World's Happiest Places
I find this study very interesting. I've always been a free market capitalist, but find myself wondering if America's emphasis on work, above all else, is really working for us, or healthy.
Is work more important than life? Or do these northern European countries know something we don't? Have they learned to balance work and life in a way that we haven't?
I think the question we have to ask ourselves, as a country is: "Is the American way of life working for the vast majority of Americans?" I'm not sure, and I don't have any answers, but thought I'd share.
All but one of those countries, Switzerland, leans more to the socialist side of the spectrum. Switzerland actually is closer to the our philosophy of a more limited government. At our current rate however, we will become more like the rest of those socialist type countries than Switzerland.
The fact is that overall, the socialist philosophy provides a better life for everyone. The safety net is much greater, and so their is a smaller portion of less well to do or impoverished in those systems. Everything is wonderful. People don't need to work quite as hard as we do, and they have more leisure time. It really is a nice way of life.
Unfortunately, reality is beginning to set in. This form of governance is not sustainable. We think we have problems with SS and Medicare? Those countries are going to hit a brick wall before too long. Why is it that these countries are allowing massive immigration of Muslims? Because they don't have anyone left to make the economy grow. The only problem is, all those immigrants are just adding to the existing dole, making matters even worse.
As their population grows older, and they refuse to replace that population with hard working individuals, the tax base is evaporating. While we in the US are facing a rough road ahead, due to our aging population, those countries are in dire straits. All one need do is look at Japan. While Japan is not on that list, these countries have the same problem that Japan does. They don't have enough young people to support their aging population. This is why Japan is paying young couples $10,000 to $15,000 for every child they have. They're paying young people to make babies.
When these countries finally do hit this brick wall, that lifestyle they so enjoy will come to a crashing end, and that isn't too far down the road. People like Sarkozy see this already, and that is why he is trying to increase working hours and reduce benefits, because he understands that it is not sustainable. It will be a slow process, and it probably is coming much too late.
While the people of these countries are currently extremely happy, this same poll in a couple of generations will look very different, I will guarantee you this, because the standard of living for those people will be cut in half as there will be no one left to foot the bill for all of their excesses. And this is why we cannot go down this same path, or we will find ourselves in the same mess with our children and those who follow them with a much lower standard of living than we now enjoy.