Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Monday March 19 2018, @09:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-clapping-for-us dept.

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].


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 19 2018, @12:49PM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday March 19 2018, @12:49PM (#654850) Journal

    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.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @03:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @03:35PM (#654951)

    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.