The 10 happiest countries in the world 2012

[Fusion]

Would you accept that 100% tax if all roads in your state were brand new, and highly maintained, thus eliminating damaging your suspension/wheels/tires and allowing you to travel comfortably even if your rideheight was 1" off the ground?

[gwb72tii]

no

[Fusion]

Because its not a priority for you, because you doubt the money would end up being spent well, or because you're just anti-tax?

[nando]

he likes potholes and bridges that collapse ;)

the roads in my town are literally embarrasing. they had to enact an emergency 10mph speed limit on some of them because they were totally failing. a 2/10ths of a percent sales tax for roads went to the voters, and guess what? they overwhelmingly supported it, because the roads are awful and somebody has to pay for them to be rebuilt.

if they'd just maintained them it would have been cheaper but that would have cost money too..

[gwb72tii]

Because its not a priority for you, because you doubt the money would end up being spent well, or because you're just anti-tax?

i am reflexively anti-tax, but

my state has the worst roads in america
i've driven the autobahn at 200kph in a 525i diesel. best roads on the planet.
all my cars have had suspension mods that make potholes vibrate your teeth.
i would love to have great roads.
in washington state the state government advertises to illegal immigrants how to apply for state aid.
the federal government spends so much money on shit that serves no purpose it boggles the mind.

so, yes, i have my doubts that the money the government would extort from me to pay for roads would 1. actually be used for roads. 2. is needed anyways if the governments would actually prioritize where money is spent

lets just say both state and federal governments do not have a track record that would give you confidence

[mrsleeve]

Well let's think about this for just a second .

Every gallon of gas and diesel for road use has a federal and state tax on it . Gas is 18.4 cents. And diesel is 24.9 cents per gallon. State rates varry (ct just went up a nickel on #2). Those taxes were levied for road maintenance and construction. You pay property taxes for your road mraintenace and construction. We should have roads on par with germany with the taxes we pay for just roads, but after the bulk of the interstates were compleated all that money was diverted into social programs. :(

[herbivor]

herb, are you ready to give up your economic freedom for "happiness"?
are you ready for a 100% tax on a car you choose to buy?

Short answer is absolutely. The only reason we do anything in life is in the pursuit of happiness. So if giving all of my money away to the government = happiness, than of course that's what I would do. But of course that extreme is a bit ridiculous. I would definitely be willing to pay much more in taxes if I knew crime would be reduced, education would be improved, and I wouldn't have to worry about being on the streets if I got sick, old or disabled.
I think what everyone can agree on is making sure the government is not wasting the money we are giving them. I think the government waste has to do with the fundamental flaws with our election system and government structure , more so than the acts of one party or president. The constitution and many "untouchable" tax and election laws would need to be changed (as TJeff. suggested) in order to significantly reduce government waste. A reduction or increase in tax revenue would not fix the fundamental problems with our government.

[Fusion]

And therefore corruption makes people dislike the government, being an illegal and unneeded expense payed for by us.
The balance of amounts being spent in various areas is the most important. The difficult goal is making all groups happy. Spending on new roads will make r3v happy, but not mothers looking for daycare, and probably not hadicapped people who need to get around town and into buildings.
Thus I believe a the happiest countries have very well ballanced spending, little or no corruption, and reasonable tax rates.

[dirtysix]

And therefore corruption makes people dislike the government, being an illegal and unneeded expense payed for by us.
The balance of amounts being spent in various areas is the most important. The difficult goal is making all groups happy. Spending on new roads will make r3v happy, but not mothers looking for daycare, and probably not hadicapped people who need to get around town and into buildings.
Thus I believe a the happiest countries have very well ballanced spending, little or no corruption, and reasonable tax rates.

And yet, with relatively low tax rates and consistently being viewed as the least or 2nd least corrupt waffleswaffleswaffleswafflesry on the planet, we still piss an' moan about it.

Problem is, by being so close to Aus, we suffer from the 'grass is greener' syndrome. Where it's constantly shoved down our throats that Aus does everthing betterer than we do and we need to catch up. And in many respects the things they say are true. But people fail to see how bad things are outside of the region.

[rwh11385]

Aren't we being a bit simplistic here? That there only simply exists a direct relationship between happiness and taxes? Nigeria and Congo have 6% of their GDP be tax revenues, but I do not think I'd be happy there!

Obviously we have some work to do to be as pro-business as Singapore and their 14% tax as percentage of GDP... not to mention greater economic freedom than the United States. . . but are some of the countries being shoveled into the "socialist European countries" category really THAT different from us? The United States had 27% of its GDP go to tax revenues ... is Switzerland that greatly different at 29%? (Or do we just mean those other European countries?

Switzerland is the #5 most country economical freedom, Canada is #6, US is tenth, and Denmark is #11. Netherlands #15, Finland #17, Sweden #21, Germany #26, and Austria #28 round out the "mostly free" according to Heritage Foundation. Most of the happiest nations are also those with the most economic freedom, and US is not #1, nor is it leaps and bounds above 'all those socialist European countries'... unless you want to sound like an uneducated American. It's not like taxes alone determine economic freedom.

Norway, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are moderately free or mostly unfree. You'll also be keen to notice that most of those countries are the ones in financial trouble... Government cannot distribute resources as efficiently as a free market, and programs aren't free nor are attempts at stimulus. And besides Norway, those nations aren't on the happiest list either?!

If you want to see a cool display of country data, this one is pretty awesome with bars to select which area to weigh higher according to your preferences: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/24514113451 WOW, you can tailor your options to what makes you happy about a country??

The balloons rise according to the factors you choose, and the happiest nations from the original post seem to float to the top. Based on my quick selections, Switzerland edges out the US, followed by Canada, Australia, Norway, Netherlands, and Denmark.

[rwh11385]

Polling data really doesn't mean shit and statistics aren't math.

You can't quantify happiness. These numbers are shining examples of why statistics are bullshit.

The grass is always greener on the other side. I am sure plenty of Danes are sick of the monotony and want to move elsewhere and same goes for Kiwis, Americans, Brazilians, etc.

It's called FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS.

Holmes, you just seem like a Stephen Colbert now. You said ridiculous liberal shit before while blazing up, and now to the other extreme. It's actually possible to think for yourself and not just parrot crazy shit all the time. Don't grow up to be a caricature like gwb.

Since when was Brazil first world?

[dirtysix]

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature...ver-there/285/

[2761377]

Although the rankings change every year, Denmark is consistently at the top of the top ten and we are consistently near the bottom or outside the top ten. I think it's pretty important to know why that is.

the countries listed are the archetypal 'european social democracies'- the populace of which are happily settled into that mentality/lifestyle.

in the USA, we have a political contentiousness unmatched in the first world. at any given time the people who are not in power (or even if they are) are very comfortable hating the political opposition.

leftists have a tremendous skill set to display/promote their hatred yet the antipathy of the right is just as strong.

when half the electorate is pissed off, it is not surprising that 'happiness' values are low.

robert w.

ps- snoop dog had to pay a fine of over $6k because he was carrying too much CASH- in Norway people are allowed to carry only @ $4100 in cash. that's fucked up

[DaveNorCal]

I don't know about the rest of you, but by the time I pay income taxes, social security, California taxes, and medicare it's close enough to 40%. That's without the universal health care, excellent public transportation, pensions for all, and free (or nearly so) education all the way through professional school that the European "socialist societies" offer for roughly the same money.