SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 19 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)
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
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]