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Common Dreams reports
Nordic countries with strong social welfare structures fared best, as they have in previous years, on the United Nation's annual accounting of global happiness--while the United States finished in 18th place, down four spots from 2017.
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.
[...] the United States finished in 18th place, down four spots from 2017.
[...] 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.
Trump's tax law, pushed through Congress despite the disapproval of 53 percent of Americans, only heightened the perception of many people that the government is intent on transferring wealth to the richest Americans while the majority live paycheck to paycheck.
The World Happiness Report ranks countries according to per capita GDP, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and corruption levels.
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.
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 [Jeffrey D. Sachs, editor of the World Happiness Report].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Monday March 19 2018, @10:19AM (8 children)
Australias Bernie Sanders was voted in in 1973. We got universal health care, free college, he pulled us out of Vietnam, stopped exploratory oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef, doubled spending on the arts, was the first western leader to recognise China (some believed this forced Nixon to do the same), encouraged immigration from non-white countries (long story), made changes to allow indigenous people to claim land rights, embarked on an infrastructure program, etc.. etc... etc... This package of reforms were actually kept by the subsequent conservative government. For three decades Australia had excellent leadership... even the Howard governments fanatical neoliberalism was actually the right tactic for most of its resource-boom-fueled tenure. Unfortunately we've had almost two decades of terrible governments from both of the main parties, and we're now circling the same drain the US is except we're a little further out. We haven't yet had the private debt crisis the US did in 2008 - that's still in Australias future. We do have one of the most highly leveraged private sectors in the world, and that's waiting to blow up on us, and it's already choking off growth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Monday March 19 2018, @10:46AM
True. Except I'm afraid that future may come soon.
Australia had "sub-prime wage growth" for some 3-4 years already - while profits grew year by year and the private debt skyrocketed. If nothing spectacular happens in Australia's economy, I'm not looking with confidence on a 2-3 years horizon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Funny) by jimtheowl on Monday March 19 2018, @11:08AM
.. it is spinning in the opposite direction?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Monday March 19 2018, @12:01PM
A bigger problem is that a lot of Australia's economy is built around it functioning as an open-cast mine for China. When the Chinese industry slows down, the Australian economy stops.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday March 19 2018, @12:30PM (1 child)
Long list of good things, generally bad thing (encouraged immigration from non-white countries (long story)), followed by long list of good things
Must be an interesting long story.
I know your housing bubble is very large. Usually thats more of a symptom than a cause, so I don't know the rest of your situation but it does sound very likely.
My guess is once the too big to fail bubbles pop, they'll be a lot of law changing. In the USA student loans can't currently be erased by bankruptcy, but its fairly obviously a mere matter of time before the law gets changed, for example.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @09:45AM
One of the biggest problems is caused by the recent trade agreement with the Chinese that allows the Chinese to buy land in Australia. There are many more cashed up Chinese buyers than local australians. The Chinese can easily afford 500k to 2.5 million for an apartment. Drives up the price of apartments, and houses. The rules introduced in 1999 for negative gearing heated up the market. Now those rules have to be removed without killing the economy or causing a depression or recession.
It is possible for the Chinese to simply buy Australia like the Arabs bought London.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 19 2018, @12:49PM (1 child)
As an Australian or Kiwi i would be a lot more concerned about a future in which the country was no longer protected by the British Empire or the American superpower. Getting gobbled up by China would be no fun.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @03:35PM
are you serious?
stop hollowing out the earth beneath your feet by sending the stuff you dig out over to China. your country cries jobs like US corporatists. just beacuse no one else is buying the stuff doesnt mean it isn't more valuable in the ground for when you need to build a standing army.
it's just making more tanks and stuff to better invade you with when you trade it away like that. didn't they say something about diplomacy at the end of the barrel of a gun?
but thats ok. the people with the jobs probably wont be on the front line of defense due to being ill, old, or already broken. the politicians will just live in fancy gilded cages until they too are snuffed by the new leaders, like that forbidden city place.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @01:17PM
You list: financial disaster or quality loss, financial disaster or quality loss, being lazy cowardly wimps, prevention of financial success, a corrupt slush fund, being greedy sanction-violating wimps, being cucks, being cucks, and probably another corrupt slush fund
I see you also never bothered to get solid freedom of speech or self-defense rights.
Here in the USA, we have several states that you might like. It would be great if you could advertise the benefits of migrating to your country in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. We'd prefer that you take everybody, but if you only welcome non-whites to your country that'll be tolerable. Take as many as you can.