You're deliberately reading his comments in terms of absolutes instead of in terms of general tendencies, which are what he was actually addressing. Take a look again at the factors of correlation. The highest correlation they give is .61 That's not very high, and it means other factors are going to interfere.
Now take a look at the top of this list again:
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
All but one of the top ten are small countries, and most have socialized medicine. It's not the most unreasonable thing in the world to assume that those two are among the factors that lead to this whatever-they-call "happiness". Correlation without causation? Also possible, but it's difficult to draw concrete conclusions from such a small pool.
I'd also like to know how they asked the question in different regions. I know the Czech would respond negatively if you asked them if they were happy, but might be more inclined to give positive answers if you asked about general satisfaction. In America, though, you'd ask about happiness and not general satisfaction. Likewise, national pride is going to be a big issue. The Danish are a very patriotic (but not nationalistic) people. The French are more likely to consider statements of patriotism gauche (even though, under the surface, they are a very proud group). Does something like that influence how they'd answer a survey about satisfaction in their country? Did they take cultural attitudes into account?
Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
The observation of Mr. Pombo's political consultant, Wayne Johnson, that I have been mired in the obsolete values of the 1970s, honesty, good ethics and balanced budgets, all rejected by today's modern Republicans, is only too accurate.
It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against Delay-type Republican incumbents in 2006. Let me try to explain why.
Some 18 months ago, my former law partner, Lewis Butler, an Assistant Secretary of HEW in the Nixon Administration and subsequently the distinguished Chair of California Tomorrow and the Plowshares Foundation, and I initiated an effort we called The Revolt of the Elders. All of us were retired and in the latter years of Social Security entitlement. Most of us were Republicans who had served in the Congress or in former Republican administrations with men like Gerry Ford, John Rhodes, Bob Michel, Elliot Richardson, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and the president's father, George H. W. Bush, all men of impeccable integrity and ethics.
We had become appalled at the House Republican leadership's decision in early 2005 to effectively emasculate the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct by changing the rules to protect Majority Leader Tom Delay. Delay had been admonished three times by the Committee for abuse of power and unethical conduct. It was our hope to persuade Speaker Hastert and the Republican leadership, of which Northern California Congressman Richard Pombo and John Doolittle were prominent members, to rescind the rules changes and to act in accord with the promise of high ethical standards contained in Speaker Gingrich's Contract With America which brought the Republicans majority control in 1994. We failed. Letters to the Speaker from an increasing number of former Republican Members were ignored and remained unanswered.
I have therefore reluctantly concluded that party loyalty should be set aside, and that it is in the best interests of the nation, and indeed the future of the Republican Party itself, to return control of the House to temporary Democrat control, if only to return the House for a time to the kind of ethics standards practiced by Republicans in former years. I say reluctantly, having no great illusion that Democrats or any other kind of politician will long resist the allure of campaign funds and benefits offered by the richest and most profitable of the Halliburtons, oil companies, tobacco companies, developers and Indian gaming tribes whose contributions so heavily dominate the contributions to Congressmen Pombo and Doolittle
America has a lot to thank for as it is a rich country while majority on the globe are still poor and living in squalor.
I hope conservative policies dont turn the clock to what it was before the New Deal, Medicare, Social Security, FDIC, Fannie Mae and Labor Unions. (Third World living situation for many) I hope conservatives dont allow the debasement of Democracy and the constitution and stand up against signing statements, eavesdropping with out a Court Order, whistleblower protection, voting reform, etc.
One thing about this administration, you learn to appreciate what you have been taking for granted because it is endangered to be lost.
that he took his data from analysis of the results from over 100 studies.
I think it would be difficult to answer how they asked a question because it's been asked many different ways.
French have a problem with stating patriotism? :) Come on. They are the most self-absorbed proud people you could find.
I don't know what questions they asked but if you took quality of life into consideration - not just the GDP per capita (that does not account for the cost of living, considerably higher in Europe) - you would see US much higher on that list.
I've been to Iceland (lived there for a while) and while their salaries are close to US (well still less), everything costs about twice as much as in US. So you can't use exact GDP per capita correlations. That's another failure of this study.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
The study's not a failure - it just found that no correlation exists between GDP and happiness, which should have been an expected result. If you're going to measure something as ambiguous as 'happiness', you have to expect that it won't be reduceable to one or two factors. And that's pretty much what they found, but it's hard to deny that the happiest countries seem to share a few qualities in common.
Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
that the overall study was a failure but that the measurement of GDP part was. Of course the GDP part is related to happiness since that directly affects your quality of life.
Americans overall earn more and have cheaper goods than most in Europe. That is a huge overriding factor imo.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
I hope conservative policies dont turn the clock to what it was before the New Deal, Medicare, Social Security, FDIC, Fannie Mae and Labor Unions. (Third World living situation for many) I hope conservatives dont allow the debasement of Democracy and the constitution and stand up against signing statements, eavesdropping with out a Court Order, whistleblower protection, voting reform, etc.
These are democratic talking points and have nothing to do with the study... Kinda hard to argue against talking points that only one side finds to be true.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
There have been many studies of national happiness and relying on the interpretations of a non-specialist in a news story is not a good way to understand the topic.
Instead of trying to make cheap political points I suggest going back to some of the actual studies and reading them for yourself.
For example, one factor not mentioned is the correlation between religious belief and happiness. The countries which have a higher degree of non-religion also show up higher in social equality, personal feelings of security and happiness.
There have been attempts to change from money measures of a society's "success" to something more related to personal experience. Cobb and Daly were among the first to try to quantify this in their book "For the Common Good".
Apologists for the US try to paint a picture that this is the "best" place in the world, but by many measures it just isn't true. Keeping this information from people is thus a priority. Because the US has lots of cheap "stuff" this is frequently used as proof that we are number one. But other societies have figured out that there is more to life than "stuff" and are therefore happier.
If you look over the list of the top ten, you'll see that most of the countries named are considered industrialized countries with fairly social democratic structures. Among other things, that means they also pay a pretty fair amount of individual income to taxes and receive more government provided benefits.
I'm not saying higher taxes make people happier, but you point out a key component of happiness in these countries: Quality of Life. Quality of Life issues include items such as healthcare, elder care, educational opportunities, living wages, pace of daily life, childcare, etc. Basic social issues better dealt with in smaller countries with fairly involved governments which believe in providing social services without interfering in personal choices.
It's a conumdrum. You would think that because Americans make more money, we'd be happier. But we're not. Social issues seem to play a significant role in a country's happiness.
None of the actors worse than Bush have any chance of being elected.
I kinda doubt Newt will run unless the Democrats gain both houses AND people get dissatisfied with them in 2 years. Republican heavy hitters will probably be setting up for 2012 when they don't have to completely disassociate themselves from Bush.
I believe he said that if there is a vacuum in the top tier he will jump in... Or something like that. As far as I am concerned he is the most articulate defenders of conservatism in the republican party. He is one of the few candidates I would be excited about. Maybe the only one.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Quality of life depends much more heavily on how take home pay compares to cost of living.
That's why a shrinking middle class and wider gap between the rich and the poor diminishes 'happiness'. More individuals losing than winning. A few REALLY happy people don't help much.
Comments :
Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
You're deliberately reading his comments in terms of absolutes instead of in terms of general tendencies, which are what he was actually addressing. Take a look again at the factors of correlation. The highest correlation they give is .61 That's not very high, and it means other factors are going to interfere.
Now take a look at the top of this list again:
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
All but one of the top ten are small countries, and most have socialized medicine. It's not the most unreasonable thing in the world to assume that those two are among the factors that lead to this whatever-they-call "happiness". Correlation without causation? Also possible, but it's difficult to draw concrete conclusions from such a small pool.
I'd also like to know how they asked the question in different regions. I know the Czech would respond negatively if you asked them if they were happy, but might be more inclined to give positive answers if you asked about general satisfaction. In America, though, you'd ask about happiness and not general satisfaction. Likewise, national pride is going to be a big issue. The Danish are a very patriotic (but not nationalistic) people. The French are more likely to consider statements of patriotism gauche (even though, under the surface, they are a very proud group). Does something like that influence how they'd answer a survey about satisfaction in their country? Did they take cultural attitudes into account?
Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
This Republican is not happy
http://www.dailykos....
America has a lot to thank for as it is a rich country while majority on the globe are still poor and living in squalor.
I hope conservative policies dont turn the clock to what it was before the New Deal, Medicare, Social Security, FDIC, Fannie Mae and Labor Unions. (Third World living situation for many) I hope conservatives dont allow the debasement of Democracy and the constitution and stand up against signing statements, eavesdropping with out a Court Order, whistleblower protection, voting reform, etc.
One thing about this administration, you learn to appreciate what you have been taking for granted because it is endangered to be lost.
he does say
that he took his data from analysis of the results from over 100 studies.
I think it would be difficult to answer how they asked a question because it's been asked many different ways.
French have a problem with stating patriotism? :) Come on. They are the most self-absorbed proud people you could find.
I don't know what questions they asked but if you took quality of life into consideration - not just the GDP per capita (that does not account for the cost of living, considerably higher in Europe) - you would see US much higher on that list.
I've been to Iceland (lived there for a while) and while their salaries are close to US (well still less), everything costs about twice as much as in US. So you can't use exact GDP per capita correlations. That's another failure of this study.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
The French are a cynical people;
very proud in being French (almost to a fault - something that we share in common with them), but more inclined to be openly cynical and/or blasé. So yes, I'd expect them to score lower than they might otherwise.
The study's not a failure - it just found that no correlation exists between GDP and happiness, which should have been an expected result. If you're going to measure something as ambiguous as 'happiness', you have to expect that it won't be reduceable to one or two factors. And that's pretty much what they found, but it's hard to deny that the happiest countries seem to share a few qualities in common.
Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
well I didn't say
that the overall study was a failure but that the measurement of GDP part was. Of course the GDP part is related to happiness since that directly affects your quality of life.
Americans overall earn more and have cheaper goods than most in Europe. That is a huge overriding factor imo.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
you are posting unrelated stuff
These are democratic talking points and have nothing to do with the study... Kinda hard to argue against talking points that only one side finds to be true.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
On Jan. 22, 2009
The happiest people on the planet will be right here in the good ole U.S. of A.
I know I'll be dancing in the street with a bottle of champagne.
qui tacet consentire
So, Americans are happier
than Europeans because we can buy cheap crap at Wal-Mart?
qui tacet consentire
doesn't that depend
on who the next president is? :) You gonna be dancing for Newt Gingrich? Cool.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Studies
There have been many studies of national happiness and relying on the interpretations of a non-specialist in a news story is not a good way to understand the topic.
Instead of trying to make cheap political points I suggest going back to some of the actual studies and reading them for yourself.
For example, one factor not mentioned is the correlation between religious belief and happiness. The countries which have a higher degree of non-religion also show up higher in social equality, personal feelings of security and happiness.
There have been attempts to change from money measures of a society's "success" to something more related to personal experience. Cobb and Daly were among the first to try to quantify this in their book "For the Common Good".
Apologists for the US try to paint a picture that this is the "best" place in the world, but by many measures it just isn't true. Keeping this information from people is thus a priority. Because the US has lots of cheap "stuff" this is frequently used as proof that we are number one. But other societies have figured out that there is more to life than "stuff" and are therefore happier.
--- Policies not Politics
GDP is but one part of the equation...
If you look over the list of the top ten, you'll see that most of the countries named are considered industrialized countries with fairly social democratic structures. Among other things, that means they also pay a pretty fair amount of individual income to taxes and receive more government provided benefits.
I'm not saying higher taxes make people happier, but you point out a key component of happiness in these countries: Quality of Life. Quality of Life issues include items such as healthcare, elder care, educational opportunities, living wages, pace of daily life, childcare, etc. Basic social issues better dealt with in smaller countries with fairly involved governments which believe in providing social services without interfering in personal choices.
It's a conumdrum. You would think that because Americans make more money, we'd be happier. But we're not. Social issues seem to play a significant role in a country's happiness.
we know
that pretty much sums up LGF, FR, RS in toto.
Newt??
nah, he'll be back banging chicks not his wife as is his wont...
excellent
lazy analysis rooted in jingoistic belief structure.
Really nowhere to go but up
None of the actors worse than Bush have any chance of being elected.
I kinda doubt Newt will run unless the Democrats gain both houses AND people get dissatisfied with them in 2 years. Republican heavy hitters will probably be setting up for 2012 when they don't have to completely disassociate themselves from Bush.
it is possible
I believe he said that if there is a vacuum in the top tier he will jump in... Or something like that. As far as I am concerned he is the most articulate defenders of conservatism in the republican party. He is one of the few candidates I would be excited about. Maybe the only one.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
yes
but those are specifically rather ideologically partisan sites.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
you might want to check your
own work against that standard as well...
Bingo.
Barely
Quality of life depends much more heavily on how take home pay compares to cost of living.
That's why a shrinking middle class and wider gap between the rich and the poor diminishes 'happiness'. More individuals losing than winning. A few REALLY happy people don't help much.