3% of all stocks and shares. It’s even got an ethical component, although it wouldn’t satisfy me for a Government fund it’s still pretty impressive. Worth having a look at the wiki page for an over view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway. Compare that to the UK where Thatcher and her successors pissed it all away in tax cuts.
Oh sure, those countries have health care and aren’t at constant war but do they have MAGA hats?
I rest my case.
bustereggi, I suspect you can find a few sillies wearing MAGA hats in Canada.
Cartomancer:
I agree. The economy, such as it is, is the reason so many people are angry and unsettled. For those who are making six figures or more, yeah, they think it’s just dandy. Everyone else, not so much. The ‘middle class’ is sinking further and further into the barely making it class, and way too many people are living in poverty. Of course, you don’t get to wave that grand old exceptionalism if you focus on all those in poverty or dire circumstances due to job loss or health catastrophe or other.
Canadians, resist the urge to feel smug. We are a hair’s breadth from following the US down the drain. We have Trumpites and religiots aplenty. We could absolutely end up in the same state, and AB and SK will lead the way.