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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].


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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday March 19 2018, @03:03PM (22 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday March 19 2018, @03:03PM (#654933)

    Does anyone think it might be related to the "half" of the country that lost its damn mind when their crown princess didn't get coronated

    Given that a solid majority of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton, no, it's not even close to "half". Her approval rating was actually lower than Donald Trump's (who's also in the toilet as far as the public is concerned) in the most recent polls that asked about her.

    2016 really was "Giant Douche" versus "Turd Sandwich" in the eyes of most Americans.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday March 19 2018, @03:39PM (7 children)

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Monday March 19 2018, @03:39PM (#654953) Journal

    Given that a solid majority of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton

    Well yeah, but how much of that is because of Hilary herself, an how much is due to the largely untrue / exaggerated shit that Trump was slinging at her for a year?
    I mean, I bet there are still people out there with opinions coloured by that "pizzagate" nonsense or that thing about her "selling uranium to the Russians"1

    1 As I understand it, she was part of a review committee that had no power to prevent the sale of shares in a Canadian mining company (that mines Uranium in the US) to a Russian business. Any Uranium mined in the US by this company could not be exported anyway.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @04:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @04:44PM (#654987)

      As I understand it, she was part of a review committee that had no power to prevent the sale of shares in a Canadian mining company (that mines Uranium in the US) to a Russian business. Any Uranium mined in the US by this company could not be exported anyway.

      No, no, you understand wrong. She personally sold over 95% of US uranium stockpiles and all future production, after the Russians promised her they will use it only to build nuclear bombs to destroy the US (specifically, the continental US, where the real Americans live; coasts are full of communists and Russian sympathizers and will be spared).

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @04:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @04:58PM (#654998)

      Well yeah, but how much of that is because of Hilary herself

      Hillary's own words are her worst enemy, not the Russians, not Trump, not the NRA, and not [insert favorite scapegoat here].

      When she insulted the middle of America during the election, she cooked her own goose. Her incoherent finger pointing hasn't helped. For all the people who think Trump is nuts, I've got news for you. Clinton is just as nuts. Every time she opens her mouth she shows just how much contempt she has for flyover country. Even Dick Durbin is hoping that she just shut up.

    • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday March 19 2018, @05:25PM (2 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Monday March 19 2018, @05:25PM (#655013)

      how much of that is because of Hilary herself

      Obviously, we can't completely conclude what's going on in the heads of people we've never met.

      I can tell you my unfavorable view of Hillary Clinton is largely something she brought upon herself:
      - Her very hawkish foreign policy, under the advice of war criminal Henry Kissinger. For instance, her very prominent backing of the Iraq War.
      - Her very close association with the banks that crashed the global economy in 2008.
      - Her work negotiating "free trade agreements" which undermine US sovereignty and hurt the ability of American workers to negotiate better wages and working conditions.
      - Her repeated lying about what she's actually accomplished. For example, her campaign made a big deal about S-CHIP, even though her description of how that had happened was completely at odds with everybody who worked Ted Kennedy's office (he was the one that actually made the bill happen).
      - She and Bill are worth 9 figures. As Harry Truman put it, "An honest public servant can't become rich in politics." And both Hillary and Bill have a long history of selling out that goes back to their time in Arkansas.
      - Her choice to continually associate herself with absolutely terrible people like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (friend to the payday lenders with all the intelligence and friendliness of a high-school cheerleading captain based on her emails), astroturfer David Brock, and Donald Trump.
      - Her tepid-at-best responses to government policies that violate the civil rights of Americans, especially but not exclusively racial minorities.
      - Her consistent description of policies created to benefit mothers as benefiting women or otherwise being feminist, when a big part of feminism is about women having value in their own right rather than having value primarily as mothers and wives.

      There are a lot of female politicians I would have gladly backed for president. Hillary Clinton is not one of them. For instance, if the Democrats had rallied around Kathleen Sibelius (former governor of Kansas and Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services for most of his presidency), I would have been pretty happy with backing her, and I suspect she would have done better in the polls.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 19 2018, @07:55PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 19 2018, @07:55PM (#655088) Journal

        Pretty much this entire list applies to me too. I voted for her entirely as a "hell to the fuck no, NOT TRUMP" vote but I dislike her entire dynastic family and I think they're arrogant and evil to the core. And you know what? if Trump keeps fucking up like this, but doesn't actually lead us into World War III, we may actually end up *better off* for having had him as President simply because it'll discredit the GOP for a solid 20-30 years.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @07:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @07:52PM (#655594)

        so hubby running guns and drugs with the bushes through mena, arkansas and her and cokehead hubby killing people all over arkansas didn't do it for you?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:49PM (#655028)

      She was involved in approving the sale of Uranium One ownership, and then also in approving uranium export licences. Publicly, we only know that the uranium left the US by going to Canada. Past that the trail goes cold, but the suspicion is that it then went via Russia to Iran.

      The pizzagate stuff is pretty crazy, but then... John Podesta's emails are pretty damn strange. His pizza orders look like "6 to 8 slices for 5 hours". That is not in any way normal. Who rents pizza by the hour? The pedo terminology is that "slices" is the age of the children. If there is an innocent explanation, you'd think John Podesta might hurry to explain himself. (FYI, John Podesta ran Hillary's campaign)

    • (Score: 2) by Pav on Tuesday March 20 2018, @12:50AM

      by Pav (114) on Tuesday March 20 2018, @12:50AM (#655215)

      Hillary is terrible... only the corporatist left Democrats (ie. Republican lite) think she's decent. Check out what a (depressed) real leftie thinks of Hillary Clinton ie. Jimmy Dore [youtube.com]. I suppose you think Assange and Wikileaks are Putin puppets along with Snowden, Bill Binney, Drake, Aaron Schwartz etc... Perhaps a New Zealand [contraspin.co.nz] journalist outside of the US bubble can give you an alternate perspective along with some hard facts about Assange and Wikileaks.

  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 19 2018, @04:48PM (13 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 19 2018, @04:48PM (#654991)

    2016 really was "Giant Douche" versus "Turd Sandwich" in the eyes of most Americans.

    Yes, it really seemed like that at the time.

    However, since then, it seems like things have changed. The Trump voters (most of whom were reluctant Trump voters) seemed have have come around and mostly support him now (since human psychology seems to require changing your opinion based on your actions so you don't realize you made a mistake or did something wrong).

    I'm really worried about what kind of election we're going to have in 2020; I seriously think the DNC is going to get Oprah to run, and if that happens, I'll be forced to vote for Trump, as much as that makes me want to vomit. There's no way I'm voting for that huckster. Healthcare is bad enough in this country; the last thing we need is Dr. Oz as surgeon general pushing "alternative medicine" bullshit.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:04PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:04PM (#655003)

      I cannot believe that the Democrats would be that stupid. If they pick a mainstream centrist "real" politician, it could be a cakewalk to take back the Whitehouse. If they feel they need to make a statement on stupid, they will risk another four years of Trump. I can see a Hillary/Oprah ticket with the campaign slogan, "Vote Republican, We just don't care anymore."

      • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday March 19 2018, @05:45PM

        by Thexalon (636) on Monday March 19 2018, @05:45PM (#655024)

        I can see a Hillary/Oprah ticket with the campaign slogan, "Vote Republican, We just don't care anymore."

        Well, there was that time they tried to float the slogan "Have you seen the other guys? [thehill.com]"

        Yeah, I think might be that stupid.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 19 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 19 2018, @05:59PM (#655037)

        Um, did you not notice how stupid they were in 2016? 2016 should have been a cakewalk too, and they lost to an utter buffoon of a candidate. I'm with Thexalon: yes, I really do think they might be that stupid.

        Seriously, I really do think the Dems are going to come up with some more horrifically bad candidates in 2020, with Hillary and Oprah both very likely picks. As a party, they simply cannot seem to learn from their mistakes, and to learn the very simple strategy that all they need to do to win is pick a decent, likeable candidate who has some charisma. They refuse to do this, and over and over pick awful, unlikable, uncharismatic candidates. They win when this strategy fails, and they get blindsided by a candidate they weren't expecting to win (see Obama: the DNC did *not* want him as their candidate, they wanted Hillary).

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @09:42PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @09:42PM (#655143)

          Something that his list didn't include is that Hillary also sat on the board of directors of Walmart.

          Anyone who is a Walmart employee or whose retail operation has been put out of business by a big box store, can thank Hillary for her support of|pacivity WRT Walmart's business model.

          I really do think the Dems are going to come up with some more horrifically bad candidates in 2020

          Hell, they proved they haven't learned a single thing when they reelected Pelosi and Schumer as legislative bosses in January 2017.
          Their choice of DNC chairman was also another corporatist (Tom Perez instead of Keith Ellison).

          ...and that corporatist Dumbocrat they recently elected in Alabama just voted to make giant banks less accountable. [google.com]

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 19 2018, @07:56PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 19 2018, @07:56PM (#655089) Journal

        The Democrats have a 45-year-long tradition of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, as a friend put it. Nixon's victory over McGovern so traumatized them that they willingly sold their souls to the elite and special interest groups just to win, just not to be humiliated again. They need an enema that can flush out almost half a century of shit.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday March 19 2018, @05:42PM (3 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Monday March 19 2018, @05:42PM (#655023)

      The Trump voters (most of whom were reluctant Trump voters) seemed have have come around and mostly support him now

      Yes and no, according to his favorability numbers [realclearpolitics.com]: His unpopularity peaked on April 12, 2016. There was a big drop in Trump hatred between Election Day and January 2017, probably related to the effect you describe, although still most of America viewed him unfavorably. Then he was inaugurated, and things have gotten steadily worse to the point where he's now at about where he was in November 2015.

      Now, it could be that the current Trump haters are a different set of people than those who said they hated him but voted for him anyways, but I'd be hard-pressed to say that a majority support him.

      I seriously think the DNC is going to get Oprah to run, and if that happens, I'll be forced to vote for Trump, as much as that makes me want to vomit.

      If I see a Trump v Oprah contest, I'm voting for a candidate from a different party or an independent, because there's no way I'm willing to vote for a huckster with no clue how to be a good president, and that's what both of them are. I'd vote Vermin Supreme over either of them: He's at least a genuinely kind, smart, and funny person, according to all the friends of mine who have met him.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 19 2018, @05:53PM (2 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 19 2018, @05:53PM (#655032)

        If I see a Trump v Oprah contest, I'm voting for a candidate from a different party or an independent, because there's no way I'm willing to vote for a huckster with no clue how to be a good president, and that's what both of them are. I'd vote Vermin Supreme over either of them: He's at least a genuinely kind, smart, and funny person, according to all the friends of mine who have met him.

        I voted 3rd party in 2016 (my state was forecast to be an easy Hillary win, though it turned out to be a lot closer than they predicted), but I think I might have to set aside my principles in a Trump vs. Oprah election. At least Trump isn't running around telling everyone that vaccines cause autism. Oprah is personally responsible for many deaths due to her support of this crap. The Dems are supposed to be the pro-science party, but Oprah is *far* more anti-science than the Republicans.

        • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:13PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:13PM (#655102)

          At least Trump isn't running around telling everyone that vaccines cause autism.

          What?

          https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/449525268529815552?lang=en [twitter.com]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @07:55PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @07:55PM (#655597)

          omg, you're such a stupid fuck

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:56PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @05:56PM (#655034)

      There are two sides of this. The first is knowing that I'd be serving life in prison if I did half the shit Hillary has done, so there is no way she should run our country. FYI, my job involves a security clearance, and I'm aghast at her tremendous string of felonies. It's way worse than even what the most extreme alt-right media understands.

      The second is liking Trump. Well, he at least said the right stuff. The only reluctance is that he might not follow through. Well, nobody else even bothered to make those campaign promises, and Trump did follow through to my surprise! So now I'm delighted. I doubted he'd do what he promised, but Trump has done a damn fine job.

      You ought to vote for him.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:53PM (#655119)

        I see the Russians have gotten to you, with the Hilary Hate implant. Do not sit on park benches. You have been compromatized.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @10:07PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @10:07PM (#655151)

        Depends on what day you were listening.
        Donald Trump Flip-Flopped 3 Times In 3 Days On Minimum Wage [motherjones.com]
        (His actual position is that he is in favor of a race to the bottom for workers--in case that wasn't obvious from his policies WRT to his employees in his businesses.)
        Trump Trade Position Is Opposite Of What People Think It Is [commondreams.org]

        ...and Trump flip-flops on a whole bunch of stuff. [google.com]
        He's simply a huckster.
        Another apt word is sociopath.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday March 20 2018, @03:26PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday March 20 2018, @03:26PM (#655417)

        The second is liking Trump. Well, he at least said the right stuff. The only reluctance is that he might not follow through. Well, nobody else even bothered to make those campaign promises

        So you'd rather candidates lie about doing something rather than just be boring? I'd prefer mine to promise nothing if they won't at least try to follow through.

        and Trump did follow through to my surprise! So now I'm delighted. I doubted he'd do what he promised, but Trump has done a damn fine job.

        Wait, when did construction start on the Wall? And how much is Mexico paying for that again?

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"